New Studio Design in Brazil - Starting from Scratch.

Hello All, After years and years of reading many posts, a lot of books and studying many cases I've finally come to the point where I'm going to have my studio built. I'm having my new house built and I managed to convince my lovely girlfriend to allow me to include a studio underneath our garage. She keeps saying that it will be the place i will go whenever we have a fight. :D Here are some details of my project. Please forgive me if I forget something, but I will try to give the details without having a long post and will complete as I go: Objective: Home studio for practicing with my band and with friends, with the possibility of being used for some local bands for rehearsing. I also intend to put video cameras in the studio and stream some online lessons and live rehearsals. It will possibly used for some small professional projects. My idea would be having at least 2 rooms, to separate the drums and be able to record live rehearsals with the drummer in a different room. Current Idea is keeping the Band on Room #1 and drums on Room 2 Type of music played: I play from AC/DC and Deep purple to heavy rock like Iron Maiden, Megadeth and Iced Earth. Some heavier (and louder) bands will definitely be rehearsing Current Structure: No walls yet. Only the foundations of the outer walls are built. The plan is to have a ceiling height at 3.2 meters. The vocal booth has a lowered ceiling on the hatched area due to the entrance stairs. The dimensions of the big square is 9x7 meters The plot is in a hill so I had to "cut it", and the studio will be half underground. For this reason, the outer walls will be built with Structural Concrete Bricks filled with concrete in one hole and with sand on the other. The inner walls are not planned but my idea is to build them with 10mm Fired Clay Brick (not sure if this is the right translation, but I mean the solid bricks). Timing: I've started the construction, so I have to decide quickly on the layout and have it build. Budget: Not sure if this is meaningful because the prices in Brazil are different, but my idea is to control the expenses as my priority is the house. Neighborhood: The house is out in the country side but I still have neighbors on both sides. Also have 10 dogs, so the idea is to have good isolation from the outside Other Comments: I tried to fit John's corner studio on this space but the rooms ended up too small that I decided to create my own layout. I did not include a bathroom as there is an external one just outside the studio. The house position is on the east side of the studio, around 5 meters away. I really would like to have you guys to evaluate my preliminary design so I can go ahead and start detailing it. I still have a lot of questions ( specially on specific topics, like air conditioning), but I will take each step carefully. Thanks for reading this. I intend to make this my construction Journal. Peace, Ewerton

Guys, I've been playing with this since I posted my last version. I tried to keep the CR close to the Ratio 1:1.28:1.54 (ceiling at 3.08. The room is is on the ratio 1:1.14:1.39. What do you guys think? I like this design because it gives me 2 good recording rooms, although their are only 2.8 meters deep. Thanks Ewerton

Hi Guys, no feedback, at least to say if I'm in the right direction? I kept working in some other options, including John's Corner CR and will post it soon. I know I'm missing a lot of details and might look I'm lazy, but the fact is that I just want to make sure I'm on the right direction to focus my efforts on detailing. I'm not very good with 3D detailing so I would like to be more precise when I finally go to sketchup thanks Ewerton

Hi Ewerton, and welcome to the forum! :) Sometimes it can take a while to get a reply to your thread here: There's a lot of activity lately!

My idea would be having at least 2 rooms, to separate the drums and be able to record live rehearsals with the drummer in a different room.

. Very wise. Trying to track drums in the same room as the control room has never worked well for me. I like to be able to hear how each mic sounds on the CR monitors, and you can't do that if you are tracking in the same room!

Some heavier (and louder) bands will definitely be rehearsing

:shock: :!: Louder and heavier than AC/DC, Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Megadeath and Iced Earth??? WOW! :shock:

No walls yet. Only the foundations of the outer walls are built. The plan is to have a ceiling height at 3.2 meters.

Excellent. That's a good height for tracking drums. And with only the foundations so far, you have the perfect opportunity to do this right. Do you already have a concrete slab laid? If not, then there are things you could do to improve isolation, but if it is already in, then that's fine.

The plot is in a hill so I had to "cut it", and the studio will be half underground.

Even better! So you will have great isolation and great damping.

For this reason, the outer walls will be built with Structural Concrete Bricks filled with concrete in one hole and with sand on the other.

Is that to save money? There's not really that much benefit from the sand: Yes, it will damp resonance a bit, but you'd probably be better off just filling it all with concrete.

The inner walls are not planned but my idea is to build them with 10mm Fired Clay Brick (not sure if this is the right translation, but I mean the solid bricks).

You certainly are planning on a lot of isolation. Yes, a filled concrete block outer leaf and a brick inner leaf will get you good isolation, down to low frequencies. BUt there are some issue to be aware of during the construction itself, such as making sure to keep the cavity between them totally clean, no mortar drips, no rubble, nothing. That is important.

