Starting to plan my new mix-mastering studio

This is my first post so it will be more introductory. I currently live in Sonora, California, and I did put that in my profile. I did read the rules, so I will do my best to follow them. :D I read somewhere where the person stated that the ideal studio location would be on a farm out in the middle of no where. Well, I just bought a 3.8 acre farm in Corning, California and my new studio will be in the middle of no where. I get possession of the property in two weeks on April 25th, but I am not moving until June. The property has an existing steel free-span (no interior posts) building which is on a concrete slab on grade. It is 32' wide by 48' feet long, the main beams are 11' 10" clear above the floor and run across the 32' width. They support a open peaked steel-sheeted roof that is about 6' higher than the walls which are about 13' 6" high (they cover the ends of the beams). I will go in and take precise measurements and photographs after April 25th. The building has a separately metered 125 amp electrical service. It currently has a roll up door on the front end and a large sliding door on the back end. It currently has no windows. My new home is located a couple of hundred feet away and there is a barn between the house and building so I will be nicely isolated. Some things about the building I need to consider:

The metal roof will be noisy when it rains, I am thinking about having someone come in and spray all of the ceiling and walls with as thick a rubberized type of insulation as I can get prior to starting building the studio. It gets very hot in this area in the summertime average temperatures are 100 to 110 degrees F and it can hit 120 F. I am a Canadian but I have been in California so long, I forget the metric conversion, around 40 C? Bottom line is I need some serious A/C or I will fry in there. Hopefully 125 amps will handle that plus plugs, lights; it would be a major expense to upgrade the service.

I do a few things musically.

Score movies. Produce my own rock/pop music for my band which has become a virtual recording band because we are spread all over the place. Mix and master tracks for other people (online mostly).

So most of the time I am working alone, I want my main room to be a control room/listening room where I can mix and master. Probably maximum levels will be 85 Db. Since I have the space, I would like to make this room an optimum size, I have read that somewhere around 16' x 30' works well? And other than the beams which I believe are 16' on center (I need to check that, they might be 12') I can pretty much have as high a ceiling as I want. I also want to have a small isolation room, maybe 10' x 12' for vocals and acoustic guitar and another room where I can set up a kit of drums and some amps. I also need an office, a restroom and a small storage room. I am thinking about maybe using the back of my main room as the office. If my listening position is say a third back in the room at 10' and I put a couch behind me for guests, there will still be a pretty large space behind that (on second thought, that would put the guest couch almost in the center of the room, isn't that a bad listening spot?). I can't see that it would hurt to put a counter with a computer, phone, fax and a couple of file cabinets on the back wall. I could still put acoustic treatment on the wall. Or maybe it would be better to do it on the side at the back? Anyway I have lots of things to think about. I downloaded the Mac version of SketchUp, but I admit to be terrible at computer drafting even though I worked in the construction industry most of my life. Will post more soon. I look forward to tapping into the tremendous experience of this group.

Yes, the building is ugly, but we will put some lipstick on the pig. I am almost 60, so I don't plan to move ever again. My wife can bury me beside the studio.

Hi Leon, and welcome to the forum! :)

and I did put that in my profile.

Looks like it fell out again! :)

Maybe you could put it back in again?

I just bought a 3.8 acre farm in Corning, California and my new studio will be in the middle of no where.

Nice! sounds like an excellent place to build. Far from the madding crowd...

The property has an existing steel free-span (no interior posts) building which is on a concrete slab on grade. It is 32' wide by 48' feet long, the main beams are 11' 10" clear above the floor and run across the 32' width.

Excuse me while I drool and turn a pale shade of green with envy... That's great!

The building has a separately metered 125 amp electrical service.

That should be plenty, unless you have an unusual amount of hungry equipment to feed.

My new home is located a couple of hundred feet away and there is a barn between the house and building so I will be nicely isolated.

You might be surprised about how little isolation you get from that, for low frequencies. The distance will probably do more for the isolation than the barn will, unless it is a really, big barn.

The metal roof will be noisy when it rains, I am thinking about having someone come in and spray all of the ceiling and walls with as thick a rubberized type of insulation as I can get prior to starting building the studio.

That will help to damp the vibration a bit, but it won't fully eliminate the noise: That is basically impact noise, and will be transmitted to the building structure itself. Since it isn't realistic to think about beefing up such a large area of metal with extra mass as well, you might want to think about doing your studio as a three-leaf system. This might be one of those cases where it makes sense to do that.

