Want to build a Shed Studio In My Backyard

[Spieltier]

Hello Everyone,

I've been thinking about building my own live room/recording space for a few months now. I've asked around on various message boards online and several people pointed me to this forum. I did a bit of searching on past posts to see if I could get any insight, but with differing dimensions, and needs I thought it would be beneficial to post about what my thoughts, needs, and concerns are and take it from there. I've been doing home recordings of my own original music since I was 14 years old. I recently became a home owner, and ever since then I've been dying to set up my gear and get back to recording. Now that I own my own home, I'm finding myself thinking more and more about having my own recording/practice space again. My home is only a modest 1000 sq ft and as such there isn't really room for me to fit my equipment in my home. Not to mention I have a 100 year old Upright Grand Piano that whenever I play causes the whole house to have to listen much to the annoyance of my girlfriend. Knowing that every time I play it annoys everyone in my house has taken a toll on my ability to function creatively and as such I've been thinking more and more about building a shed in my back yard where I can play to my hearts content, and not have to worry about having cables, and gear spread out and occupying space.

I live in Michigan so temperature and humidity control, as well as sound isolation are top priorities. Unfortunately I'm not much of a professional when it comes to recording, and really only have an elementary understanding of professional recording. I've mostly just recorded and mixed to my own ear in whatever environment was available to me before. But seeing as building a shed and outfitting it is going to have a serious cost associated with it, I feel as though it's important that I make as many considerations to get the best bang for my buck in terms of creating a good environment for my creative outputs and that will allow me to really step up my knowledge and practice of acoustics and music recording.

My current budget is $10,000, I could potentially increase this, but realistically this is more than I'd like to spend. But at the same time if I'm getting the work done, I might as well get it done right and build it big enough so I'm not shortchanging myself going forwards. It will be easier to build the structure larger now (single room) and remodel the inside later into separate working rooms as money becomes available. That being said, I feel as though I should set up the design to work as both a single large open room to start, and have the designs for separating control and live room, and potentially adding a vocal booth. I have a mock sketch I made, but it's really only a starting off point. I'm hoping someone here can help point me in the right direction and improve upon my design.

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The exterior dimensions for the shed I'm leaning towards would be 18'x20'. I was originally looking at 16'x16' but was told to avoid squares and that I would run out of space quickly if I wanted to ever add interior walls into the mix. 20'x20' is the largest size available to me, but due to concerns with being an even square and the fact that I likely won't start out with any interior room separations, I figured 18x20 would probably be the best. The foundation would be concrete slab (code requirement for a structure this large) and based off my readings I'm not too concerned that adding wood on top would provide much benefit over the cost. I want to use glass block windows to let in light but still maintain privacy as well as heat and sound insulation. I feel like glass block would probably be the best windows for sound isolation especially if I doubled them up with a bit of air lock between them. I honestly have no idea how to set up a proper sound treated ventilation system, or how much I should expect one to cost. I was originally thinking about having a wall mounted AC/Heater combo above the entry door of the diagram, but I really don't know what would be the best and most affordable way to keep the room temperature and humidity controlled year round (cold dry winters, hot humid summers), or more importantly how much that will cost to install/maintain. The little closet space would be a vocal Booth/storage room for when it's not in use. Somewhere I could keep all my instrument cases and things of that sort. I was thinking a patio sliding door could be a cool way to connect the control room and the rehearsal space. I know I'm going to have to take some liberties with some of the construction aspects in order to fit my budget, so I was hoping a regular patio sliding door wouldn't cause too much of a problem acoustics wise for the room.

The ceilings are something I've thought a lot about, but honestly don't know enough about recording and acoustics to know what would be better for this structure. I am currently leaning towards a Skillion Roof, because I like the look, and based on my elementary knowledge it would be the best acoustically (no parallel lines), but if it would be better acoustically to have a different style roof I'd definitely appreciate any insight into this matter you might be able to share. Keep in mind it needs to be a roof design that will work with the structure I'm working with. I'm leaning towards 12' ceilings but I'm not sure how expensive that will be, and that would be on a slant.

