Starting Barn/Garage Design; Need Control Room Advice

[Fieryjack]

Hi Gang: This is my first post and I'm a bit naive to some of this. John: a big thanks to you for sharing your knowledge over the past years.

I have a barn which currently has a room 15' x 16' which I plan to make my control room. An adjunct garage measures about 18' x 30' where I plan to build a studio. First I want to renovate the 15' x 16' room.

My questions are (and they may seem obvious):

1) Do I really need to do the room within a room in the control room? I live on 5 acres and am not concerned about neighbors...especially considering that I monitor at relatively low levels....Can't I get away with "acoustic treatment"? (i.e. I don't have the height in the control room to float a floor....)

2) I realize that I will need to isolate the control room from the studio....can this be done by soundproofing the wall between them (and then the entire "studio" section later)? Or do I have to go whole hog on both the control room AND studio for isolation.

Thanks in advance...I will try to post a photo/design of the layout soon.

[John Sayers]

If noise isn't a problem then just treat the room without building an inner room. If you can let the low end get out through the walls then cool

cheers
john

[Fieryjack]

Thanks, John:

Just to clarify, in this case I do not need to isolate (i.e. room in a room) the control room if I sufficiently isolate the studio? There will be enough isolation between both rooms?

Sorry if this sounds dumb....

[John Sayers]

No you are quite correct - make sure your isolation is control room to studio - don't worry about the room within a room, just build a good double wall between rooms.

cheers
john

[Fieryjack]

Hi, John:

As promised, I have sent a proposed design of my control room/live room/iso booth. First, let me apoligize for the lame scan. I am downloading/learning SmartDraw as we speak.

This will be in a converted barn on 5-1/2 acres, where I don't think sound isolation to/from the outside world is critical. I have planned on a double wall between the control room and the studio.

The control room, which is 14.5' x 15.2, has 8ft. high cielings at its apex, with its roofline running parallel to the mixing desk, about 3 ft. from rear (marked by dotted lines). A double door and a double 3' x 5' glass pane separate the control room from the live room. I am limited as to where I can put bass traps (in the rear) since I need a door entryway in the back (existing door frame). So I fudged where the bass traps go (corners).

The triangular shaped Iso Booth has a small double 2x3 window facing the control room, and a double sliding glass door facing the live room. The other triangular room is a small closet.

The live room, which is 20.11' x 23.4', has a 22 ft. cieling at its apex, roofline running center (marked by dotted lines), opposite direction of control room roofline.

John, obviously I am not an architect or a competent studio designer...but can I have your critical feedback on this and any suggestions/help? Anything I am not thinking of that I should be?

Many thanks.

Jeff T.

[John Sayers]

Ok Jeff - those booths look pretty small to me - tight fit in there :)
Can't you make the spaces bigger?

The control room is a reasonable size - is that a window on the rear wall as well as a door?? Can you build over the window for rear trapping??

maybe something along these lines

cheers
john

[Fieryjack]

John,

Thank you for your insight. I really like what you have done to the control room and I LOVE what you have done to my small iso booth.

Regarding the live room, the smaller triangle I created was actually only a closet.....however, your addition of a larger iso booth gives me a question regarding ceiling heights....on a larger iso booth like this, do you create 12ft ceilings (or so), or do you have the walls go straight up to the height of the existing room (which is 22ft high at the apex)?

If I choose not to include the larger iso booth which you have drawn, how would you recommend I angle the walls of the live room?

Thanks for all your help!!!! I'm almost there.....

[John Sayers]

No I wouldn't go all the way up to 24Ft :) put a lower ceiling on it.

The only parallel walls in yur live room are between the left and right walls - I'd treat one or both of them. You know - I'd make the closet booth bigger to take a drum kit.

cheers
john

cheers
john

[Fieryjack]

Thanks, John:

The drum booth is a great suggestion. Wd 12 ft. ceilings be appropriate? Also, do all my iso booths need to be double-walled with double doors, etc.?

