Container recording studio and rehearsal space

Hello everybody, first post here, i'm from Italy and me and my brother are going to build a studio and several rehearsal rooms. Our idea is to build everything inside shipping containers in a modular fashion. The basic room will be two shipping containers joined together. Initially we would use 20' containers high cube type but since they are not easy to find (used ones) we would rely on 40' high cube. So, two 40' containers joined together will make for 2 rooms, around 6m x 4m each one. Recording studio (tracking and mixing rooms) is going to be 4 containers with internal dividing walls. Everything is going to be placed inside a 1300 square meters shed. Here is a pic: Closest neighbors are 20 meters far from us. The area has a maximum spl threshold of 55dB circa. The shed has its own natural reverberation so our concerns are not just sounds leaking outside the building but even sound inside the shed that will need to be treated somehow. Today we had the chance to walk inside a naked 40' container and perform some tests on what you can hear inside vs outside. I took with me my sound lever meter set for A weighting slow response. Hitting a snare drum would result in a 70dB outside the container at 1m distance. With test tones from 100hz to 800hz and 105dB inside the container i measured around 70-75 dB outside depending on position. Our plan for soundproofing is to treat walls, ceiling and floor this way: - steel studs (wood for floor) - 1 layer 70kg/m3 5cm rockwool - 12mm and 15mm drywall sheets (MDF for floor) - Auralex sheetbloc in between drywall panels (MDF for floor) You can see a first raw design here: http://www.industriemusicali.com/pianta.jpg 1-7 are rehearsal rooms 8 is the recording studio 9-10 is for live situations Yes there are going to be plants inside the building! :mrgreen: this is with 20' containers but as said we are forced to use 40' ones Global budget is 100K€ and 8K€ each room (container+soundproofing+acoustical treatment+air conditioning+electric system) Lucky enough all the containers will be shipped for free and what more the shipping company will take care of placing them inside the shed at our preference. Considering soundproofing, what do you think about? How would you approach this? Thank you in advance!

Hi "op-electronics". Please read the forum rules for posting (click here). You seem to be missing a couple of things! :) Regarding your idea of building studios in shipping containers, it certainly is possible. John has already done that. Take a look here: http://johnlsayers.com/Pages/Spark_1.htm

Our main concern is about soundproofing and acoustical treatment since containers are not widely diffused for music dedicated environments. What do you think about? How would you approach this?

That depends on how much isolation you need, but the best method is generally with a true "room-in-a-room" system, based on fully-decoupled 2-leaf MSM isolation. - Stuart - - Stuart -

Hi Soundman, sorry for that, i noticed later and while you were replying i was editing my post to satisfy forum rules. Yes that's the way i'd like to build it, room inside a room. I've seen John's great work on recording studio inside the shipping container. But what if i have a loud band inside? We can't achieve full isolation i know but i'll be happy with: 1) satisfying local sound threshold requirements 2) have a normal conversation on the outside without having to move or scream :D

I took with me my sound lever meter set for A weighting slow response. Hitting a snare drum would result in a 70dB outside the container at 1m distance. With test tones from 100hz to 800hz and 105dB inside the container i measured around 70-75 dB outside depending on position.

If you had your meter set to "A" and "Slow", and you used a snare as a sound source, then you are not actually capturing the real sound levels of the snare. Snares (and the drum kit in general) have very large transients, with fast attack to very high levels, then a rapid drop to the longer, sustained resonant level. The real transient peak of a snare can easily be 120 dB, but measuring that on "slow" will only show maybe 90-something to 100-something. And since most of the energy of a snare is in the lows and low mids, measuring on "A" weighting is not taking that into account. You should set the meter to "C" weighting and "fast" response to see a more realistic measurement of the actual level of a snare drum. "A" weighting and "slow" response is usually what noise regulations specify, since it is better at picking up average sustained levels of typical low-level residential and light industrial sounds, but it doesn't give a good reading for nearby, loud music, which is what you need to check for studios. So I'd suggest that you re-check your measurements, using not just a snare and tones, but also a good studio monitor or other full-range speaker, playing typical rock music at about 100 dB (measured 1m away from the speaker), as your sound source, and with the meter set on "C" and "Fast" to capture transients, as well as "C" and "Slow" for getting a good idea of how people will typical hear the sound. But anyway, it seems that your shipping containers are giving you around 20 to 30 dB of isolation, and you need around 50 to 60 dB, realistically, based on your explanations.

I've seen John's great work on recording studio inside the shipping container. But what if i have a loud band inside?

I have never asked John, and I'm not even sure if he ever did sound level tests on Spark 1, but from the way it is built I would estimate that it probably gets about 50 dB of isolation, perhaps more. A loud band inside would be around 110 dB to 120 dB, so outside the level would be around 60 to 70 dB, measured 1 m away from the wall.

- steel studs (wood for floor)

Are you sure you need to float your floors? Might not be needed... How will the containers be set down on the ground? Will the go on concrete slabs? Concrete pads? Just rest on the dirt? Rest on runners? Something else? That's important.

- 1 layer 70kg/m3 5cm rockwool

For good low-frequency isolation, I'd suggest going with something that is less dense: around 45 to 50 kg/m3 would be good. That should be about 10cm thick, at least.

- 12mm and 15mm drywall sheets

Use only 15mm: 12mm is too thin, too flexible, the mass is too low, etc. So just do two layers of 15mm.

(MDF for floor)

Plywood would be much better. Use 3/4" (19mm)

- Auralex sheetbloc in between drywall panels

Not necessary. If you need high levels of isoaltion for low frequencies, then use Green Glue in between the layers (it is not actually glue at all! that's just the name...), but if you don't need extreme isolation, then you can leave that out too, and just use the two layers of 15mm drywall.

Global budget is 100K€ and 8K€ each room (container+soundproofing+acoustical treatment+air conditioning+electric system)

Probably a bit on the low side: Your HVAC systems will eat up a very large chunk of that. A simple mini-split with the right capacity will cost quite a bit, all by itself, then you need to add the installation costs, plus the cost of the ventilation ducts, fans, silencers, low-noise registers, etc. It all adds up...

i was editing my post to satisfy forum rules.

:thu: - Stuart -