New studio, 260m2//2800square feet. Need some help!

Hello! I'm about to do something I've been wanting to do for years and years, and finally it's time. I found the perfect location at a very reasonable price, so now it's time to build this thing. I'm thinking I want a control room, a big live room, a smaller room for guitars and stuff, and a vocal booth. And of course a lounge part with the coffee machine and a beer cooler. I will start gently by asking you the following questions: The room is on the third floor of an industrial building so the floors/ceilings are made from thick concrete, but I'm in the centre of the floor which means I have neighbours to the left and right of me. The walls that separate my room from them are light weight concrete blocks covered in plaster. I believe I will have to build floating rooms in order to not bother them like crazy, but I have two approaches here and I'd appreciate some input on them. 1. I build a wall all around the room with isolation and a layer of gypsum sheets with an air gap between my walls and theirs. Then I start with my floating rooms, which will give me another air gap, and I'm thinking about 50mm of insulation and two layers of gypsum board (do you think three will be necessary since I have that extra wall?). 2. I focus only on the floating rooms and build them with three layers of gypsum board. No extra wall. This is a great thing being able to finally do this, and I look forward to post updates here. The sketch shows the layout of the room as it is now. In the lower right corner is a bathroom/shower that I don't want to move anywhere since I'm in a bit of a rush. I'm hoping for this to be ready for recording by the beginning of or no later than the end of march ´15. Thank you! /Joona

Here's a quick design I did of the space. The control room design seems to be quite common, i.e. well tested, so I will probably go with this. My question here is if the window will cause some issues?

Hi Joona, and Welcome! :)

I'm thinking I want a control room, a big live room, a smaller room for guitars and stuff, and a vocal booth. And of course a lounge part with the coffee machine and a beer cooler.

This looks like an interesting project: that's a four-room studio plus a "green room" and a bathroom. That sounds like it will be a commercial facility, not just a hobby studio: right?

The room is on the third floor of an industrial building so the floors/ceilings are made from thick concrete, but I'm in the centre of the floor which means I have neighbours to the left and right of me.

It also means your floor is a potential drum head (resonant system), which could transmit sounds to whatever is below you: Is there another floor down below you, with other offices/shops/etc there? If so, then that might be a problem.

The walls that separate my room from them are light weight concrete blocks covered in plaster.

That's probably good for your outer-leaf. Do you know what type of concrete blocks those are? What is the density, for example? Or at least the dimensions of the blocks.

I believe I will have to build floating rooms in order to not bother them

That all depends on what you mean by "floating"... If you just mean "fully decoupled 2-leaf MSM construction", which is also more commonly called "room-in-a-room", then you are on the right track for good isolation at a reasonable price. If you mean "fully floated studio on isolation mounts" then you are on track for excellent isolation with a very high price tag. If you mean "floated like I saw on YouTube with rubber pucks" then you are on track for very poor isolation, lousy acoustics, but at least it will be cheap! :) So maybe you can explain a bit more about what your concept of "floated" is, since there are several variations on that.

build a wall all around the room with isolation and a layer of gypsum sheets with an air gap between my walls and theirs. Then I start with my floating rooms, which will give me another air gap,

That would be a three-leaf system, which will not get you good isolation for low frequencies. You should only ever do two-leaf isolation systems (just one air gap, not more), as that will give you optimum isolation at the most economical cost.

and I'm thinking about 50mm of insulation and two layers of gypsum board (do you think three will be necessary since I have that extra wall?).

Insulation is always necessary in an MSM system: it acts as a damper on the resonance of the system, and also the internal resonances within the cavity. If you do not put the insulation in, that can cost you anywhere up to about 16 dB of isolation. Not because the insulation stops sound getting through: that's a myth. But simply because the insulation is an acoustic damper on the resonances.

2. I focus only on the floating rooms and build them with three layers of gypsum board. No extra wall.

Correct, but only if it is done right. First, you need to determine how much isolation you need (in decibels), then you need to calculate the amount of mass and the size of the air cavity that will get you the amount of isolation you want, at the frequencies you need it. Three layers of drywall (gypsum board, sheet rock, plasterboard, etc.) might be enough, or it might be too much, or it might not be enough. The calculations will show that. Second, the inner-leaf for each room must be fully decoupled form the outer-leaf that surrounds them, and the inner-leaf of each room must also be fully decoupled from the inner-leaves of all the other rooms. Third, everything must be sealed air-tight. Both leaves, all doors and windows, the electrical system, and the HVAC system (except for the silencer boxes, of course!). This is the single biggest problem that could damage your isolation severely. Even a small gap or crack can have serious effects on isolation.

In the lower right corner is a bathroom/shower that I don't want to move anywhere since I'm in a bit of a rush.

That's fine: if you want to keep that, then there's no problem. The rest of the studio can be designed around that. You should also put your green-room next to that area, as well as any storage space, offices, lobby or any other non-acoustical space, to simplify the isolation design.

I'm hoping for this to be ready for recording by the beginning of or no later than the end of march ´15.

:shock: That's a pretty tight schedule for such a large facility, if you plan to design it yourself! An experienced designer would take at least a couple of months to design that, but you will need at least 3 or 4 months more to first learn how to do it, then to actually fiddle around with the hundreds of possibilities, details, compromises and changes that are always needed in studio design. So realistically, it will take you about 5 months until you have a design that makes sense and is build-able... then however long your contractor needs to actually build it, plus the time needed to get permits, inspections, structural engineering, etc. Honestly I would allow 8 months to a year to do this, if you want to do the design yourself. Even if you hire a designer to do it for you, I'm not sure you would be able to have it finished by March next year... that's only four months away! And all of the above assumes that a simple isolation design will be all that you need: if it turns out that it is necessary to have a fully-floated studio on isolation springs, then that would take a lot longer. You also didn't mention your budget: If you have a big enough budget then it might be possible to use more expensive materials and techniques to get it built faster, but if you are on a tight budget, then that's not the case. How much are you planning to spend here?

The control room design seems to be quite common, i.e. well tested,

What are your goals for this studio? That's a very basic control room design, not high quality... and you didn't show the dimensions, so it isn't possible to do a modal analysis on it, to see if it will work or not. So if you are wanting a high quality studio with minimal acoustic issues, then I would suggest a different design. The window is not a problem, provided that the room remains symmetrical, acoustically. However, world-class studios usually have the window in the front wall, between the speakers, for better sight lines and easier visual communication between the engineer and the musicians. So I would consider rotating the CR to face the LR, then arranging the iso-booth and vocal booth around the sides of the CR, where sight lines would be very much better. There are MANY ways that layout can be improved. If you really do want to learn how to do this yourself, then I'd suggest two books: "Master Handbook of Acoustics" by F. Alton Everest (that's sort of the Bible for acoustics), and "Home Recording Studio: Build it Like the Pros", by Rod Gervais. The first one will teach you the basics of acoustics and room design, while the second one will teach you about the aspects of actually building a studio. You can get them both on Amazon.com, as well as in most large bookstores. After you have read those, then you should be able to do the basic layout for your studio, but it will take a lot of time to get there. If you really are in a big hurry to get this finished as soon as possible, then you might want to consider hiring a studio designer to do the design for you. That will save a lot of time, and also ensure that you avoid the typical mistakes that first-time designers often make. It can also save you money, in the long term. I guess the key questions here are your budget and your timing! If your budget is decent and your timing really is very tight, then probably hiring a designer would be your best option. But if your budget is small and you can delay completion for maybe a year, then you really can do the design all yourself, and probably a lot of the building too. - Stuart -