Regarding the angles of the live room, how about if I continue the angle you started with the double sliding glass doors, so the two opposite walls are no longer parallel? The fuse box happens to be in the lower left part of the live room, so I could make a small access closet by angling that off.

Once again, thanks.

[John Sayers]

Thanks, John:

The drum booth is a great suggestion. Wd 12 ft. ceilings be appropriate? Also, do all my iso booths need to be double-walled with double doors, etc.?

Yers 12 ft would be great - might as well use what you have. What height are your outer walls?? No it doesn't need to be double - it depends on how much iso you want.

Regarding the angles of the live room, how about if I continue the angle you started with the double sliding glass doors, so the two opposite walls are no longer parallel? The fuse box happens to be in the lower left part of the live room, so I could make a small access closet by angling that off.

Once again, thanks.

Yes - thatwould be a good idea. - you could make it a big hanger trap and put some slots on the opposite wall.

cheers
john

[Fieryjack]

John,

The outer walls in my studio area are about 8-1/2', then pitch about 55 or 60 degrees to reach the full 22' apex of the barn. Does this help?

Two more things:

1) In the main studio area, I am thinking about replacing the exterior door (bottom right) with double french doors that would allow for easy load in/load out. These double doors, which open inward, might be placed BEHIND where there is currently a wide sliding door (pls see single pencil line at bottom center of studio area). You see, I would really like to keep it looking like a barn on the outside (i.e. keep everything looking intact).
So you would slide open the big barn door to see double french doors. I figure I would need to build another stud wall just inside the exterior wall anyway.....how might you envision this?


2) Regarding floor construction (studio area): I am thinking of getting some kind of rubber floor mat to lay down (rests on concrete), then attach the floor joist on top of that, then nailing plywood. Wd this work to help w/isolation? How would you attach the joists to the base?

Thanks again.

[John Sayers]

So you would slide open the big barn door to see double french doors. I figure I would need to build another stud wall just inside the exterior wall anyway.....how might you envision this?

well you won't have an inner wall as you are not building aroom in room construction. Just build a false wall to take the doors.

Wd this work to help w/isolation? How would you attach the joists to the base?

Yes it would help with isolation from below. Just mount the joists on rubber pads, lay insulation between the joists and add a double layer of Ply or MDF to make it rigid.

cheers
john

[Fieryjack]

John, a few things:

1) can you advise how I should do the rear trapping in the control room? Slot resonators?

2) How about the left side of the control room...since I can't treat the right side (sliding glass doors), how should I construct/treat that wall?

3) Do I need a false ceiling (remember, not doing room within room thing) or can "clouds" do the trick?

4) Re: live room: what do you mean by "false wall to take the door" in your last post....would this extend the full length of the wall?


Jeff

[John Sayers]

John, a few things:

1) can you advise how I should do the rear trapping in the control room? Slot resonators?

2) How about the left side of the control room...since I can't treat the right side (sliding glass doors), how should I construct/treat that wall?

3) Do I need a false ceiling (remember, not doing room within room thing) or can "clouds" do the trick?

4) Re: live room: what do you mean by "false wall to take the door" in your last post....would this extend the full length of the wall?


Jeff

1) well you could use resonators, panels absorbers or hangers or a combination of all of them :)

2) make it bright and reflective like the glass - i.e. timber finish?/

3) I'd go with the clouds if you aren't going to do a room within a room.

4) well you need a wall to mount your sliding door into behind the garage door. Isn't that what you said you were doing?
cheers
john

[Fieryjack]

Hi, John:

Just about ready to begin demolition/construction, only one sticky issue left.....I would REALLY like some natural light in the control room...

The only walls that border the outside are the west and south walls. I would prefer to put a window in on the south wall (where all the treatment is!!) where there is already an opening in the barn that I could frame out into a window. Is there any way to do this while retaining decent absorption/trapping on the rear wall?

I guess ANY window on the back wall would be a bad thing, huh?