Anyways, I'd appreciate any insight anyone could give me.

What would be the best roof design for a Shed outbuilding acoustically? Skillion, Gambrel, Gable, ect....

What would be the most cost effective way to temperature control the space?
I was leaning towards a wall mounted AC/Heater combo, but I don't know how I'd be able to add additional ventilation if I ever put up interior walls, or how I would be able to isolate the sound from the unit.

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Do you think the floor space I've allotted will be enough?
I want to fit several guitars, an upright grand piano, guitar amps, a bass amp, a drum kit, a cello, and still have open space for a few other musicians in the middle, but mostly I'd use the room alone.

Other than that I would just welcome any thoughts/opinions/advice anyone might be able to offer. I need to get my piano out of my living room soon so I want to get this structure built by the end of summer so I can start playing regularly again.

Thanks!

[Soundman2020]

Hi there "Spieltier", and welcome to the form!

Nice job on your first post, by the way: Very complete, and with just enough detail to get you started.

I could potentially increase this, but realistically this is more than I'd like to spend. But at the same time ... I might as well get it done right

Congratulations! You have found the phrase that describes every studio build, ever! Get used to repeating that over and over. You'll need to use it regularly, every time you go to Home Depot to pick up another truckload of something expensive... That phrase will become a regular companion ...

I've asked around on various message boards online and several people pointed me to this forum.

So you have certainly been looking in the right places, and getting good advice!

Seriously, there's a reason many other places on the Internet will send you here: Modestly, we consider it to be the best darn place on the planet for down-to-earth advice on studio building. Nobody here on the forum is out to sell you anything: John strictly prohibits any form of product advertising or promotion, and members respect that. even the ones who work at companies that manufacturer acoustic products or equipment. Everyone wants to be impartial, and just give you the best advice you can get. And best of all, it's free! (Although the "Donation" button is there, for those who would like to show appreciation for the help they get).

Sometimes the comments you'll get are very much "in your face", even along the lines of "That was dumb! Why did you do that???". But to be honest, that's a lot better than having your ego gently smoothed into complacency, and feeling good, happy, content, when you really DID do something dumb! Most people take that tone in the way it is intended: constructive comments that grab your attention and get to the point, even when it hurts.

I have a 100 year old Upright Grand Piano that whenever I play causes the whole house to have to listen much to the annoyance of my girlfriend. Knowing that every time I play it annoys everyone in my house has taken a toll on my ability to function creatively and as such I've been thinking more and more about building a shed in my back yard where I can play to my hearts content,

OK, so first priority is decent isolation. In order to design your isolation system, you'll first need to answer two questions: "How loud am I?" and "How quiet do I need to be?". You need to answer BOTH of those with real numbers: decibels. So your first purchase will be a decent sound level meter (if you don't already have one), so you can take the measurements to come up with those numbers. A good one will cost you around US$ 100. It MUST have both "A" and "C" weighting, as well as both "Fast" and "Slow" integration. It might also have other bells and whistles and features, but those two are the bare-bones minimum. Stay away from the cheap Chinese meters, that go for US$ 50 or so: Those are toys: useless.

So, after you have your meter, you need to measure how loud a typical session will be, in the room with, with your meter set to "C" and "Slow". Play as loud and as hard as you ever expect to be doing in the studio, and if you normally play along with other people, or with the radio, or whatever else, then do that as well. Make as much noise as you'd expect to make in a typical loud session. Measure that in the room where you play right now, then while everyone is still playing, go out and measure in various places around the house, inside and out, up to the property line in all directions. Note down all those readings, and the place where you took them. The difference between those readings and the one you took in the room, tells you how much isolation you are getting right now from your house. Then send all your buddies home, turn of all the gear, and wait for the quietest moment of the night... then go to the same points where you measured before while the music was playing, and measure again. Note down those "quiet" readings next to the "loud" readings. That¿s how quiet you need to be, in the worst case.

