Hello!
I am about to begin work on a studio out of the living room of my apartment in the Bronx, NY.
PRIMARY GOALS for Studio.
1) To track the best sounding vocals possible
2) To create a space that is professional, functional, aesthetically pleasing and comfortable to help optimize the experience and creativity of my collaborators and clients
3) To create an environment suitable for daytime mixing (most likely daytime because it is an apartment building with neighbors)
A BIT ABOUT THE SPACE & DESIGN PLANS (please see images attached - drawn to scale)
-The Living room is a rectangle L=17' 6", W= 12' 2", H= 11'
-My bedroom behind the control room is 12' x 10' (might not be relevant though I've considered making it an iso booth or control room since it shares no walls with neighbors, only floor and ceiling)
-There is a 4 ' wide door opening to an the apartment entry way to the right of the listening position (covered by a gray baffle) and a 2.5' door opening to the back right of the listening position (covered by another gray baffle)
The only shared wall is the green wall, directly in front of the listening position. I can regularly hear the evening television from this neighbor :cry: Of course, there are neighbors upstairs and downstairs (hard wood floors that squeak a bit) I can usually hear footsteps and moving furniture from these neighbors. This absolutely sucks. I simply cannot do major structural work to the space since I don't own it. I've considered moving but I have a great price for this space and cannot afford commercial space right now.
So I've decided I can make it work, since the only serious isolation I need is for vocal tracking. I usually mix at low levels and plan to mix during the day, though I would like to improve the STC of the wall and ceiling AT SOME POINT if possible, since I do plan to have a business here.
VOCAL BOOTH.
The basic scheme is using a combination of green glue, layers of dry wall and an iso clips/resilient channel system. A really good guy name Mike Mohs from http://www.acousticalsurfaces.com has been kind enough to help me plan the design and he seems confident that plan (in conjunction with a specific DIY design I will use for the doors and windows) will produce my desired level of isolation. I plan to use some of the vocal booth build posts here on the John Sayers forum to get ideas as far as wiring and ventilation.
QUESTIONS
1) Does the general shape/ design of the booth look okay as far as getting a good vocal sound? Though I will be doing a nearly full-covered wall treatment inside, I am concerned about bass build up, particularly with that one very acute angle. Should I build a bass trap there? I wanted to make a good viewing angle to the control desk and I thought eliminating a parallel wall in the process could only help with standing waves.
2) For the floor of the booth: I am thinking of using U-boats underneath 2x4 joists (my thinking is this will protect the apartment floor and give me some isolation from the squeakiness of the old wood floor) and cover that with with 1 or 2 layers plywood or MDF, followed by some engineered hardwood. Sound okay?
3) Does the overall design of the control room look like it could work as a room to mix in? I'm sure I will need to play with the treatment of the room big time to get things sounding right, but do you foresee any major problems or have any immediate suggestions based on this layout and treatment scheme?
4) Do you have any suggestions for helping with the noise problem (for both sides) of my "green wall", floor, and ceiling?
My thinking is that theres not much I can do with the floor other than maybe putting a rug down...oh well.
But, I thought of adding another layer of drywall mass to the "green wall" and either using green glue or a resilient channel to block a little bit of that mid range problem I am having with the neighbor's TV. I also thought about creating a dropped ceiling to help with the noise above. Thoughts?
Cannot thank you guys enough ( in advance) for your time in helping people with these projects. So many people would be lost without this -- it's much appreciated.
Sincerely,
John Keefe
Advice for Apartment Studio Build - Bronx, NY
Originally posted at johnlsayers.com, topic 19740.
hey there John, I'll answer as best I can and hopefully you'll get some usable information out of it.
I'm not experienced in building vox booths, but going from what i've learnt on this forum, then it's a small room. A small room is going to have higher freq room modes due to the smaller size. How much of a difference changing angles of walls will make could be a bit of a moot point due to size. Apart from not having a symmetrical box I think your okay. Have you had a search around the forum to see if anyone else has built a booth that they're happy with? In my experience, getting a good vocal is about choosing the right mic for the voice. (and having a good voice to start with!!) Be wary of over deadening the booth as it's a very uncomfortable space to sing in, and can be quite tiring for an artist.1) Does the general shape/ design of the booth look okay as far as getting a good vocal sound? Though I will be doing a nearly full-covered wall treatment inside, I am concerned about bass build up, particularly with that one very acute angle. Should I build a bass trap there? I wanted to make a good viewing angle to the control desk and I thought eliminating a parallel wall in the process could only help with standing waves.
I'm not sure what U-boats are, but i think i'm getting the general idea. I think MDF has a higher density than ply so I'd go with that. use whatever is heavier. Green glue could help you with isolation in the booth if you're doing double layers.2) For the floor of the booth: I am thinking of using U-boats underneath 2x4 joists (my thinking is this will protect the apartment floor and give me some isolation from the squeakiness of the old wood floor) and cover that with with 1 or 2 layers plywood or MDF, followed by some engineered hardwood. Sound okay?
well, to be honest, you're a bit stuck here. With a vocal booth in the room you won't be able to get symmetry for a listening position no matter how you orient it. Ideally as a mix room, you'd rotate the listening position 90deg to the left and fire the monitors down the long axis of the room, but with the vox booth behind you you'll lose symmetry and get some odd reflections. as you are you've got the back wall close to you and an odd shape off to the right which could be problematic. I'd be inclined to turn the listening position 90 deg left and mirror the vox booth with a false wall on the opposite side of the room to keep the symmetry right behind you.3) Does the overall design of the control room look like it could work as a room to mix in? I'm sure I will need to play with the treatment of the room big time to get things sounding right, but do you foresee any major problems or have any immediate suggestions based on this layout and treatment scheme?
without being able to do some serious construction I'd say you're stuck with this. To increase transmission loss you need one of two things. more mass, ie: adding layers to the wall. Or building a completely detached room within a room contruction. It doesn't sound like either of these will be possible unfortunately. If you double layer your vox booth with plasterboard/mdf etc and use green glue between the layers you should get a good level of isolation for recording vocals. This won't help with your mix situation, but at least you'll have a clean signal. Before you go building anything though, you need to get a definite idea of how much isolation you need for your booth so you don't get any bleed from the neighbours. A sound level meter of good quality is what you need for the job. Say you want 35db in the booth and you're getting a reading of 75-80db when the neighbours are watching TV, then you need 40-45db isolation in your booth. Should be doable with a couple of layers of 16mmplaster/mdf with green glue. hope that gives you somewhere to start :) steve4) Do you have any suggestions for helping with the noise problem (for both sides) of my "green wall", floor, and ceiling? My thinking is that theres not much I can do with the floor other than maybe putting a rug down...oh well.