Workshop into studio?

[url=LINK] Hello everyone. I’ve been learning as much as I can from this site for the last month or so – it’s really great to have access to so much info, so thank you for that. I’m now posting because I have a potential studio to plan for and I’m after as much advice as I can get. I’m at the planning stage – working out timescales / budget / designs etc – but I’m quickly learning that everything is so interlinked that it’s difficult to plan for one thing without knowing what you’re going to do with all the others. I’m currently working on a design myself, but if anyone would like to offer advice or a design idea or two I’d be really grateful. The Building Attached is a Sketchup file that I’ve done myself of the existing building, all to scale. It is a single storey workshop, 14m x 7m, with the current plasterboard ceiling at 2.7m high. I wasn’t sure how to go about marking sizes in Sketchup, so I’ve left them out hoping that you can get them all from the design anyway – but if you need them please just say. I won’t bore you with too many details as it should all be obvious from the file, but it’s got a solid concrete floor (heavy enough to take some big carpentry machines), it’s brick built up to 1.2m with timber framing above this and has a full height inner shell of concrete blocks. Unfortunately I don’t have the skills to draw the timber framing on the outer skin on my drawing, so you’ll just have to imagine that! I have attached a few photos which might help everyone get a good idea of how it was built. The roof is just corrugated sheeting, with some basic insulation (nothing permanent) on top of the plasterboard ceiling inside. The building is only three years old, so it’s in very good condition. My Dad built it on a site he has which also contains some other workshops and containers. This is how I got hold of the photos of the building being built, and I took all the measurements from his original building plans – so if they’re not right I’m to blame! Internally, the concrete blocks have just been painted and the concrete floor is still bare. The windows are all double glazed, and the double doors at either end are fairly thin wood. It’s currently got heating (radiators), electric and a basic water boiler. The water comes into the building at the front left hand corner (where the chap is on my Sketchup drawing), so I’m assuming that the toilet / kitchen facilities should be pretty close to avoid unnecessary hassle. As far as position goes, it’s at the end of the small site (which used to be farm buildings) and looks out on three sides onto open fields (which is very pleasant!). The nearest current neighbours are the farm house (probably about 50m away), and then a housing estate (over 100m away from the workshop). The only real problem is that the council has just granted planning permission for a housing estate to be built …… onto one of the fields next to the workshop! The only good thing about this is that it’s the least intrusive field (which is to the left of the building as you face it from the front), and none of the windows face in this direction. Although it’s currently empty (and will be for maybe a year?) I’ve really got to plan as though it’s there, as I don’t want any nasty surprises a year down the line. Obviously I don’t know where these houses will be exactly, but I doubt the closest house will be nearer than 15m, and may well be much further away. The Aim My aim is to turn it into a commercial studio, and, if possible, occasional rehearsal room. What I’d like in the space is a decent size live room, control room (large enough for a band and me), at least one booth, a kitchen (or somewhere to boil a kettle) and a toilet. The work I am expecting is everything from heavy rock bands through to voiceovers. It’s going to need to be quiet enough for a full band to record in (and rehearse?), acoustic drums, loud guitar amps etc. I’ve been working in a studio for the last five years, which I now manage, and it’s of very similar proportions to what I think I might be able to get out of this workshop. The problems in this current studio are many however – noise from outside creeping in (it’s in the centre of a small town), complaints from neighbours about our noise, bleed from live room to control room and vocal booths – in short, pretty much everything! I’m telling you this as I want to improve greatly on this current setup and I’m prepared to go the extra mile to do it (budget permitting!). Also, if there’s anyway I can gain extra height in the live room by going up into the roof then I would very much like to do this – even if it’s just a little. Budget and Timescale My budget for getting everything ready to go in the studio (except equipment) is £10,000. I plan to do as much of the work myself as possible. My brother in law is a carpenter, and I know many musicians who have building experience and would probably help me out in exchange for studio time. I would be starting on this at the earliest in December, but it’s more likely to be the beginning of 2007. Questions 1. Is my budget realistic, considering what I want to achieve? 2. Would a floating floor be a good idea? I don’t want to spend money if I don’t have to, but might I get the odd low frequency rumble if there’s a building site next door (or is a floating floor mainly just to split the live room and control room)? 3. Will adding material to the inside of the concrete blocks, before I start to build my inner walls, be beneficial at all? 4. Is there anyway I can get more height in a live room by going into the roof, some how working around the ceiling joists? 5. Does anyone want to help me out with the design? Please….. I hope I’ve covered everything here (or that I haven’t gone into too much detail), but if you need anything else then please just ask. My questions have probably made this clear already, but I’ve never built anything before (although I did patio my garden a couple of years ago if that counts!) and so forgive me for any novice mistakes. Thanks in advance. Jamie M [/url]