Now subtract. For each pair of "loud" and "quiet", get the difference. That's how much isolation you need. The biggest number in your "difference" column is the worst-case of how much isolation you'll need. The smallest number is the best case.

Now with those numbers in hand, you can look at various construction techniques and materials that will give you the isolation you need. Then you can quote those materials, figure out quantities, and work up a realistic budget. That's when you'll need to use the phrase you learned before, but now we-ll turn it around a bit: "Realistically this is way more than I'd like to spend. But at the same time ... I might as well get it done right. So I could potentially increase this!". That's the modified version that you'll need from now on.

I live in Michigan so temperature and humidity control, as well as sound isolation are top priorities.

Fortunately, that all goes together: A studio that has high acoustic isolation, also has high thermal isolation. It goes without saying. It's part of the package deal you get when you plunk down all those thousands of dollars on the table, and say "I'm going to build a well isolated studio".

But seeing as building a shed and outfitting it is going to have a serious cost associated with it,

Good! You are getting the idea already!

I feel as though it's important that I make as many considerations to get the best bang for my buck in terms of creating a good environment for my creative outputs and that will allow me to really step up my knowledge and practice of acoustics and music recording.

Very smart move. An excellent way of thinking about it, and approaching the design and the build.

It will be easier to build the structure larger now (single room) and remodel the inside later into separate working rooms as money becomes available.

True, but you do need to plan the entire complete building now, even if you only build part of it to start with. It will be much cheaper that way, in the long run. If you just build any old thing now, then try to modify it it later, you'll find that you'll need to tear down things you already built, throw away building materials that you paid good money for, and spend a lot more all over again. It's far better to have the complete design down on paper before you start, then build it bit by bit, as funds become available.

That being said, I feel as though I should set up the design to work as both a single large open room to start, and have the designs for separating control and live room, and potentially adding a vocal booth.

Right! You can design "break points" right into the initial inner-leaf, where you'll be able to make cuts later that don't affect the structural integrity or the acoustics, at the locations where the additional inner-leaf walls and ceilings will go. You'll be "cutting the ties that bind", in order to disconnect your rooms from each other. But since you will have already planned exactly where those cuts will occur, you will minimize waste, and expense, and wasted time.

it's really only a starting off point. I'm hoping someone here can help point me in the right direction and improve upon my design.

First, I noticed that you have angled or "splayed" the wall between the future LR (Live Room) and CR (Control Room): You don't need to do that : it's a myth. You can if you want, but there's no acoustic need for it. Many people think that it "breaks up nodes" or "improves acoustics" or "stops echo" or some such, but none of that is true. Yes, it can help to eliminate flutter echo, but only if the total splay angle is greater than 12°, and besides, there are other much simpler ways of eliminating flutter echo. There are only a couple of valid reasons for splaying your walls: 1) If you are planning to use a CR design concept that specifically requires it, such as RFZ, NER, CID or something similar. 2) Because it looks cool! That's it. There are no other reasons.....

I was originally looking at 16'x16' but was told to avoid squares

Yes, true, but that rule only applies to the final INTERIOR dimension of the control room, not to the building as a whole. The building can be square, if that would make it easier for you and gain you more space. It's the dimensions of the CR that matter most (and the LR to a lesser extent).

The issue here is "modes". All rooms have them, and you can't get rid of them. They are a fact of life. A "mode" is simply a specific frequency where the wave fits in perfectly between the walls, such that it reinforces itself, getting louder and louder, and "ringing" even after the note that caused it has stopped. Modes are not good. And they are also very good! They are not good in the parts of the spectrum where you don't have enough to go around, and they are very good in the parts of the spectrum where you have plenty of them, more than you need.

