New design ideas

Hi all. I spoke with the local building code inspector and it looks like there are no problems with me building a studio as an addition to my house as long as I live here while I am doing business. Here is the latest ideas I have on my studio designs. First is the exterior shot. The part to the left is the new addition to our house. As you can see I am limited in what I can build by the trees.

Next is the floor plan with markup. I know the controllroom is not 100% symmetrical but it is pretty close and I really need client seating area, I will give up a little symmetry for that. Also what about the brick wall in the drum room? I know that the room is a little small for that but 1) it will look very cool 2) it will save allot on construction cost and 3) I do like a very live drum room. Ceilings will be around 8 to 10 feet depending on how far I can dig down because of tree roots. All walls will be "inside out" with 703 etc. facing out staggered with foil backed and non-foil backed to not deaden things too much.

And floor plans with dimensions. I list all the exterior walls and the walls between iso rooms as 1 foot. That was just a guess, 2x4 4 inches of air gap and another 2x4. Is that about right?

Oh and I suppose that if I flip the controllroom around and put the desk up by the kitchen area I would have more seating.. but I wanted to look out the window. :D It is a really nice view onto a "forest." I also guess that from a sonic standpoint it would be better to have the desk in the small side of the room? I also really like to not look at the performers in the room. People really loosen up when you are not looking at them so having the desk away from the drum room would help to get a more comfortable vibe going, at least in my experience (I have worked in many studios over the years and the ones with less "fish in a fish tank" feel were the ones with the better musical vibe). Thanks for any and all help!!!!!

Maybe you could look to the forest this way? cheers john

LOL... John I know you probably hear this allot but you are really really good. Thanks for that. I do loose a little seating, you think there is a problem with putting some extra seating down by the outside window? I know I still loose a little symmetry but... ?? Also I am using 1 foot walls, 2x4 + 4" gap + 2x4, is this about right, do I have too much, enough or too little space for each wall?

I wanted to keep as much space in the drum room that I could so I touched up the idea above. How does this look? Thanks again!

Yup - you could do that. Your walls are fine - I wan't sure whether you'd allowed for them. ;) BTW - add a bar fridge under your sink so you have some bench space. :D cheers john

John Sayers wrote:

Yup - you could do that. Your walls are fine - I wan't sure whether you'd allowed for them. ;) BTW - add a bar fridge under your sink so you have some bench space. :D cheers john

Thanks John Yes the bar fridge was the plan. :D How about the brick wall in the drum room? That is part of the existing house. On the back side of that wall is the garage that can be seen in the exterior shot above. I am a little worried about flanking from that wall to the adjacent rooms beyond the garage. Also I know that the brick wall is a little close to any mics in the center of the room and I might get phase issues. The positive side of keeping the brick wall is I will gain some space, it will look cool and I will save on construction cost. What do you think about this?

Yes - you are going to get flanking through that wall, upstairs is where I'd be concerned. I'd disconnect the whole studio from the main house if possible. cheers john

Thanks John. Okay so the $64,000 question is (and before I ask I already know you really can't give an accurate answer) how bad do you think the flanking will be? Seperating the house and the studio is really not an option so I either build a wall next to the brick or leave it as is. Above the garage is a pool table / game room, not someplace that we hang out in all the time so a little sound leakage is fine. The brick wall is standard size and it has 5/8 dry wall on interior of the garage and pool table room on furring strips. Thanks so much for your help!

Above the garage is a pool table / game room,

I wouldn't bother then - you can always add an extra wall later if it becomes a problem. cheers john

John Sayers wrote:

Above the garage is a pool table / game room,

I wouldn't bother then - you can always add an extra wall later if it becomes a problem. cheers john

Thanks John So just wondering. Why would you be more concerend with the flanking up to the room above than say with rooms in the house to the left of the drawing? Or did I read your post wrong? Also with standard brick walls how far down the wall are you going to get noticable sound transmision? Say you have 100 db sound source next to a brick wall about how loud will that be on the other side of the wall and then how much would it be on the other side of the same wall but 20 feet over? Thanks again.