New Studio from ground up in Austin, Tx.

Howdy from Austin! First off, Thanks to everyone who makes this a great forum. In my time of reading, I have learned much from all and am eager to apply the knowledge to my own studio. With that, I am finally getting to build my own studio. The studio will be located in what used to be the detached workshop/single car garage. Both have been built over 20 years ago and are in need of repair. I am demolishing the existing structure, and adding to the existing foundation enough to make a workshop/2 car garage that will all be studio. Being in a neighborhood, I will need to be as quiet as possible. So for the outer walls, I am planning on using cinder block. I haven't decided yet if I want to use the 8" wide or two rows of 4" wide with a gap between the rows. Attached is my first pass for how I am planning to lay the studio out. Please feel free to give comments, all are welcome. The control room will have a full window across looking into the live room. Mounted into the wall above the window will be a pair of JBL 4410's. The room (not the drum room) off the live room will be treaded for a more dead sound. It can be used open to the live room or closed off with a gobo. The live room will be vaulted. I will be working on adding room treatments to the drawing next. I needed to get a basic layout idea first. Thanks again, Jon

nice design! I'd tend to keep the live room, er, live - you could put in reversible treatments to change the liveness/deadness of the space rather than target a more dead space. check out the design in Sideshow's stickie in this forum for ideas on inside-out walls over the cinder block walls. If you go with solid block the 8" should work well. building the foundation and so on will all contribute to improving isolation. Rod's book on home studio construction has a lot of details regarding foundations (as well as many other things to consider regarding isolation). you'll want to consider HVAC early in the design process as well to ensure it meets you needs, code, and keeps the inter-room isolation intact.

Hey Gullfo, Thanks for the response! I do have that book and it is great with lots of information. However, having been reading it I now have a big question; Whether or not to do a floating wood raised floor? I have seen a lot of discussion and studio build pictures on how people are doing a wood framed raised floor on pucks, filling between the joists with rock wool, and decking with several layers of wood and gypsum to isolate between rooms. In Rod's book on pg 52, he does not reccomend this at all. He mentions a sand filled wood deck may give some small benefit. I will be pooring a new slab for the lobby, live room and drum room that will be isolated from the control room, but will I have a problem if the drum room floor is not isolated from the live room? Jon

Jon, I would not do a floating floor. My drum room is not isolated from the Live room and any sound transmission you hear is through the walls and glass. Drums are incredibly loud. Mine measure 110 to 120 dbs in the room. By the time you put up enough mass to stop that kind of sound to the point where you meet the minimal noise transfer through concrete,... You are talking a HEAP of mass. If you are ever in the Mansfield area I'd be happy to demonstrate my place. Although you can still hear a little drums in the live room, I have rarely picked up any amount in the open mics in the live room to be a problem. I usually have gobos between the drum room and the amp mics and the bleed is insignificant. Tom

Are you going to use a wood floor ? Maybe something like this can be useful [url] http://www.texsa.com/int/productos.asp? ... icha&lan=2

I think the consensus is that unless you're going all out to do the floating floor correctly (read: generally expensive) then you're probably better off without it. that said, if you're pouring a new slab, then there may be some things to consider that will improve the isolation - you might want to PM Rod and see if he can help you on this question.