mobile home studio control room

phylbee · Post by **phylbee** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 11:07 am

I am trying to get a 20' x 50' mobile home for a studio. the ceilings are probably 7' . 6" . what would be a good control room size for this ? I'm also assuming i will have to float one of the floors ( not sure what is best )

I built a studio in my garage and made alot of mistakes, control rool is 8 ' x 11.5 ' it's just too small. I built it before I found forums such as this one.

I am wanting a control room, live room, bathroom, and a couple of iso rooms.

Thanks

cadesignr · Post by **cadesignr** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 12:35 am

Hello phylbee, no doubt Harvey told you about his, and what the thickness of the walls were. That is for soundproofing. I don't know where you are going to locate this, but if you intend on recording for profit, you will need to take this into consideration. Mobil homes usually are not to par with even standard home construction. For soundproofing considerations, even room within a room type construction needs a shell which has a STC(sound transmission class) that meets even residential construction in order for the interior shells to do their job. You will probably need to beef up the exterior shell mass, by way of extra layers of gyp bd.
even before you construct your interior rooms. Maybe you should tell the forum what you intend on recording, where the Mobil home will reside, and other particulars. The more information you give, the better the members can respond. Another thing. IF you have neighbors that reside close enough to demand isolation construction, the biggest obstacle you face is the floor of the mobile home. These are usually only 3/4" ply, as weight is the prime criteria in these type of units. To float a floor, or a room for that matter takes up precious vertical space, and considering you already have a minimum of height, I would investigate your iso requirements before purchase. The weight of additional materials to fabricate iso construction, demands additional investigation into obtaining building permits also. It may turn out whereby you may have to set the mobilhome on a special foundation. Walls and ceilings are also very thin, fabricated of materials that are also thin. If soundproofing is not a big problem, then you may not need this level of iso, but I thought I would bring this information to light prior to your decision to purchase. Even zoning will be a prime factor as many locals do not permit the storing, let alone the actual use of a mobile home in certain zones. Anyway, hope this information is of use.
Cheers
fitZ

dymaxian · Post by **dymaxian** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 1:57 am

The sound isolation of the walls might work FOR you, as well. If you park the studio in a place where there's not much noise outside, and you don't need to worry about disturbing neighbors, it might be ok.

Without heavy wall construction, low freq sound will scream right thru those walls. This will eliminate a big part of the acoustic troubles that we usually struggle with.

If you deliberately make the walls thin, sound goes out the walls and just doesn't come back. With thin enough walls, it'll be like mixing outside. Your gear just doesn't get wet when it rains.

*shrug* I know it's not ideal, and probably isn't what you need, but I figured I'd mention it anyway. If you have a little 'cabin-in-the-woods' kinda thing, this might not be a bad option.

Good luck!

Kase
www.minemusic.net

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 11:10 pm

Now, if you can just find a section of the woods where the animals are all scared of music, or born without vocal chords...

dymaxian · Post by **dymaxian** » Sat Jan 17, 2004 4:00 am

I dunno, my bass amp would probably clear the area of wildlife pretty quickly...

phylbee · Post by **phylbee** » Sat Jan 17, 2004 12:18 pm

I checked on the building the other day. it's not a trailer or a mobile home
it's like a mobile office building with 2x4 walls and 2x6 floors, 200 amp electric service with conduit through out it also has heat and air .This guy gets alot of stuff from the military so I'm thinking that were it came from.
I hear what you guys are saying about the sound getting out being a problem with the floor. I really haven't made a desicion on what I want to do yet, I am just exploring my options . I want to have a good sounding and comfortable control room , the one I have now is just too small for the sound and for any more than two people it's really cramped. The guy wants $6500
for the mobile building , I was also thinking of putting up a 30'x40' pole building for a studio which is about the same price not counting the floor but I don't think I could afford to finish it.
My nearest neighbor would be about 150'- 200' from were I would put the building. I was just wondering if there would be certain deminsions for a good control room for a low ceiling like would be in the mobile building (7'6") .

Thanks

Post by **John Sayers** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 8:38 am

Surely you could purchase a prefab steel garage for less cost which will give you a higher ceiling and an open space with no poles to build inside??

cheers
john

phylbee · Post by **phylbee** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 9:15 am

I think thats good advice. In the long run I'm sure I would be more satisfied
with a higher ceiling . Is a 10' ceiling a good height ?

Thanks !

Post by **John Sayers** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 11:23 am

10' at the outer walls with a pitched roof would be better. Lets' face it - with a mobile home you are going to have to gut the interior anyway and build from scratch.

This way you can build full sized rooms with proper ceiling height and layout.

cheers
john