New Studio Build in Austin, TX - USA

Hey all, first post... long time lurker. I finally have gotten *spousal approval* for my project studio build and wanted to get some feedback from the forum. Context and Goals First of all, the build will be in my home garage. The garage is a three-car garage (~ 35 ft. x 20 ft. x 9.5 ft.) and I will be building in 2/3 of that space (~20 ft. x 20 ft.). The goals for the space are multiple: - a critical listening space for mixing and mastering - tracking a full band (rock, pop, alternative, jazz, etc.) which can get pretty loud - overdubs of single instruments (guitars, vocals, drums/percussion, etc.), and - electronic production (mostly in the control room) Basically I want an all-purpose studio, small in size but multi-functional with as much "flex" space as possible and a great critical listening space. :) I live in a neighborhood with multi-acre lots and as the houses are a few hundred feet apart, I don't foresee needing a *ton* of sound isolation so as to not bother the neighbors. However, I do have a large family (wife and six kids), so things can get pretty busy around the house and I need to isolate the studio sound (and electricity needs) from the main house structure. Initial Plan Here's the result of my toying with a design for the space. I think this gives me a good mix between the control room and sound/cutting rooms. I would like at least two, isolated sound rooms to allow for recording multiple instrumentalists at the same time. The ceiling heights would be between 8'and 9' depending on the benefit of a taller ceiling and the difficulty in applying the drywall. The Gear I'm currently using Mackie Onyx 1620i and Onyx 1220i mixers as audio interfaces into my MacBook Pro runing Ableton Live 8 (soon 9) and Pro Tools 10. I am currently monitoring with a pair of Yamaha HS80M active near-field monitors (I plan to soffit mount these) and may augment with the matching Yamaha sub-woofer, if necessary. I have a pretty good selection of microphones, MIDI keyboard controller, virtual instruments, RTAS/VST plug-ins, etc. As the studio (and discretionary income) grows, I plan on upgrading to a different set of audio interfaces, Mackie control surfaces, etc. Ultimately, I want to be running a Pro Tools HD system in this same space (HD I/O interfaces, Digidesign control surface, etc.). The Budget My budget is undetermined but I want to come in around $10,000 - $15,000 US for construction alone (including wiring, acoustic treatment, etc.). As may be obvious, I haven't done a ton of in-depth estimation yet and these numbers may be way off for the plan/size of the studio above. Questions 1. My main concern is for the dimensions and viability of the control room as a critical listening space for mixing and mastering as I plan to hire myself out for those services, if possible. 2. I'm also concerned about the size and shape of the sound rooms. I feel like I'm "squishing" these rooms into the plan. If necessary, I would consider a different control room shape and a single cutting room to maximize the studio's efficiency. 3. I'm planning on a dual leaf wall, mass-air-mass system (2x4 wood construction with two layers of 5/8" drywall on each mass side (wall angles are 90° unless otherwise annotated): I can re-read typical construction techniques, but with my garage slab shared with the house and my specific isolation needs, should I consider decoupling the walls from the foundation in any way? 4. My roof system will be 2x4 (or 2x6?) joists with 2 layers of 5/8" drywall: My question is: should I consider decoupling the walls from the ceiling using neoprene or another rubber material between the two wall top plates. 5. Unfortunately, as the garage slab is already laid, I obviously cannot run cabling in conduit in the slab. Should I consider building a raised floor to wire underneath and provide access points to specific parts of the studio? Or should I wire from above into the walls? If the latter, how should I handle cabling from the walls to the console and rack, etc. in the control room? Thanks for reading folks and thanks in advance for the feedback! - Eric

Hi Eric, and welcome! :)

I finally have gotten *spousal approval* for my project studio build

Excellent! For s married guys, WAF is indeed the most important acoustic aspect of a studio build! Without good WAF, there is no silence... :)

However, I do have a large family (wife and six kids),

:shock: :!: You valiant, brave man, you!

I live in a neighborhood with multi-acre lots and as the houses are a few hundred feet apart, I don't foresee needing a *ton* of sound isolation so as to not bother the neighbors. However, I do have a large family (wife and six kids), so things can get pretty busy around the house and I need to isolate the studio sound (and electricity needs) from the main house structure.