The reason needs a bit of explanation: If you play a note on your piano that happens to coincide with one of the modes of your room, then the note will probably "trigger" than mode: they note you played will resonate inside the room, because the sound wave has found a path that it can follow around the room, getting back to where it started and repeating the exact same path again, in phase with itself. So the energy builds up and up in that "mode": you can think of the mode as "storing" energy. When you abruptly cut off playing that note, the energy is already in the room, still bouncing around the same path, so the room carries on playing the note after you stopped! The mode is said to "ring". It takes a while for it to die away to nothing, as the energy is slowly dissipated in the air and in the "bounces". But the room only does that when the note you played happens to match a path around the room. If there is no path for the note right next to that first one on the keyboard, then that one will NOT ring: It will die instantly, as soon as you cut it off. So some notes will have modes, and some wont. And that's a problem! Obviously, you don't want your song to ring out on some notes, and die on others! You want all your notes to sound the same.

In a large room, such as a concert hall, this is not a problem because there are several modes for every single note on the keyboard, so all notes ring out in a similar fashion, with none being "greater" than any other. So the overall effect is a rich, warm, smooth, reverberant ambience in the room, that makes it beautiful to play in.

But in a small room, there just aren't any modes for the low end of the keyboard! There are no paths, so those notes just die. So contrary to what many people think, the problem is NOT that you have too many modal issues in your room: the problem is that you don't have enough!

Now, here's the actual issue: Each mode is related to one thing only: the wavelength of a certain tone. If there is a path around the room where that wavelength fits, then you have a mode. If there is no path, then you don't have a mode. With big rooms, all wavelengths fit because the dimensions of the room allow that. With small rooms, only some wavelengths fit, other's don't. The lowest tone that can possibly have any mode in your room, is determined by the length of your room, since that's the longest possible path. For all frequencies (tones) lower than that, there are no paths, and therefor no modes. The next note that can have a mode is related to either the width or height of your room (whichever is greater). And depending on the dimensions of your room, there could be many notes in between that have no modes! In fact, for small rooms, there are always large gaps between modes: many notes that don't have modes. As you go up the scale, playing higher and higher notes, there are more and more modes, until at some point you find that there are now several modes for each note, and from there up, the room sounds smooth.

There's a mathematical method for calculating all of this, and the point that divides the "smooth" part of the spectrum (many modes per note) from the "bad" part of the spectrum (no modes at all for some notes) is called the "Schroeder frequency". Obviously, the design of your room should attempt to get the Schroeder frequency down as low as possible, in order to get as many notes as possible into the "smooth" part. But that's not all you should be aiming for: For the part of the spectrum below the Schroeder frequency, considering that you only have a limited number of modes and a lot of notes, you must attempt to get those few precious modes spread around as evenly as possible, and above all you MUST avoid having two modes occurring at the exact same frequency. If that happens, then that note rings out many times louder, and rings much longer, than it would have if there was only one mode there.

And that gets us back to the starting point: that's why you must avoid square rooms. In a square room, all of the modes that fit in along one axis line up with identical modes on the other axis. So for example if your room is 12' long and 12' wide, then you have a mode at 47 Hz associated with the length, and another mode at the same 47 Hz associated with the width. So when you hit an F on your keyboard or on the bass guitar, or cello, or whatever, it will excite BOTH of those modes together! Double the intensity, double the problem.

OK, so now you understand WHY people are telling you to avoid square shapes: it's really bad for your modal spread.

But it's not just squares: The same thing happens to rectangles with dimensions that are multiples of each other: If you have a room that is 24 feet long, 16 feet wide and 8 feet high, you have a MAJOR problem at 70.6 Hz (C# on your keyboard). At that frequency, the wave fits in exactly three times along the length axis, while at the same time fitting in twice across the width axis, and once in the height axis. So your mode is TRIPLED!

In other words, you don't just have to avoid squares: you have to avoid any combination of dimensions that would get your modes in the wrong place.

