Audio Grotto - 2 CR design

Well, after much deliberation, re-financing and just plain thinking about it.... I've got some changes. -I cannot float any floor due to unknown conditions of the existing slab. -I have two composers/engineer that are ready to rent rooms from me so more versatility is needed. -Everyday without the studio, more money goes out the window in potential income. By not floating any floors, I am easing both the financial and scheduling needs of the buildout. I have added a small connecting vocal booth off the small control room and adjusted some geometry to make construction easier. The sight lines have beean improved and now egress is better between all rooms. I have two friends who are both composers and want to rent space from me for their studios. The large booth will now double as a third control room for one of the composers. The small CR will serve as the other composer's room. All CR's have a door to the common machine room and then from there to the live room. I have used the corner space in the live room to create a combo amp closet and bass trap. Also, the HVAC trunk will run through this corner and into a soffit along the left wall for supply air. The hardest part in this is figuring out the HVAC runs and the ceiling height issues. The space between the big CR and the small CR will have the main trunks for the live room, big booth and machine room running through it. It also serves as a buffer for isolation between the two CR's. The ceiling above the machine room will have plenum/silencers for both the send and return HVAC runs. The two CR's will have ducts run from the other side of the bottom wall. This should provide ample isolation in the HVAC system. I need to draw it in sketchup next.... Anyhow, here are a couple shots of the current plans. -ashley

maybe dividing the place into 3 studios with a single hallway from the kitchen? this way you have 2 post prod rooms with good isolation and a complete live and control room section. all with access... run the hvac as soffits in the hallway. this way you can get the post prod/composer rooms up and running right away while you work on the main studio...

Aloha, Nice job, Glenn! :wink: Aloha 8)

As usual, gullfo, you have a penchant for elegance! Always a new perspective from your designs. There are still a few things that would be missed in this design: 1. Post rooms should have access to the recording spaces. The main CR will most likely end up being used for mixing. The smaller second CR will do more tracking dates and the third CR/booth really was intended as a recording space that can double as a work room for a composer as needed. 2. The main CR is a bit smaller than I would prefer. I was shooting for a 2500 cu' space. But we can't have everything, can we? 3. the hallway between the two post rooms has a pole in the middle of it :( I do like the division of space though and the isolation would be very good between the three CR's. I'm going to get some feedback from my clients and see what they think... Thanks! ashley

its just a quick sketch :) that said, the CR could be expanded as needed. a single pole in the hallway shouldn't be a big deal. decorate it :) as far as recording access for the small rooms, put in video feeds... they're post prod rooms anyways... ;) sub-divide the live room with another isobooth off the airlock so you could split usages between live room and large isoroom and CR, and the airlock and other isobooth for one of the prod rooms.

It comes back to those jack posts. There's one right at the front of the big CR where you put it. That CR could not be expanded without moving the jack post. I still need to have someone look at the possibilities. Moving the post would require a serious footer to be poured and we're back to expensive concrete work. The rest of your suggestions though, certainly would work. -ashley

I am concerned about maximizing the TL between the big CR and the big booth. I want to create a larger gap between their walls. Does doubling the distance (air gap) between the walls result in a 6db gain in TL? I seem to recall something about this but am not sure. If I go from 2" gap to 4" gap, will I get a decent result? -ashley

if you have a pair of 2x4 walls separated by 1", the gap between the two drywall layers is about 8". going to 2x6 walls makes it 12". beyond 12" it will likely be diminishing returns unless you start to float floors and other higher isolation tactics.

Well, getting closer to the start of framing.... I've attached some pics of the space all kleened up... :? My question today concerns the placement of supply and return HVAC ducts in the control room areas and how they interact with the speaker placement. I think consensus is that you don't want supply air blowing directly into the sound path from speaker to mix position. what about the other direction? Have the supplies behind you and the returns in the front of the room? Would that cause a similar problem? It seems that all the "big" pro rooms I look at have HVAC supplies in the ceiling. Is there any reason for this other than the ceiling having more room in it to run ducts? My cunning plan at the moment is to bring in supply through one penetration which will require a fire damper per code. Then enlarge the duct once inside the room to slow the air down more and also deaden sound by using the Woodclock/Desart silencer treatment with fabric over fiberglass inside framing that also houses bass trapping in the back of the room. In the front, do something similar inside the soffit wall for the return duct and exit through another fire damper. The idea is to minimize the penetrations of the room shell and then provide silencing and air-slow-down once inside the room. My machine room needs a more controlled supply and return with greater capacity in order to deal with the added heat of the gear in there. By providing dampers in that room I hope to control the overall comfort as it changes between summer and winter. -ashley PS I cant' seem to edit the darn file comments for each pic. I update them and then when I submit, the comments are lost. I tried :)