There's also the factor of sound going the other way: From outside to inside. EG, wind, rain, hail, thunder, helicopters/aircraft flying over, neighbors mowing lawns, traffic passing, your kids turning up the TV or stereo, phone ringing, people talking, etc. All of those are factors that you should consider when deciding on your isolation needs.

Here's the result of my toying with a design for the space.

The basic layout looks fine, but you seem to have some 3-leaf walls in a couple of places, and you also don't seem to be fully decoupling the rooms form each other at the doors and windows. You are also wasting a LOT of space by chopping off the front and rear corners like that! You need the space in the rear corners for bass trapping, and the front corners for soffit mounting (flush mounting) your speakers. I would suggest that you might want to correct those issues. I would also move the CR door to the center of the rear wall, for the same reason as above: you need to corners for bass trapping.

My budget is undetermined but I want to come in around $10,000 - $15,000 US for construction alone (including wiring, acoustic treatment, etc.). As may be obvious, I haven't done a ton of in-depth estimation yet and these numbers may be way off for the plan/size of the studio above.

To get a realistic idea of how much it will cost, call a few local contractors and ask for their flat rate per square foot for converting an unfinished garage into a home theater, or a "granny flat". Add about 20%, and that will be your realistic cost, in your area, per square foot. Right now you are talking about 15k for 400 ft2, which works out to about US$ 40 per square foot. That sounds a little on the low side, to me, but it all depends on the going rate in YOUR area. And of course, you can reduce the cost by doing some/most/all of the labor yourself, as well as by shopping around carefully for materials, waiting for sales to come along, or reduced prices on slightly damaged goods, etc. (I once got a pallet of drywall at 50% off, where one corner of every sheet had been damaged by a careless forklift driver. The damage only affected the first few inches, and I need to cut two foot off every sheet anyway, as I needed 8' sheets, not 10', so I saved a bundle on that). etc.

1. My main concern is for the dimensions and viability of the control room as a critical listening space for mixing and mastering as I plan to hire myself out for those services, if possible.

Did you check your room ratio? OK, your room is not rectangular, so normal modal calculators will not be accurate, but by averaging the dimensions you can at least get an idea of how things will work out, acoustically. Use Bob Golds' calculator: it gives you way more than just simple modal response information. Mixing and mastering are usually two different things, done in different types of rooms, and yours doesn't seem large enough to make it into a typical mastering room. However, that doesn0t mean that you can't master in a smaller room! You sure can master anywhere you want, if the results meet your clients' expectations. It's just a comment, for what its worth.

2. I'm also concerned about the size and shape of the sound rooms. I feel like I'm "squishing" these rooms into the plan. If necessary, I would consider a different control room shape and a single cutting room to maximize the studio's efficiency.

You could probably improve the sizes by playing around with different layouts and shapes. In fact, if you check over some build threads on the forum, you'll find quite a few similar situations, where people have gone through the same process you are going through: You might be able to pick up useful ideas from them.

3. I'm planning on a dual leaf wall, mass-air-mass system (2x4 wood construction with two layers of 5/8" drywall on each mass side (wall angles are 90° unless otherwise annotated):

Right- But you only need those between rooms, not where there are existing walls. For example, the wall between your iso booth and the existing garage wall seems to be a 3-leaf wall on your diagram...

I can re-read typical construction techniques, but with my garage slab shared with the house and my specific isolation needs, should I consider decoupling the walls from the foundation in any way?

Probably not necessary, unless you have very high isolation needs, and hard to do right in any case: Floating a wall successfully is nowhere near as easy as it might seem at first. It's the same process as floating a floor.

4. My roof system will be 2x4 (or 2x6?) joists with 2 layers of 5/8" drywall:

That's your inner leaf: but what about your outer leaf? What is up there, above you? Also, it is unlikely that you'll be able to use 2x4s to span the live room and control room, and perhaps not even 2x6: you need to check the span tables, or better still hire a structural engineer to take a look at your plans, and tell you if you are OK or not.

My question is: should I consider decoupling the walls from the ceiling using neoprene or another rubber material between the two wall top plates.

Not necessary. As long as the ceiling does not touch any of the existing structure (outer-leaf walls or outer-leaf ceiling) then that's all you need to do.