And to make matters even more complicated, so far I've only been talking about "axial" modes: ones that form along one of the three main axes of the room, between two boundary surfaces that are opposite each other (eg. the front and back wall, or the ceiling and the floor). But there are also tangential modes, that form between any four boundary surfaces in the room (eg, two walls PLUS the floor and the ceiling, or all four walls), and there are also oblique modes, that form between all six boundary surfaces.

So, one of the many aspects that you'll need to take into account when you design your rooms is "modal distribution". To do that, you'll need to use something called a "room mode calculator". The two best ones that I know of are these:

http://www.bobgolds.com/Mode/RoomModes.htm
http://amroc.andymel.eu/

There are good modal relationships, and bad ones. There's a large number that have been identified as being good, and have even been named after the acoustic scientist that figured them out: Bolt, Louden, Sepmeyer, Bonello, etc. The point is NOT to find the "perfect" ratio for your room: The point is merely to stay away from the bad ones and get reasonably close to a good one, that's all. Don't waste your time trying to refine your ratio down to the fraction of an inch in order to get it "perfect". There's no such thing as a perfect ratio, simply because there are not enough modes to go around in a small room. So trying to find a perfect ratio is pointless.

OK, so back to the original point: Your building can be square if you want it to be, but your rooms can't. Your control room, especially, should not have dimensions that are mathematically related.

20'x20' is the largest size available to me,

Then do 20x20!

but due to concerns with being an even square and the fact that I likely won't start out with any interior room separations,

Not valid concerns. Firstly, bigger squares are better than small ones, because they have more modes, and second you WILL start out with at least some interior walls: The inner-leaf of your isolation system.

The foundation would be concrete slab

Great! So you have your final floor in place too, as soon as that is poured. Save money on flooring, and leave it exactly like that: bare concrete. Nothing better, acoustically, provided that the room is treated correctly.

based off my readings I'm not too concerned that adding wood on top would provide much benefit over the cost.

Bingo!

I want to use glass block windows to let in light but still maintain privacy as well as heat and sound insulation.

Good move, and correct reasons, but expensive. Glass block is not so very cheap. Also, be careful where you put it: you don't want glass where you need acoustic treatment.

I feel like glass block would probably be the best windows for sound isolation

Right! Lots of mass in there. Perfect.

especially if I doubled them up with a bit of air lock between them.

Well, you HAVE to do that anyway: You need one patch of glass block in the outer leaf of your isolation system, and another patch of glass block in your inner leaf. That goes without saying. And there HAS to be an air gap between the leaves: that also goes without saying. There can be no mechanical connections at all between the outer-leaf and the inner-leaf. Not anywhere. Not the windows, not the doors, not the walls, not the ceiling. The inner-leaf of each room must be totally independent and fully decoupled from the other inner-leaves, and also totally independent and fully decoupled from the outer leaf.

I honestly have no idea how to set up a proper sound treated ventilation system,

Simple! With lots of money, and a bit of magic. You close your eyes and chant the following magical incantation: "Realistically this is way more than I'd like to spend. But at the same time ... I might as well get it done right. So I could potentially increase this!" That's the way you do it!

On a more serious note, there are two parts to HVAC. One is the H-AC, and the other is -V--- Heating and cooling is one thing, while ventilation is another. They can be combined into one overall system, but for a small studio it is often easier to do them separately.

I was originally thinking about having a wall mounted AC/Heater combo

Yes. In other words, a mini-split system. That's the H-AC part, but not the V. A mini-split unit in each room will take care of the heating, cooling, and dehumidification. But does nothing for ventilation.

above the entry door

That might or might not be the correct location. You won't know until you have the entire room designed, including the ventilation system and the treatment.

The little closet space would be a vocal Booth/storage room for when it's not in use.

So you'll need three mini-split systems: one for the CR, on for the LR and one for the booth. It might be better to go with a single ducted AHU that deals with all three.

