Design layout help

Ok guys, lets see what we can do here. First of all, I live in the US. Texas to be exact. We have a deck that is bluilt off the side of our house. Right now, the deck is 10x25' and I am extending the deck another 6' to make it 16x25'. I have a room already built onto the deck. this room will eventualy be my ISO booth that you see in my mock layout. It is 6x10'. The ceilings are 8'...but I intend to make the live room ceilings 12'...but I can only make them that high in that room only. I was thinking it would give me more head room and a little bigger sound. The picture you see with the deck, has the door that right now leads into the house. That will all be closed off and a new wall put up. that is the only wall that REALLY needs to be sound proof because it is agaist the living room of the house. I may do drums from time to time, but my intent is to NOT do drums. So any concern for drums, is not a consern for me. I will be recording guitars and vocals...and thats pretty much it. any help and advise would be greatly appreciated. I am still in the planning stage. I can not extend any bigger then the extra 6'....and I have to have a restroom because the house is off limit to clients (not my rule)! Thanks, Steve oh yeah, I am running a digi002 with a powermac G4 aphex 207 pre's and aphex 108 easyrider compressors. Thanks, Steve

hmmm....did i do something wrong? lol cant figure out why I have not gotten a reply unless I screwed up somehow in how I posted. please advise if I did. I thought I read the rules and did as intructed....but if I missed something, please let me know! thanks guys, Steve

Aloha and welcome to the forum, Steve

hmmm....did i do something wrong? lol cant figure out why I have not gotten a reply unless I screwed up somehow in how I posted. please advise if I did. I thought I read the rules and did as intructed....but if I missed something, please let me know!

Sorry we haven't posted yet, but sometimes it takes a bit to get around to everybody, so hang in there and we'll get to you. In the meantime, there's plenty of reading to keep busy :wink: Be back soon, Aloha 8)

thanks for saying Hi Kendale! Yeah, I have been following this forum for over 2 years....it is so exciting to see all the hard work paying off for many of the people I have watched from start to finish. I hope to be another success story some day. John is BRILLIANT....and so are MANY of the people on this forum. I cant wait to get some ideas and help from such a great group of guys! I will await sketches and direction. :) Thanks Again! Steve

Aloha Steve, It's Q & A time! - Studio to be built on deck. You may want to have a structural engineer take a look at your deck construction to verify whether or not it can handle the extra weight required in studio construction. To give you a general idea of what this means, imagine every wall/ceiling in your studio consisting of 2-3 layers of drywall - 2 x 4 stud framing filled with 3" of either fiberglass (unfaced) or rock/mineral wool, and then 2-3 more layers of drywall. Toss in a couple of hundred lbs. of nails/screws/straps/caulking/etc., and then several more hundred lbs of musicians and equipment, and you begin to get the idea. You may also want to start reading up on how you're going to approach minimizing flanking and obtaining isolation using standard deck construction. Be sure to check out the "stickies" at the top of each forum category - lots of good stuff to be had there! - 6' x 6' restroom - Are you planning for ADA requirements? If so, I think it's closer to 6' x 7'. If not, 6' x 6' is a little generous, perhaps? (Unless you've got some large clients in your area, that is.)

The picture you see with the deck, has the door that right now leads into the house. That will all be closed off and a new wall put up. that is the only wall that REALLY needs to be sound proof because it is agaist the living room of the house.

- You may find that it's not possible to "spot treat" when soundproofing your wall just next to the livingroom. It's pretty much an "all or less than what you really needed" type thing. - How many people do you find yourself recording at one time vs in the control room at one time? Food for thought, Aloha 8)

