Long time listener, first time caller. Can't thank you all enough for the wealth of information on this forum! In this post I’ll describe the space as it stands, then move onto our current design idea in the next. (Hope that’s OK! Thought it might keep things a bit clearer…)
I'm currently in the planning phase of my first studio build (ahh!) with a small indie record label here in Los Angeles. They've recently renewed a 25-year lease on their office building (of which they're the only occupants) and are expanding their current studio space into something more professional. The new studio will be mainly used for mixing/mastering of their releases, artist recording sessions, and audio post-production for video. I'll be the Studio Manager and am bringing over my existing clients and equipment for this joint effort.
We're hoping to begin de/construction in a week, and I've had several consultations with professional acousticians and studio builders over the past month. That being said, we have a small construction budget of about $10k MAX and I think we’ve learned the expensive things to avoid, and best ways to isolate the space for this budget. We're planning to grow as we go with equipment/acoustic treatment, but want to make a solid investment from the get-go to isolate as much as possible.
Our main goals for this project (in order of importance) are to:
1. Create a studio environment that is isolated and free of outside office noise coming into the space.
2. Create an accurate Control room for mixing, with an additional Live room for vocals, strings, percussion etc.
3. Ease the amount of bleed from the studio for other employees in the building.
I should point out that these other employees have dealt with lots of bleed coming from this space over the years. There are a lot of hip-hop artists working here daily, and the staff has learned to deal with constant thumping. Any relief of the bleed will be appreciated, but we’re trying to keep our expectations realistic with respect to our budget.
Regarding other neighbors… the space has never had a noise complaint with lots of loud stuff going on at all times of day/night. There’s about a foot of concrete between us and the nearest neighbor - which is currently an empty building, but sometimes has film shoots and temporary installs. I should also point out that I’ve sat in this room for many hours now, and have not once heard street noise of any sort… sirens, yelling, honking - nothing. Only the sounds of the hallway, office and hvac are audible in the studio.
The space as it stands is on the 2nd floor of a 2-story office building. The first floor of the building is a vacant storefront (also leased by the label for future plans), and houses the label’s inventory warehouse behind that. The 2nd floor is where the studio and employee offices are. A map of 2nd floor:
Here are current panoramic pictures of the 2 spaces:
Future Control Room: Future Live Room: The studio is 2 separate rooms with a drop ceiling that is suspended over the entirety of the office complex:
Almost every wall on the 2nd floor is a partition that only goes up 9’ 10", then has the drop ceiling system rest on top. 21" above that is a plaster/wood-decking ceiling that suspends the T-bars and has HVAC, electrical, etc coming through it. Above that is about 3’ of vaulted attic space. Here are ceiling details:
Attic:
Dimensions:
The only exception to the "false walls" is near the reception area with the window in it. About 2/3 of it appears to have been built as a structural wall, so that one does go up all the way to the plaster ceiling. Detail of that from above the drop ceiling:
There is a ledge along the concrete exterior wall, as well as a couple of vertical columns... This is earthquake rebar that’s been dressed up. Here’s a reveal of that through the drop ceiling:
I ran some SPL tests in the space. Here are two diagrams that show the normal SPL of the studio and offices (HVAC running, chatter/phone calls etc), as well as a map that shows SPL when there’s a loud operating level coming from what will eventually be the Live room. The source material was a hip-hop track from the label, so this should be indicative of typical levels:
AFAICT, the main source of transmission and weakest iso-point (besides doors/windows) is the shared space above the entire floorplan. The drop ceiling with standard tiles does very little to kill any sound, not to mention the walls seem un-insulated (so-cal style…)
One thing I noticed is the volume seems and tested louder in the hallway/office than it does in the reception area, which is relatively quiet. This tells me that the structural wall is doing some good in blocking sound by merely going up all the way to the plaster ceiling.
Hope this is sufficient information. Here's a link to the sketchup file of the original space in case that’s helpful. In the next post I’ll outline my current design idea and ask some questions! Thanks for reading
Ooopps! Bad move... You really should ask before you do things like that. You now have one very rigid, stiff chunk, instead of several individual, flexible layers that are able to work independently. You now have one single very pronounced coincidence dip, at a much lower frequency than it should be, among other issues.
I found a moulding shop that has some 5/4 poplar, but in random lengths & widths. I'm hoping I can convince them to cut some down so I'm not left with dozens of feet of weird-dimension lumber.