I was thinking a patio sliding door could be a cool way to connect the control room and the rehearsal space.

Pair. You need a pair of doors between the rooms. One door goes in one leaf, the other door goes in the other leaf. Back to back, with an air gap between them.

I know I'm going to have to take some liberties with some of the construction aspects in order to fit my budget,

Repeat after me: "Realistically this is way more than I'd like to spend. But at the same time ... I might as well get it done right. So I could potentially increase this!".

Truth time: You have two possible paths: 1) Low budget. 2) Good isolation and good acoustics. Pick only ONE of those. The choice is yours.

I was hoping a regular patio sliding door wouldn't cause too much of a problem acoustics wise for the room

As long as you don't need high isolation, that would be fine.

The ceilings are something I've thought a lot about, but honestly don't know enough about recording and acoustics to know what would be better for this structure. I am currently leaning towards a Skillion Roof, because I like the look, and based on my elementary knowledge it would be the best acoustically (no parallel lines)

Same myth, different location. The roof type is pretty much irrelevant to the acoustics and the isolation. It can be anything that makes sense. What matters is that it has enough mass to do the job of being part of the outer leaf, and that it is sealed air-tight, just like the rest of the building.

I'm leaning towards 12' ceilings but I'm not sure how expensive that will be,

I think you can guess at the answer: "Realistically this is way more than I'd like to spend. But at the same time ... I might as well get it done right. So I could potentially increase this!".

Yes, higher ceilings are usually better, and always more expensive. But you also have to take into account the purpose of the room, the isolation, and the modal response, among other things.

What would be the most cost effective way to temperature control the space?

Either three mini split systems (one for each room) or a single ducted AHU for all three. I'm guessing that the AHU would be less expensive.

but I don't know how I'd be able to add additional ventilation if I ever put up interior walls,

Ummm.... you need ventilation from Day # 1! This is not an optional extra: It's not something you can add on later if you feel like it. It's just part of the basic requirement for a studio.

Since your studio will be extremely air tight, double sealed, total hermetic barriers, twice over, there is no place for oxygen to get in, and no place for CO2 to get out. You NEED a ventilation system. It is NOT an option. You need one from the instant you put the last seal in place and close the door, long before you even have your treatment in, or start using the place.

The ventilation system is an integral part of the entire studio design. Without it, nobody breathes for very long (especially the poor sod in the vocal booth: he only has an hour or so of consciousness left, and a couple after that to still be alive....)...

I think you get the picture.

or how I would be able to isolate the sound from the unit.

Not sure what that means. The compressor unit of a split system goes outside, on the ground, and is the noisy part. The evaporator part or "indoor unit" goes on the wall inside, one in each room, and is the quiet part. You isolate those from each other with the very long bundle of pipes and cables that joins them together. There's no noise that travels between the two units. As long as you build your building isolation system correctly, taking into account the special needs that mini-split units have, then there's no problem with isolating the sound of the HVAC compressor from the rooms.

The same applies with a single ducted AHU, except that it normally goes outside the isolation shell, instead of inside the isolation shell, as is the case with normal wall-mounted mini-split units.

Do you think the floor space I've allotted will be enough?

ITU and EBU specs (as well as others) call for a minimum floor area of around 220 square feet for a control room. The general rule of thumb is that the live room needs to have about 3 to 5 times the volume of the CR, at least. That said, it is possible to have smaller floor area in the CR: I have designed several rooms smaller than that, and they have worked out pretty well. You can go down to about 180 ft2 reasonably, perhaps less. But the smaller it is, the worse it sounds, and the harder it is to treat. Also, note that the "3 to 5 times" refers to volume, not area, so you could do your CR with a lower ceiling and the LR with a higher ceiling, which would be great because most instruments, including piano, do like high ceilings and lots of space. So for example, with 400 ft2, you could do a 170 ft2 CR with 8 foot ceilings, and 230 ft2 LR with 12 foot ceilings. That would get you 1360 for the CR and 2760 for the LR. Still not a good ratio, but still better than twice the volume.