Hello again everyone. I have forged ahead with a basic design for my studio and was hoping to get some comments back about it. I have almost finished my first read through of Rod’s book but I seem to be chasing my tail a little bit trying to think about everything at once, so I thought if I can get a basic design that works then I can start to plan some of the other bits into it (air con, electrics, etc.), making any changes as I go. I know you should really consider everything as you go, but for a beginner like me it’s almost counter productive! A couple of points that I’m not sure about in this design…. 1. Is the control room to square, with too many parallel walls? 2. I’ve tried to eliminate the parallel walls in the live room but there’s nothing I can do about the ‘viewing glass’ and the rear loading doors facing each other – will this be a problem? I also wanted to attach my Sketchup file of the design but it's too big apparently! Does anyone know if/how I can reduce the size of this and post it? The design is very basic at the moment (I think I’ve oversized some of the doors a little) but I’m just trying to see if I’m going in the right direction. Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

My aim is to turn it into a commercial studio, and, if possible, occasional rehearsal room.

Most people do it the other way round :lol: I just skimmed over this. Regading that housing estate, when you say 'nasty suprises' do you mean sound coming in or complaints of sound getting out? I don't know if the council can tell you to 'quieten it' if you were there first IYKWIM. The only advantage I can think of is that you can get to know the tradesmen on the building site, they might do little cash jobs for you during lunch breaks and after work. Also there will be a TON of materials to be blagged, negotiate a price for any surplus materials and raid their skips! Regarding your ?'s Well I think layer of render won't hurt on the inside of the block walls, it won't give you that much extra sound insulation but 'every little helps' Breeze blocks aren't the best material so I'd go with that. The roof is currently gash for soundproof qualities. You will need a new ceiling sitting atop your new inner walls, or will need to re-attach plasterboard under the joists using some kind of resilient channel.

Hi Deluks, Thanks for your reply – sorry it’s taken me a week to get back on line but it’s been a busy one….. In answer to your ‘studio or rehearsal room’ comment, the reason I’m going for a studio is because this is what I’ve been doing for the last five years, and so I feel much better qualified to do this despite the extra investment needed. I put ‘possibly occasional rehearsal rooms’ because I’d like to have a few bands coming through as well, but it all depends upon how much noise I can make. The studio is the main thing, the rehearsal room is an afterthought really. There is a couple of issues with any noise leaking out. Firstly, the council may not be able to tell me to cut the noise if I was there first, but they need to grant me use of the building initially as a studio and I’m sure the only way they’ll do that is to make me agree to not make excessive noise in the first place. Secondly, the studio I currently work in has had complaints from neighbours and had visits from the council, and although it appears that they can’t stop us from making the noise, I’ve had personal visits from people asking us to keep it down, which is not the best thing to be happening mid session. Granted, I don’t want to put my business in jeopardy thorough excessive noise, but I also don’t want to create bad feeling among anyone living or working close by. Good thoughts on the building site and raiding their skips……I was only thinking about the negative points! I was planning to rip the current ceiling down and doing your idea of putting up something more substantial. Probably putting up, or possibly adding to, the current plasterboards (as high up as possible) and hanging a separate ceiling underneath in both the control room and live room. I didn’t think of rendering the inside of the current walls – will this really help that much? I wasn’t sure render would do much when compared to adding plasterboard for example….or did you mean do both? I’ve now got a new design which allows me space for an office, but I can't load it onto the site due to it's size. Does anyone know the best way to reduce the size of a Sketchup file? Mine's over 4 meg already.... Thanks in advance, Jamie.