I really would like to have you guys to evaluate my preliminary design so I can go ahead and start detailing it

Both of your layouts look OK to me, but I think the second one makes more sense, as you can have windows with good sight lines from the control room to the other rooms.

I still have a lot of questions ( specially on specific topics, like air conditioning

In Sao Paolo, HVAC will certainly be important! You have four proper seasons there, with plenty of variation, so the HVAC system needs to be designed with that in mind.

I know I'm missing a lot of details and might look I'm lazy, but the fact is that I just want to make sure I'm on the right direction to focus my efforts on detailing.

It's fine. As a basic layout it makes sense. One issue you will have, since you only have one entrance, is that all the load in/load out will have to go through the control room. So all instruments, equipment, and people have to move through the back of the control room, and that includes musicians taking bathroom breaks, smoke breaks, going out to make phone calls, etc. There's going to be a lot of traffic through there... It might be a better idea to have the live room next to the door, so load-in/load-out and other traffic doesn't interfere with the control room so much. - Stuart -

Hi Stuart. First of all, thanks for your reply! And sorry for pushing for an answer. I should have posted a while ago to avoid rushing at the end, but now my constructor is pushing me for decisions. This is why I got nervous not knowing If I missed anything or it was just people that did not have time to spend on it. I feel relieved right now. :) I've been playing wit more option, even with an adaptation of John´s Corner Room that I will post this weekend.

Soundman2020 wrote:

Do you already have a concrete slab laid? If not, then there are things you could do to improve isolation, but if it is already in, then that's fine.

I don´t ! Anything that you could advise is welcome!

Soundman2020 wrote:

Is that to save money? There's not really that much benefit from the sand: Yes, it will damp resonance a bit, but you'd probably be better off just filling it all with concrete.

I saw this in a Post and thought it would be good. Yes, it is to save the money on the cement. I will go and check if we still can do it with cement. It´s been 5 days since I last went there!!!

Soundman2020 wrote:

So all instruments, equipment, and people have to move through the back of the control room, and that includes musicians taking bathroom breaks, smoke breaks, going out to make phone calls, etc. There's going to be a lot of traffic through there... It might be a better idea to have the live room next to the door, so load-in/load-out and other traffic doesn't interfere with the control room so much.

I saw some comments saying that it is bad when you have the Live Room as your only entrance, as people cannot go in when there is something going on. Another option would be putting the STORAGE in the entrance, but It would not be a nice storage and things would have to be well organized ( which ofthen they are not. I would also lose the Vocal Boot connection to the Control Room. I will think about it at see what comes out. THANKS again! Shortly I will have my construction thread!

Guys, After many back and forth designs I went back to my initial thoughts and the most obvious choice in my opinion: John's Corner Room. I was having trouble to find a good sizing, but I think I finally got to something that balances well the rooms dimensions. What do you guys think?

Hi Guys, I've playing with the slab. this will be the next step. Here is what I'm thinking, although I'm not sure I need the bottom concrete layer. I'm thinking about 5 cm each layer and a 1/2" rubber or rockwool between them!

If you are going to all that trouble and expense, then I would suggest a more traditional design with a properly floated concrete floor, jacked up on isolation mounts, such as those made by Mason Industries, or others. Their engineers can tell you how to do it right. What you are showing there is not the right way to do it. - Stuart -

thanks Stuart. Not sure I will need a real floating floor. I only wanted to have some kind of decoupling between the floor and the walls. Anything that is used to do it? I'm reading Rod's book and it says: "The space between the two slabs was treated with an expansion joint material and then caulked to seal out moisture." I'm thinking about having this expansion joint material between the walls and the slabs. and then caulking them. How does it sound? And, which material should I use? thanks ewerton

After visiting some studios and talking to some friends that are involved in the business in Brazil I decided to change AGAIN the layout. My layout based on the Corner CR was good but it gave me 2 recording rooms with almost the same size. I decided to have 2, but one small for acoustic guitar and voice recording. I played a lot with the layout and came up with this: The outer wall are done: Comments?

I decided to change AGAIN the layout. My layout based on the Corner CR was good but it gave me 2 recording rooms with almost the same size. I decided to have 2, but one small for acoustic guitar and voice recording. I played a lot with the layout and came up with this:

That looks a lot more practical to me! "Técnica" is your control room, right? - Stuart -

Yes Stuart. Tecnica is the CR. I started building the inner walls and the final design is as follows: Smaller recording room. A storage room that can be used as an Amp room and a VB that can be accessed from the Recording Room or the CR. Also I put the drums in the wall that are underground. My only concern is that the Recording Room has similar dimensions. Ewerton