I want to get this structure built by the end of summer so I can start playing regularly again.

Sorry, but that's not realistic. It will take you about three to six months to learn the basics of acoustics, enough that you can design your room, then another two or three months to learn enough about building materials, structures, techniques, HVAC, and electrical that you would be able to design the place. Then it will take you another three to six months to actually get the design done, in full and complete detail. THEN you can actually start building it. After you pour the slab, it takes 30 days before it is cured enough that you can build on it. Then figure at least six to eight months until you complete the studio (I'm assuming you'll be doing the building yourself, since you don't have enough budget to be hiring anyone). With a lot of luck, and if you are a really fast learner, and already have the building skills and tools you will need, you MIGHT be able to finish it by summer 2018, but that would require a lot of work, every day, from now until then.

That's realistic, and certainly not what you wanted to hear. But you did get a lot of people all over the internet telling you to come here for the best advice on how to build your place, and that's the best advice I can give you: Slow down, learn how to do it right, design it properly, in full and complete detail, then build it right. People who have already done this will tell you the same thing: It takes a lot longer than you ever imagined, and costs much more than you ever realized.

I wish I had better news for you, but that's reality.

Perspective: The very fastest I have ever done a studio, is three months and six days. That's from the date the customer first contacted me, until the date his first customer walked in the door, while they were still painting the finishing touches. That was a garage conversion: in other words, there was already a building there! He did not have to pour a slab, or build outer-leaf walls, or the roof: All he had to do was tear out the interior and re-build it. We worked in parallel, him demolishing while I designing the basics, then him building that while I designed the next part, etc. And he did NOT do it by himself: He had a team of seven experienced builders working with him, day and night. And he had a rather more generous budget. It was a madhouse, and very hectic, and I would prefer to not do something like that again. It worked out OK, though:

CR:

OWLA--CR-Panorama-CR-1-ENH-SML.jpg

Iso booth:

OWLA--LR--Interior--2013-jun-29-02-ENH-SML.jpeg

OWLA--LR-w2-ENH-SML.jpeg

That took three months, with an experienced designer and an experienced team of builders, and an existing building, and a good budget. That's reality. Hoping that you can do your place, which is a ground-up build, with no design experience, no acoustic experience, no construction experience, by yourself, on a limited budget, in the same time frame is not realistic.

I'd suggest that you will need to re-think your schedule, and shoot for completion by the end of summer NEXT year. That would still be do-able, and reasonable, and realistic.


- Stuart -

[Spieltier]

Hey Stuart,

Thank you for the thorough advice. I really do appreciate it. Especially the information on Modes, and the sites to check dimensions! I feel I should probably clarify a few things. Most of my loud musical gear is stored away, and cannot be tested. The loudest thing I'm working with is this upright grand piano, and while it's loud in the house, it really isn't too noisy outside the house. While I want to build this as a studio, and make it really good, it would be a poor financial decision to invest too much money into this structure based on the current value of my home. Even $10,000 is kind of a lot to spend considering the home is only worth around $100,000. Also I haven't really been playing with anyone for the past few years something I'd like to change, but even still I doubt I'd have more than 2 or 3 max additional musicians at any given time. Mostly I'd just be playing by myself, and if I'm recording by myself I'd be doing everything solo. While that can be problematic for mixing, and especially for getting good and consistent recording levels, I know at least for myself that one of the keys for me getting good takes is to be able to just be able to get up and go. I lose quality in terms of audio fidelity, but it increases the quality of the performance, because I think about it less... I don't really know how to explain it. I'd really love to one day have a proper studio space, and make it really kickass, and just go all out, but right now my biggest concern is just getting a room that I can keep all my gear in that sounds good to play in. Somewhere I can put my computer, and do some mixing without annoying everyone else in the house.