It gets very hot in this area in the summertime average temperatures are 100 to 110 degrees F and it can hit 120 F. I am a Canadian but I have been in California so long, I forget the metric conversion, around 40 C?

100 = 38 °C, 110 = 43 °C, 120 = 49 °C. That's hot, no matter which way you look at it! :shock:

Bottom line is I need some serious A/C or I will fry in there.

Yup!

Hopefully 125 amps will handle that plus plugs, lights; it would be a major expense to upgrade the service.

That's nearly 14 kVA. That should be good for about 400,000 btu/hr of cooling, assuming an extremely inefficient 10:1 system. You should be fine, unless you plan to record an entire symphony orchestra in there with 120° outside! But that's just very rough, "back of the envelope" calculation, so it would be sensible to do all the HVAC math properly, and if necessary size the actual studio interior small enough that you won't need excessive cooling capacity. Also consider low consumption lighting, that not only draws less power but also produces less heat. Etc.

I do a few things musically. Score movies. Produce my own rock/pop music for my band which has become a virtual recording band because we are spread all over the place. Mix and master tracks for other people (online mostly).

So for the control room, you will need a large video screen at the front, a 5.1 system (or 7.1?), and accurate acoustics. In other words, the room needs to be designed as a multi-channel room, based on the ITU, EBU and AES specs. Would that be about right?

Probably maximum levels will be 85 Db.

That's the "standard" calibration level, and it is smart to use 80 to 85 as a reference mixing level, especially for film work.

Since I have the space, I would like to make this room an optimum size, I have read that somewhere around 16' x 30' works well?

For a multichannel "critical listening" room, the ITU-R BS.1116-1 specs call for a minimum floor area of 30 m2, and no more than 70m2 (roughly 320 ft2 to 750 ft2). 16x30 fits in there nicely. But it is not just floor area: you also need to consider room ratio and total room volume. The standard "reference" room has a volume of 100m3 (3530 ft3), so that's a good one to shoot for. So look for a good ratio in that region.

I also want to have a small isolation room, maybe 10' x 12' for vocals and acoustic guitar and another room where I can set up a kit of drums and some amps.

So this is basically a three-room facility? Control room plus iso booth plus live room? You have plenty of space to do that, so this should work out very well.

I also need an office, a restroom and a small storage room.

OK, but those are not really considered to be in the acoustic part of the studio: they don't need any isolation or special treatment. One thing that would need to be taken into account is the HVAC system, which will need to cool both the studio and these "utility" rooms: that needs to be separate into two sections, independent. You don't want bathroom noises (and odors!) getting into your control room, live room and vocal booth...

I am thinking about maybe using the back of my main room as the office.

If you are doing serious mastering, I would put the office in a separate room. Mastering studios need to be very accurate, acoustically, and typical office stuff might not fit in well with that. You could maybe have an office just off to one side of the control room, through sliding glass doors that can be left open to give you easy access to the office area, but closed when you need to do critical listening.

If my listening position is say a third back

The theoretical best point is 38% back from the front wall. But that's just theory, and in reality most engineers do prefer to be a bit forward of that point.

(on second thought, that would put the guest couch almost in the center of the room, isn't that a bad listening spot?).

Yup... :)

I can't see that it would hurt to put a counter with a computer, phone, fax and a couple of file cabinets on the back wall.

There are several possible unwanted effects from that in a mastering room. For example, the filing cabinets could act either as resonant cavities or tuned traps of some type, and most likely they would not be tuned to the frequencies you want! etc.

I am almost 60, so I don't plan to move ever again. My wife can bury me beside the studio.

Let's hope that doesn't happen for a loooong time! You didn't mention your budget, which is a very important factor in studio design, so that would help. But overall, this has the makings of a great studio. - Stuart -

Your place has huge potential! I look forward to watching the build unfold. In terms of insulating / quietening the steel roof, I have used SPU -spray polyurethane foam. It's expensive but can work well for this kind of structure. It does not have a mass advantage for isolation but does tend to seal leaks extremely well. You have so many decisions like this to make, so give yourself time to think it all over. Another expensive option to consider is a balanced power isolator. You might be surprised at the electrical noise reduction you get and in a well-designed, quiet room, it can make a real difference, especially when you run A/C, heat, etc., on the same mains. Best of luck!