Trying to figure out best studio plan

Berre · Post by **Berre** » Tue Aug 26, 2003 8:22 pm

Hi,

First of all, big kuddo's to John e.a. for putting up this great forum. I truly think it is the best in its kind.

I am currently planning the design of new, small home-studio in my backyard. I think I am in a good position since I can build it up from scratch. The only downside will be the cost, but, hey, this probably will be a multiple year plan anyway.

So, while I am not completely new to acoustics (I am an electronics engineer designing audio equipment for a big consumer electronics company), I still would like you help in designing my small studio.

Currently, I know only the following constraints.
The length of the new building cannot exceed 8m, the total surface area should be minimised as much as possible and the height should not exceed 3.5m. Those are the regulations in my area for what is called a garden building.
Knowing these constraints, I started with an area of 8m x 5m. I also experimented a little with the rooms and came to the follwing design (see drawing).

I intend to use floating floors and I want to construct the walls with drywall, but details of the construction are for later. Oh, the other walls will be brickwalls, another regulation here. But that's good anyway.

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Berre

Mangled · Post by **Mangled** » Tue Aug 26, 2003 9:13 pm

Your plan looks alot like mine and I would try to minimize the sound lock / entrance and also the toilet to gain some space for your live room or some storage. The sound lock in my studio is maybe 1 m2 with 4 doors! That's enough to my opinion...

Erwin

Sen · Post by **Sen** » Tue Aug 26, 2003 9:17 pm

Hi Berre,
Your floor plan seems fine, but probably a little issue would be the live room which is square with nearly same length and width...you have a bit of a "breakage" at the door, but I reckon there still some parallel surfaces to take care of...people around here usualy suggest not having rooms like this because of standing waves...
Also, your toilet is not in the best position...your mics in the live room could pick-up someone flushing the toilet

and ruin your perfect take

...something to consider anyway..

good luck...

Berre · Post by **Berre** » Tue Aug 26, 2003 9:36 pm

Hi Erwin, Sen,

thanks for your quick replies.

Yeah, I know. The toilet gives me headaches.

I am still doubting a lot if I even will install one in the studio. Problem is that the toilet in my house is a bit far away, and you have to go through the kitchen and living room first. Not so interesting when you have some clients/friends that really need to go in the middle of the night, when my girlfriend is already sleeping, eh.

The flushing noise: I know that's why I wanted to build the extra wall in between. If I can avoid that the water piping (Erwin, do you know if this is the correct word for 'waterleiding'?) runs along the studio, I think I should be able to minimize the problem. Don't you think?

Regarding the studio's parallel walls: any suggestions?

Regards, Berre

Berre · Post by **Berre** » Tue Aug 26, 2003 11:44 pm

I made a new floorplan and got rid of the toilet.

Also, changing the backwall of the mixing room a bit gave me the opportunity to make the studio bigger. The solve some of the problems with the right angles and parallel walls, I also included bass traps in the back corners.

Waddaya think?

Berre

giles117 · Post by **giles117** » Tue Aug 26, 2003 11:51 pm

You still have to deal with the parallel wall issue in the live room.

Bryan

Sen · Post by **Sen** » Wed Aug 27, 2003 5:31 pm

Berre.I would leave the walls as they are in the live room, but try to build some angled slot resonators and panel absorbers and hang them on the walls...that'll break the parallelism up

Berre · Post by **Berre** » Wed Aug 27, 2003 6:03 pm

Hi Sen.

I was thinking along those lines too. I want to make use of all available space, eh.

Now I definitely have to re-read those articles to make sure I do everything as I'm supposed to.

I would also like to have some ideas regarding acoustical treatment in the mixing room. Where should I put up slot resonators, bass traps etc.? What do I do with those angled corners in the back? Should I put up a diffusor in the back? Things like that. Any help would be very welcome.

I will also try to work out some drawing for the ceilings. There's so much work involved, isn't it? *sigh* Still so much reading to do, and planning, of coarse. But it's for a good cause...

Grtz,
Berre

Mangled · Post by **Mangled** » Wed Aug 27, 2003 8:50 pm

Hi Berre,
If you can live with not having a toilet in your studio, that's perfect.
I did put a toilet in though for the exact same reasons you mention!! It's up to you.
Have you considered HVAC? I would be interested to see how you're gonne do it cause AC is not very common in the area where we live.
I would also prefer a DIY approach. What about you?

groeten,
Erwin

Post by **John Sayers** » Wed Aug 27, 2003 9:27 pm

Isn't this what we are talking about?/

cheers
john

Berre · Post by **Berre** » Wed Aug 27, 2003 10:43 pm

HI John,

thanks for your input. I made some changes to the design and tried to angle the walls towards the mixing room a bit.

Do you think this would be better, then?

I really want the studio to be as big as possible since I want to be able to put a piano and a drum in there. I also noticed that in your design, the back of the mixing room is not symmetric. Wouldn't this be a problem, acoustically? I also loose a lot of space in the studio, so what do you think of my proposal here? The wall towards the mixing room now has an angle of approx. 3 degrees, the wall next to the door has an angle of 12 degrees.

Hey Erwin,
yes, I am still doubting about the toilet. Maybe I can add a little bit to the building for the toilet (creating a little L-shape), but I am afraid the authorities (from building regulations) will already say that it is too big now.

I am also considering AC; especially after a summer like the one we had this year

! I read some interesting articles regarding this, but the solutions they had seemed quite expensive. I think the trick is to use oversized ducts and low air speeds. Also splitting the ducts for the studio and mixing room helps. But again, I still am figuring out an inexpensive way to do this. AC-installers in our area are indeed not used to such requirements...

Post by **John Sayers** » Thu Aug 28, 2003 9:36 am

This maybe??

cheers
john

Berre · Post by **Berre** » Thu Aug 28, 2003 6:19 pm

Hi John,

thanks again for your input. And your time...

I like your idea, but unfortunately, Belgium is often a cold and wet country (although lately we can't complain

). Having to go outside to go from the mixing room to the studio and vice versa seems not so attractive to me.
I know, I could replace the windows with sliding doors, but I have some ideas for using the walls underneath the windows to gain some storage space, which would become impossible when using sliding doors.

Also, putting the door in the angled wall makes the room wider, which consequently will take up space from the studio. I also have the impression that in your drawing the angle of the righthand wall is much bigger than 6 degrees. Is that possible? Wouldn't that take some space too?

So, I am afraid I'll have to stick with my latest design, then. (Sorry I seem to ditch your proposal so quickly... I'm afraid I'm just a difficult person.)

Can you help me out finding the right acoustical treatment for this space? As I already mentioned previously, I would like to have some help in where to put resonators, diffusers etc. I'll put up a proposal from my side shortly. Many thanks.

Regards,
Berre

Berre · Post by **Berre** » Fri Aug 29, 2003 12:54 am

OK guys,

here's my first attempt for finding the good acoustical treatments.

I put up some absorbers and slat resonators where they made most sense to me.

I have also tried to figure out what to do with the ceiling. I'll probably have it angled, having 3m maximum height right behind the mixing position and 2.5m at the front and back walls. I think of doing this with a fake ceiling and hanging rockwool above. Would this make sense? Or should I try to make real hangers instead?

Regards,
Berre