I justify the expense by telling myself if I ever sell the house I can spend a bit of money and have the space turned into a guest house or something like that which should help me get some of my money back. But as far as my plans go, this is a long term residence. I have to say though reading your response really kind of put some things in perspective on the depth putting something like this together takes. I want to try and get as close to that while still being able to keep the cost close to my budget, and while I wish I was handy enough to feel like I could ever undertake building this shed myself, I don't have nearly enough confidence that I could manage even incompetently building this structure, let alone building it right.

A few months ago when the idea first came to me to build a shed for my music I called someone for an estimate. I told him what I wanted to do, but he didn't really know the first thing about it, he just builds sheds. I figured that was no good, but I know someone else who could help me do the interior and insulation if I just had this guy build the frame of the shed. So that's the approach I was thinking I'd take. I guess what I was hoping was to get an idea for what the best exterior properties I should have done for the exterior of the shed, and this goes back to the roof design, and the floor size.

After plugging in 18x20x11 into the bobgolds site, it looked pretty encouraging (12 looks decent too, but 11 looks better). So I'm thinking that would probably be a good dimension to go with for having the slab poured, and the exterior framed to. I looked at amroc, but it's harder for me to understand. From what I can tell it gives a good 3d visual indication of the way the acoustics would work in the room and where modes would be good or bad?

As for the roof, Skillion (single slant) or Gambrel (barn yard) are what I'm thinking would likely be best. Gambrel would probably allow me to get higher ceilings at a lower cost while also reducing 90 degree angles. Skillion would be a flatter surface that would gradually slope down the room (this could work well for that control room, since it's better with shorter ceilings). I'm thinking a Mini split in a big open room is probably the best I'll be able to do as far as ventilation goes. unless you were talking about just in/out ventilation that functions through an attic? I wasn't really anticipating much space between the ceiling an the roof which may be a poor decision.

As far as sound isolation goes, I feel like based off what I read budget wise shooting for 45 decibels would probably be around what I should realistically aim for, which for my piano would probably be adequate and as long as I wasn't playing my electric guitar in the dead of night would probably suffice. A sound meter does sound intriguing, and would probably be a good investment, but at the same time I feel like I'm just going to try and have the isolation done as best I can to fit my budget so measuring it would probably only ofter insight into how much louder I am than my structure is able to isolate. I'm sorry if this comes across as indifferent to your advice, I really do appreciate all the insight you offered up, and it really did give me pause to realize just how insightful and educational this forum is! But this is pretty much just a passion for me. It's not a source of income, and I've pretty much been removed from music for the last few years anyways, so really it's more like a mancave for my creative indulgences than any sort of serious studio, if that makes sense. I definitely want to apply as many acoustic and professional principles into the structures design as possible, but at the end of the day this is 90% live room for just day to day practicing/composing where I can make some recordings of myself and play around with a DAW for band camp releases on a page no one visits. So with all that in mind, I need to approach it from that perspective. This is a live room first and foremost, and it will be 70% acoustic instruments, and 30% electric. though that could change once I actually have my gear available to me again, but even still I don't play SUPER loud. It's loud, but with enough insulation and the air gap between the dry wall and glass block I'm pretty confident it won't be too disruptive to neighbors in their own homes. I don't know if that makes sense or not, but for what I see this as, that's pretty much what I'm shooting for.

I hope this provides a bit more insight into what my goals are, and thanks again! I mean it, your write up was amazing, and I really appreciate how you broke everything down for me.

~Peter

[Eric Best]

A sound meter does sound intriguing, and would probably be a good investment, but at the same time I feel like I'm just going to try and have the isolation done as best I can to fit my budget so measuring it would probably only ofter insight into how much louder I am than my structure is able to isolate.

You will also need this when it comes time to work on the acoustics in your room, so you might as well buy it now.

[Spieltier]

Fair enough!