My Dream Has Come True!!! Please Help!!!

Hi Def · Post by **Hi Def** » Tue Jan 20, 2004 6:19 pm

Hey Everybody! Let me first say that this forum is an amazing resource. Its really cool that so many experienced folks like yourselves will donate the time, energy and knowledge for everyone to feed off of. Very much appreciated.

Well...My dream has come true. I am buying a house out of the city limits and I will be putting up a 40ft x 30ft x 12ft (ceiling) hobby building on the same lot. Guess what I'm turning that into!!!

Which leads me to my many questions.

1) Can you suggest the most effective layout for the rooms. I'd like to have a control room, Main room, Vocal booth and maybe 2 more small iso rooms. Just enough to fit a cabinet or small instrument/amp setup. I have an idea in my head, but there are so many great ideas ya'll come up with...I'd like to hear your thoughts! No beams or anything in the way.

2) Of course there will be a new concrete slab poured for the building. My question is: Is it advisable to isolate the rooms via the partitioned concrete or am I better off floating all of the floors on wood/neoprene. How much of an isolation difference do you think there would be between the two? Reason I am asking is I'd like to save a little cash if I could by not putting in floated floors.

3) The closest neighbor is approximately 200 feet away. Would you advise beefing up the existing buildings walls or go with the room-in-a-room construction method? Isolation from the outside is a must. Thats the last thing I need is grouchy neighbors!

I would be greatful for any advise or direction you all could give. Thanks again.

Marty

Post by **John Sayers** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 8:37 am

Hi Marty - I could offer various layouts for a building that size - 1200 sqft - what do you suggest?? what's your budget??

With neighbours 200ft away you shouldn't have to float floors - what sort of music do you make?? loud? we need more info.

cheers
john

Hi Def · Post by **Hi Def** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 4:10 pm

Hi John! Thank you for the speedy reply.

I will be recording mainly Rock n Roll and Metal as this area is saturated with those groups. I love that kind of music! You can expect loud drums and really loud Amplifiers that go to 11 (gotta love Spinal Tap)! I would like to record or listen to any music at any time of the day. I’m a night person so I need to be able to crank up the Mesa if I need to at 4 in the morning.

As far as budget goes…I really don’t know how answer that question as I have family and friends in the construction and materials industry that are giving me great deals on everything from concrete to insulation! Please do not let that influence the plan too much. If it starts to look like it’ll be too much, hopefully I can modify it! I would say a safe estimate on what I like to spend for materials excluding the outer building, HVAC and concrete would be about 10,000 USD. If I were to pay normal price for materials it would be double that. I Hope I’m note confusing you. So basically, let ‘er rip and if it gets too crazy, I’ll make some changes.

I would like to have a decent size control room. As the majority of the people at any given time will be there, it would be nice to have it a larger size. The main room is very important! I want to be able to set up a pair of room mics on drums and have it sound like a real room (natural verb and ambience)! I would like to have the vocal room as tight as possible but also be able to record and acoustic guitar as well. Roomy if possible, without sounding boxy! I’d also like 1 to 2 small iso rooms for guitar amps (that go to 11) or any other auxiliary instrument when I need them. As well, I’ll need a small bathroom, load-in area and lounge.

Ideal Room Set-up
Control Room
Live Room (Drums,etc.)
Vocal Room
Iso 1
Iso 2

The building will have 12 foot ceilings throughout. I’d like to use all 12 if I could. I love tall ceilings in a control room and it would be great if the design could incorporate this. As well, I like the front window to the main room and side window to the vocal room. I would like to stick with windows in the control room, not sliding doors.

I have a few questions:

1) You mentioned that there may not be the need to float the floors. That would be a great savings! Any way, I’ve seen various studios make cuts in the concrete where the room’s boundaries would be. I would guess this is to further the isolation from room to room. What are your thoughts on this?
2) Will I be able to utilize the outer buildings walls for some part of the studios room construction? I’ve seen this done on some plans posted on this forum. What are your thoughts? Is it best just to do the room-in-a-room type of construction? How much isolation difference will there be between the two methods?

Hopefully I haven’t overstepped my boundaries here by asking so many questions. There is a ton of information to absorb and I want to make sure I DO IT RIGHT!

I would also like to share the construction stages with you and post them if possible. Please let me know if that is cool or not.

Once again, Thank you so much for all of the information and expertise you provide. Hope to hear from you soon.

Marty

Post by **John Sayers** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 4:25 pm

Well Marty - based on what you say the music will be then I'd better retract my statement regarding the floating floor. YOu are going to need serious sound isolation - a heavy metal drummmer with double kicks is going to push the sound barrier

:) and guitars that go to 11 do the same

We have estimated building costs based on everyone's experience and we reckon it's around $US50.00 per sqft. to build a double shell system, that's not with floating floors BTW, so with your 1200 sqft that's around $60K ??

Michael Jones could give you a more accurate indication but I doubt he'd go any lower than what I've suggested.

cheers
John

Hi Def · Post by **Hi Def** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 4:31 pm

Ok! So 60k it is! What would you suggest for a floor plan. I know I can build it for way less. My last studio I built was around 1000sqft and I double walled it and everything with floated floor didn't run me more than 20,000 USD. That was without my discounts. I'm serious, the budget doesn't really mean much to me right now. I would like to see floor plans and take it from there if possible. Thanks so much john! Hope to hear from you soon. Like last post!

marty