UK scratch build studio design

Hi Guys I have been visiting this site for a while now, but only just registered, here goes. I am not sure wether this should go in the studio construction or not, I'm not actually starting it yet. So I live in England, in a tiny town in a place called Lincolnshire. Background: I just turned 20, live at home in a large house, go to uni (part time) and work as a programmer in the local secondary school. I volunteered/did work experience for about nine months at the school, and have just started to get paid a reasonable amount for one day a week. I will not be building this studio until I get another one or even two days work a week. Living at home I have fairly low expenses, so my money can go a lot further than it would otherwise. I play guitar in 2 churches and 1 band. every wee k I practice (with bands) twice and play at church twice. at Least once a month I play on a friday or saturday 'regular' gig, If I had the time I would be playing every week on a wednesday as well!! :shock: I would say I have a reasonable level of skill, certainly not pro but I can competently play most things I attempt, church music especially being mainly chords and little riffs. The main aim of this studio is to be able to records drums and guitars. Vocals and keys etc will be recorded but they do not produce as much noise! I ideally want to run valve amps LOUD! I have a 30w 2x12 Laney with Heritage Greenbacks (sorry, getting all guitar-technical) which is very loud but awesome! I figure I will need a lot of isolation to run this and other amps such as vintage marshalls turned way up. I live in a big house with lots of land. Where I plan to build this studio, the neighbour on one side is a nursery, so their sounds will need to stay out. They shut at night and they will not be bothered about too much sound leakage during the day or night. My other neighbour lives a fair bit away, 10m + my large house + 10m again so I don't think its a problem. All the other neighbours across the road etc live in houses set back from the road. I plan to have good enough isolation to not cause a problem. So I will be building this from scratch. My dad, myself and some friends are currently renovating our house, and we have lots of experience so building it is no problem. I plan to build a two leaf room within room design, with the outer shell being made from dense blocks (as deep as two bricks) and the inner shell from insulated stud walls + 3 layers plasterboard (is that called gypsum or dywall in the states?). Rather than save up say 75% of the money, and not be able to spend it whilst initial works are being carried out (like £100 digger digging foundations) I will build this on a month by month basis (when I get more hours - see above). That way I can build one bit and when that finishes I should have the money for the next bit (if that makes sense?) I want about 25 x 15 foot usable space, so I was thinking of making the building 30 x 20 foot. If I end up with slightly less inside thats fine but I cannot really go any bigger. I guess about a 7 foot ceiling in the control room will be fine. Due to the pitched roof in I was thinking of making the live room a lot higher - 12 foot? It can probably go more. I have added photos below of an initial plan, It is a rough scale, just to get an idea of the size and the layout I was thinking. Would this be suitable? Any improvements? I know the walls need work and are parallel, I want the live room on the right to sound good, and the control room on the left to work well acoustically, the 3d pictures are flipped, the control room has the main outside door and the airlock leading into it as well as the door to the iso booth. The live room has a small mic cupboard next to the iso booth. Budget: I think £5000 over the course of a year is reasonable. I guess £6000 max. I will have to run in an armored cable from the road (not too far) and pay for that to be installed for electrics, and pay a bricklayer to build the shell, as it is a lot quicker. Everything else we will do ourselves. Here in England we are allowed to do wiring as long as we get it signed off by a sparkie, of which we know several. That budget does not include and furniture. Any comments/ideas/improvements? Thanks loads!

Hi Joe, and welcome to the forum! :)

I am not sure wether this should go in the studio construction or not, I'm not actually starting it yet.

It's in the design area, so that's fine. No problem.

The main aim of this studio is to be able to records drums and guitars.

Ouch! You like to start out with the hard things, don't you? Drums are the hardest of all to isolate, due to the very high sound levels, large amount of low frequencies, and impact noise.

I figure I will need a lot of isolation to run this and other amps such as vintage marshalls turned way up.

:!: Yes! You will also need some good earplugs, if you hope to carry on hearing for years to come... :)

the neighbour on one side is a nursery,

You mean "nursery" in the sense of "lots of babies crying noisily" or nursery in the sense of "lots of plants growing silently"?

I plan to have good enough isolation to not cause a problem.

