Help with difficult studio design...

Hi! I'm a 22 years old student of music tech n' acoustics from Greece. I'm about to begin building my studio and i know that maybe i should do it my own (and don't bother you) because this is a matterial of my studies,but i don't have the experiense to do such a thing... Hope you help me with my plans... cause it's a little tricky space for me...As you see the room (my parents offered me)has 6 colons 0.48*0.48 each.Woold you recomend me a rec plus control room or a drumbooth plus rec plus control.It's not a big space(49.4sqm without colons) but i wish i'll do a nice work "with a little help from my friends"...

Sorry i forgot to tell you about it's Height witch is 4.15m...

Leon - where are the doors into that space - are there any windows, what kind of isolation do you need etc. cheers john

First of all THANKS FOR YOUR HELP... The room has a door on your right side 2m from the colon(as you see the plan)and there are no windows ... It's about 20m from a street and that's an issue,because a studio must be quiet 24h per day and not after 5 for example,when the traffic become less noisy...Thats why i don't know if i'm gonna place any windows here...But i would like to do that in order to be sunny,in some way...This street comes over 100 dB many times a day (Tracks and Bikes)and i haven't meassured L10 but i believe 110dB sources pass in a distance of 20m... Do you thing that this is a big problem and increases the cost in a non effective way??? If you need more plans or info,let me know.... THANK YOU JOHN SAYERS!!!

I'd put the control room near the street so the studio is further from the noise. Something like this. cheers john

Goodmorning from Greece 8.30... John,thank you againand again ,but there's a little problem and it's my fault...the street is oposite,so the rec is on the street... But the plan is like a dream...You can't now how enthousiast i've become!! Would recomed me to change the rooms positions as i see them, or the rec will become too small... And with the space that isn't in the studio plan ... could i use it for placing a rack of pc or other noisy equipment or it has the use of a bass trap???Thanks again...

If you build a room within a room, as I've drawn you should be fine with isolation. To reverse it would ruin the way it works:) Yes - use those spaces for cupboards and store areas. cheers john

Thanks... I'll post again when i finish my plans just to take a comfirmation from the master... OK lets work... Leonidas Xartofylakas Greece

Hi there... I got news... First of all i present the latest of my work on my plans begining from the walls. In Picture 1 you can see the place as it is right now... In Picture 2 there's the plan of the walls i'll make and the actions i'm thinking to take to reduse the noise from the outside... In C1 to C4 you can see the connections between the walls... What do you think????? Any help will be extremely usefull..................... (I also include a sketchup file if anyone wants to "play" with my future studio) I'll come directly as soon as i finish with the ceiling and the floor...

And the connections between the walls

and Sketchup...

In 2 parts cause it's 509kb... Choose both and extract.................... Any way i could make it smaller?????? I've tryed things but nothing happened....................

Leon - please follow the forum rules and resize those pictures down to 700px - they widen the page and make it annoying for other members including myself. cheers john

There must be something better than that.... Does anybody think that i'm exaggerate with the pugging????? The truth is that i need to cut about 50db....but i began with a 50.8m2 space and i end up with a 35m2 one............. There must be something better than that.... And will that dual glassdoor system be successful???????????

OK i can't see the pictures also....Sorry i forgot... I'll do that right now.

OK... Lets see now...

Were your measurements of street noise actually ON the street? Have you made any measurements inside the area where you're going to build the studio? You mentioned that you thought you'd need 50 dB isolation and that is easily attainable but if you have 100+ on the street, that you leave you with 50+ dB AFTER you've finished in the studio. That's probably not going to work for any serious music. What is the surface of the brick wall like now? Is it just bare brick? If so, you can gain a few dB of isolation by "rendering" (applying motar or cement) those walls before you begin. Is the door you have going into your studio open to the street or is there another door to the outside that you haven't drawn? If you're going to have any problems, it's likely to come in from door(s). len

Hi and thanks for reply... First of all,for the old (heavy brown) brick walls (on top and right) These were made by my grandfather 22 years ago and they are 20cm as i've said with cement (not naked) and made with these grey big bricks (i don't now its english name). The pink walls i draw (on bottom and on your left) are the walls that i'm gonna build (as i've said) with this brick without holes (solid bricks). Right now the space is indiscrete.... Finally there gonna be two doors (these on your right)... I haven't measured professionally yet (i have an old dBSPL meter) but the street is 30m far and it state has plans to make it bigger (in 2-3 years).Then it will come 13m out of my bottom wall.... The sure thing is that the propper way is to first built the "pink" walls you see,then meassure and then make the studio, but i post these because i'm gonna start and i wanted to now if the dimessions of the solid brick walls seems to be fine... Thanks again from sunny Crete...

So, where you show the pink brick walls, there is now nothing? Do you have the option of moving that wall to the left to get a little more space? Also, you give the square meters for the rooms but not the actual dimensions. Could you include those so we have a better idea of the space you have to work with? John's given you a very good design to start with. len

Yes the John's plan is beautiful and the only thing i'm afraid of is the two glass doors in the middle.... I wish i could get a bigger space but we rent this and when my father signed the contract he wrote that we'll take this space for personal use............ I hope some day i'll take the whole space (180m2) and make a real studio.... But right now i cant work in my 3.5x2.4 bedroom anymore.... I can't breath....... You'll see,i'll make a good work in there. I just need time,extra money and a little help from my friends..........

That is a much better drawing for us to work with. As to the glass doors and John's design, if you like the design, go for it. John has sliding glass doors in almost every design and he doesn't design crap. He knows what he's doing and wouldn't recomend a design that wouldn't work. I know what you mean about being "crowed" in a bedroom. That's the reason I'm building my studio in a separate building - space and isolation from the family. len

"I know what you mean about being "crowed" in a bedroom. That's the reason I'm building my studio in a separate building - space and isolation from the family. " I'm happy you can feal me bro..... I can feel you to..... Burn Bedroom,Burn As for the doors,i have no dubt about John.... I'm just afraid of me and the things here in Heraklion/Crete/Greece in constraction are some years behind.....Will i make this thing work??? ---I'm seeing his work every day and i feel bad because i don't see MASTERS make forums for other topics like recording etc...Much Much Much more than "a good work" -----

And another option..... The thing is i could save more space.... Again and again i see John's plan winning.... I just wanted to have the control on botton (in the plan) which mean closer to the hurt (NO,that's a Rush's song) of noise........

Looks pretty good to me (but then, I'm no expert). To maximize your space and options, you might want to put a small vocal/isolation booth on one end of the hallway or the other. len

I'm moving to constraction to post a question about this room.....