Kendale, thanks for the food for thought! As for the needed support, there is NOT enough currently to support it. however, I already have the joists and concrete and we are going to pull up all of the flooring currently on the deck, so we can go back underneith and add almost 3 times the support under it all...and using the current decking fooring to expant the deck out...and reflooring all of it with plywood...and I plan to float the floor. (I have read and learned a ton about this on this website. THANKS EVERYONE!) The only place that I can NOT add more support is under the 1 room that is already built, for obvious reasons. I am really not overly concerned with complete isolation of the room. I honestly will only be recording vocals and guitars. I can alsmost swear I will never record drums at my place, because one of my best friends has a fantastic studio with an amazing drum sound coming from there, and drums are his specialty so I have no reason or desire to record drums at my place. The most I will ever have in my studio at one time is going to be 5 on rare occasions, and those would be vocal groups only. this is going to be more of a tracking/production studio for privet purposes. I have session players that I work with, and they typicaly come in one at a time so the norm is that it is me and 1 musician in the studio at a time. not a lot of people or added weight. could I say that I would NEVER have a full band in? Well, I never say never. but I can almost say it. i doubt it..and it isnt in the plans. i would say at most I work with 2 in studio and 2 in control room at a time. normaly one in studio, and just me in control room. As for the bathroom, I am very open to design layout ideas here. My reasoning for 6x6 is this.... if you see in the picture the room that is currently built (the ISO in the layout pic) it comes to the edge of the current deck. I will be extending out another 6 foot from that point. I need a toilet, and a sink. I just assumed to make the restroom any smaller would leave an akward open space in the live room. And, not sure about my clients, but I am a rather big guy myself! :) hope these answers help. I am very excited. I have a long way to go in planning before I start the build....but in the next few weeks, I am going to dig out the trench for the pluming to add the bathroom, and then im going to start ripping the deck up and adding the extra support underneath it so I can build when the planning is done! thanks alot Kendale! Steve

WoW! I have been on this forum all freaking day long. my head is going to explode! I have read this forum for a couple years now....but it is amazing how much you can still pick up by going back and re-reading! this website is so packed with KILLER info...and the most amazing group of guys offering up time and knowledge....I am so grateful for everyone! Some day, John...you can publish a book based on some of these amazing threads! anyway.....im going back to reading. I cant wait to see some design ideas for my space.... :) Thanks! Steve

Aloha, Perhaps something like this? BTW, where were you planning to place your entry? Aloha 8)

Thanks Kendale! that looks really good. as far as the entrance....I have 2 options, and I will let you guys advise me on what is best. I can either have the entrance going into the live room, or into the controll room. what are your thoughts on this and how would a door going into the sound room affect sound? or would it make a big difference? the biggest thought is IF it is in the live room and somone came knocking on the door in the middle of a take....it would mess it up...or if they walked in. but if it were in the controll room, maybe not as much as an issue? im not really sure. what in your opinion are the pro's and con's here? please advise. first design looks good though! Thanks a lot. Steve

Aloha, There is something to be said about not having to go through the controlroom with a bunch of equipment to get to the live room. Also, in looking over the prelims, it might not be a bad idea to flip the controlroom, as it improves the line of sight into the iso booth. Aloha 8)

Aloha, Here are a couple of shots with the revisions mentioned. Aloha 8)

Kendale... thanks so much! Just one thing...the entrance has to come from the other side. the side you have it on is the outside of our house where the deck butts up to the house. make sense?

Aloha,

Just one thing...the entrance has to come from the other side. the side you have it on is the outside of our house where the deck butts up to the house. make sense?

The drawing just illustrates the comment made above -

it might not be a bad idea to flip the controlroom, as it improves the line of sight into the iso booth.

If that doesn't work for you, we can flip it back. Aloha 8)

hey Kendale, I absolutly love this layout...and I am very greatful for your time and effort. I do think i would prefer the control room flipped back around...just because I am so used to the live room being to my left. im sure i would get used to it the other way....but I would rather it be to my left if at all possible. other then that i am very happy with what you have done. I am about to start ripping up the deck and putting much more support under it and making my 6ft extention. this will be a slow work in progress...and im sure I will have a ton of questions in the construction forum...but design wise..I like what you have done real well. I also have not 100% decided to go with the soffit mounted monitors...im still on the fence about that one. thanks again so much. you guys are awesome. Steve

Aloha,

I do think i would prefer the control room flipped back around...just because I am so used to the live room being to my left. im sure i would get used to it the other way....but I would rather it be to my left if at all possible.

Done. :wink: Be sure to post a lot of pics of your progress. Best of success, Aloha 8)