OK, but you need to put numbers to that. You need to found out what the legal limits are in your area (call your local municipality and ask for a copy of their noise regulation), and you also need to find out what the acceptable level is: they might not be the same. Your neighbors still might say it is too loud even if you are meeting the legal specs. So you should actually measure the ambient levels in your neighborhood at the quietest time of day, and set that as your goal. If you get any louder than that, then you will bi disturbing your neighbors. Many municipal regulations also have a n "easy out" in their regulations, whereby after they list the levels, times of day, and procedures for measuring what is not acceptable, they add a tiny little clause on the end: "... or in general any objectionable sound", without defining what that means. So even if you are meeting the numbers, they can still shut you down based on that last clause.

I plan to build a two leaf room within room design, with the outer shell being made from dense blocks (as deep as two bricks) and the inner shell from insulated stud walls + 3 layers plasterboard (is that called gypsum or dywall in the states?).

OK, you seem to have the right basic plan. And yes, plasterboard is also called gypsum board, gyprock, drywall, and several other names. So your issue will be mainly building it such that you have a large enough air gap to achieve the levels of isolation you want, as well as keeping those levels once you factor in doors, windows, the HVAC system and the electrical system. All of those are critical to isolation, since they basically imply cutting huge holes in your walls. You don't seem to be showing any HVAC or electrical in your plans so far, so you need to add those. You will also need to correct your plans, as currently you show that your inner-leaf walls are coupled to the outer leaf, not isolated, so you won't have any isolation at all like that, and also there is no isolation between the rooms. Also, I'm not sure what the other three little rooms are, but I'm guessing office, bathroom and storage? If so, they do not need to be isolated: you are wasting money there. They can be outside of the isolation system.

I want about 25 x 15 foot usable space, so I was thinking of making the building 30 x 20 foot. If I end up with slightly less inside that's fine but I cannot really go any bigger.

That's a reasonably size, yes, but it would help if you describe what you plan to do in there, in terms of the number of people that you will typically have in each room during a session.

I guess about a 7 foot ceiling in the control room will be fine.

:shock: I don't think so! That's a REALLY low ceiling, and it would not be possible to get that room sounding good. Ratio calculations for control rooms are normally based on ten foot ceilings, but eight feet is also reasonable. 7 is too low: there will be no room at all to add clouds, lights and other treatment on the ceiling, as needed.

Due to the pitched roof in I was thinking of making the live room a lot higher - 12 foot? It can probably go more.

12' is nice for a live room, yes. And more is better: if you can go higher, then that might be worth thinking about.

I have added photos below of an initial plan, It is a rough scale, just to get an idea of the size and the layout I was thinking. Would this be suitable?

OK, but it seems that your control room is square! It seems to be 15' long and also 15' wide, which means that all modes in both directions will line up perfectly, and you'll have some major problems at 37Hz (bass guitar), 75 Hz (bass and kick drum) 84 Hz Kick) 89 Hz, (kick), and so on, all the way up the spectrum. Square is always bad. The only shape worse than a square is a cube. In terms of floor area and room volume, you are at the minimum ITU and EBU spec for critical listening rooms, so you are OK there.

I know the walls need work and are parallel,

They can stay that way, or not, as you prefer, depending on which of the several current studio design philosophies you decide to use.

Budget: I think £5000 over the course of a year is reasonable. I guess £6000 max.

You are talking about roughly 600 square feet of floor area, for £6000. That implies £10 per square foot. I have no idea what construction costs in your part of the world, but that budget seems unrealistic to me. Even if you get all the labour for free, it is still "iffy". You really should re-think that, and either reduce the size of the project, or increase the budget.

I will have to run in an armored cable from the road (not too far) and pay for that to be installed for electrics, and pay a bricklayer to build the shell, as it is a lot quicker.

How about pouring the foundations? That's not something that the average DIY'er can do on his own. You are going to need a cubic meter or two of concrete in there, which means getting a truck to come deliver it, after you have the formwork and rebar in place (as well as the electrical conduit and other cable runs, if you choose to go that route). Have you also considered the cost of the building permits you will need, the architects fee for drawing up the plans (I doubt that your municipality will accept a sketch on the back of an envelope!) and the inspection fees? Also, the structural engineer's fees? Since this is a "ground up" build, you might well need a structural engineer to sign off on the plans as being safe and meeting all your local legal requirements. There are probably other fees that you also need to factor in, such as hauling away the rubble for example. And you still have not mentioned your HVAC system (yes, you do need one). It seems to me there are lots of things you have not considered in your budget. 6k for building a studio inside an existing basement or garage would still be on the low side, but for a complete build, from the foundations up, it seems unrealistic. - Stuart -