small stuido design - headed toward trouble

Hey all, I'm currently attempting to build a studio (control room and isobooth) within very tight limitations. I'm sure where to even start question wise so I'll just tell you everthing. The room is 9.5x14.5x9'. It's a drop ceiling with about another 6'-7' of space before hitting actual ceiling. It's typical commercial contruction (single dryall, metal studs, no insulation) but it does have a concrete floor. The walls go up a foot past the false ceiling, so their 10' tall. Contruction is a very difficult path to travel down. I have included a pic of what I want to do with the control room but have no space for the isobooth. All help is very appreciated. --- mike

Mike - the first problem I see is isolation - those 10' walls aren't going to help when it comes to adding an iso booth unless you put a new ceiling on one of the rooms or both. Have you considered this?? cheers john

Hi John, I agree the ceiling is a huge problem. I had an idea of capping it off instead of building the walls all the way up. Would this be feasable? I was also thinking of laying 12inches of insulation on the drop ceiling and maybe adding soundBlock (or similar material). This won't isolate it but i figure it would serious dampen the travel of the sound. Would you suggest that way of just hangers above the drop ceiling. I'm currently at the point of needing to demostrate how much leakage the sound will be coming from this room, which I believe will help my cause a lot, at least I hope so. As far as the isobooth, well, right now it seem very unlikely to happen since I would have to build it inside the room I have specified, which I wold consider a nightmare acoustically. Am I correct in assuming this? I'm also considering getting one of those portable isobooths, but there are a few negatives to that. And to isolate those further and the size needed it would probably cost the same to if not less to build a proper room in the first place. --- mike

If you are not going to seal off the ceiling I'd fill it with hangers and suck up as much of the sound as you can. cheers john