Unfortunately, as the garage slab is already laid, I obviously cannot run cabling in conduit in the slab. Should I consider building a raised floor to wire underneath and provide access points to specific parts of the studio?

Definitely not! That would be akin to floating the floor incorrectly, with all the major negative issues arising from that. Just stick with your slab as the final floor for all three rooms: don't touch it. That's a great surface acoustically, provided that you treat the rest of the room correctly.

Or should I wire from above into the walls? If the latter, how should I handle cabling from the walls to the console and rack, etc. in the control room?

The normal recommendation is to run electrical wiring high up, a the top of the wall, and signal wiring down low, near the bottom. They should never come near each other. Or if they do have to cross somewhere, then they must cross at 90° angles, never run parallel. All your electrical work must be done inside the room, with surface mount ducts, outlets, switches, and lights. You can allow only ONE penetration in each room, just to bring the power feed into the room, then distribute it from there. Use electrical conduit to cross the air gap between the two leaves, but not straight across. As soon as it gets through the outer leaf, curve the conduit gently by 90° until it is parallel to the leaf. Run it a few feet like that, then curve it 90° the other way to pass through the inner leaf. In the middle of that conduit, cut out a section an inch or so long, and wrap the gap with suitable rubber. Seal around the penetrations very well, and you can even build up some extra mass with putty pads, right at the penetration. The same applies for your signal cables: only one penetration going to each room, with conduit, etc. - Stuart -

Thanks so much for the reply, Stuart. I've taken care of the three-leaf walls and am still playing with the layout to get the right mix of CR and live room(s). Here's a layout with CR and live room as a single room with the addition of a single iso booth: And here's another design with a smaller CR and a proper storage and sound lock (although I'm not so sure I need this): Thanks again for the advice, all invaluable!

I've taken care of the three-leaf walls . . .

Are you SURE about that? :) The iso booth is the same... And the front of the CR ...

still playing with the layout to get the right mix of CR and live room(s). Here's a layout with CR and live room as a single room with the addition of a single iso booth:

That's one way of doing it, yes. But personally, when I am mic'ing drums, I like to be able to hear how each mic sounds on the CR monitors, clearly and cleanly, which isn't possible if you have the drums in the same room. Other people don't seem to mind that, but it really bugs me. Maybe you are one of the guys that can handle it.

And here's another design with a smaller CR and a proper storage and sound lock (although I'm not so sure I need this):

That makes more sense to my way of thinking, but you could make your CR bigger by dropping the storage / sound lock / iso booth area. The CR looks a little small in that version. I would also keep the rear wall straight, instead of chopped off: you are deleting the only possible place for bass trapping like that. - Stuart -

All your electrical work must be done inside the room, with surface mount ducts, outlets, switches, and lights. You can allow only ONE penetration in each room, just to bring the power feed into the room, then distribute it from there. Use electrical conduit to cross the air gap between the two leaves, but not straight across. As soon as it gets through the outer leaf, curve the conduit gently by 90° until it is parallel to the leaf. Run it a few feet like that, then curve it 90° the other way to pass through the inner leaf. In the middle of that conduit, cut out a section an inch or so long, and wrap the gap with suitable rubber. Seal around the penetrations very well, and you can even build up some extra mass with putty pads, right at the penetration.

I'm asking my electrician to do this and he's saying that having the middle section be some kind of rubber won't pass inspection. My project is in a commercial space in the states. Is there an "official" way to do this or should we just wait until after the inspections and do this way? Thanks! Alex

I'm asking my electrician to do this and he's saying that having the middle section be some kind of rubber won't pass inspection.

Alex, you haven't filled in your location in your profile (Please read the forum rules for posting (click here)), so we don't know what code you are subject to, but as far as I know in the USA conduit is not even needed: IIRC, conduit is optional for most installations, and you can simply pass some types of wiring directly through the framing, totally bare. So I fail to see why a piece of non-required rubber around non-required conduit would be a problem! If you don't need the conduit at all to meet code, then how can installing it be a problem? Maybe ask your electrician to tell you which exact, specific code he thinks that would violate, then talk to your inspector about it to find out if it really is an issue, and if so, how you can get a variance for it. - Stuart -