Small garden studio & control room

[Roguejackal]

I have been reading all the studio builds on here to get ideas and tips and have bought the 2 books that I have seen mentioned to buy, but could do with some input and help from the more experienced members,

I have good construction skills as I am a groundworker in the UK and experienced enough in carpentry and Brick laying for the build.

The reason for the build came about for my son who was in a band that the drummer now having to leave due to going to university they no longer had anywhere to practice as well as being able to record in a better environment along with my stepson who is signed to a local label being able to record and mix in a better place.

The space I have is small but at the bottom of our garden and will be built out of concrete block and brick with separate concrete slabs for each of the 2 rooms if required, with 80mm x 50mm studwork to be used for creating the shape and because the maximum height can only be 2.4m high externally I had planned to actually have steps down into my finished areas so to keep as much volume of space as possible, I would also like to have a small toilet/shower room in the space for when other 'artists' stop over late etc.
Nearest residents to the 'studio' would be my neighbors approximately 18 to 20 meters away so the main goal is to be able to practice/record a band and mix in as good an environment as possible at any reasonable time without causing problems for my neighbors and the rest of my household.

oh yes I have downloaded sketchup but Im absolutely hopeless with computer software and haven't been able to get to use it.

A lot of the materials I will be able to get for free or very cheaply as there is always waste and over ordering on site's where I work during the week.

Approx size is 8.5m x 5.5m x 2.4m high these are external measurements

[gullfo]

welcome! sounds like a really nice thing to do! if you have the option to make separated rooms on separate pads, it might make sense to make a separation wall from block in the live room and then a layer of stud frame/drywall for the inner mass on the CR side. that should be significant isolation and be reasonable. the block wall could then be finished with stone for a really nice live face. i'd put the bathroom and shower in an "air lock" location so it's possible to reach by either the CR or live room. if you can get the inner ceiling height to 3m that would also be really good but you'd have to go almost 1m below grade if the maximum roof height is 2.4m.

[Roguejackal]

If this has worked i'l be gobsmacked!

The highlighted areas are the foundations I have already concreted, the small rectangle will be the main entrance with an internal door to each area, the bottom area will be for my workshop plant and tool store to do with my day job, the roof I had planned on making a low pitched apex concrete tile roof as,

a) I have been promised a new pallet of concrete tiles from the site I'm currently working on,
b) I have enough roofing battens and underlay,
c) I will be able to do the work myself,

I have the internal doors already from another job where I had to strip all the internal fittings out of a hospital clinic, they are very heavy fire doors in very good condition with the fittings and door closures all intact, to buy new would probably be anything from £500-£1000 each,

As for stone as a feature in the live room I have a large quantity of Lime stone and sandstone from a stonemasons on another site I worked on a while ago which could be used , it is quite random anything from 75mm -200mm thick in all sizes.

I was thinking possibly 2 steps down into the live and recording room which would be an extra 400mm dig down but as for a 1.00m not sure it would be possible to still hook up to my drains unless I make the shower an toilet area normal height,
would the ceiling height that you mention make a real differance to the sound and recordings possiible, my son uses Logic Pro and my stepson Pro Tools for there recordings.

Other materials I have or will have for free or very cheap are enough 100mm thick concrete blocks for the outside walls, 140mm concrete blocks for a dividing wall like you mentioned, an exterior upvc double glazed entrance door, most of the timber for the stud work, tongue and groove plywood for first layer of flooring.

[gullfo]

sounds like you have a significant amount of materials already! so the small rectangle in the middle would be a room and effectively the air lock? if you can go 400mm then that's what should do it. a ceiling of 2.8m would be nice.

[Roguejackal]

sounds like you have a significant amount of materials already! so the small rectangle in the middle would be a room and effectively the air lock? if you can go 400mm then that's what should do it. a ceiling of 2.8m would be nice.

yes thats right,

I also have some plastic isolation feet with rubber bottoms which take timber bearers 50mm wide, well 100s of them, they were surplus to another site I worked on this year, but reading in Rod Gervais 'Home Recording Studio build it like the Pros' this seems to be a real no no, hence why I have the tongue and groove ply already, but I wondered if the 20mm ply then 15mm plasterboard then 12mm stirling board with wooden laminated flooring to finish would be good as the idea of being able to put all the cables under the floor separate from the electricity wiring appeals to me.

[Roguejackal]

Since the thaw is well and truly happening I have managed to get brick work up to dpc level 3/4 of the way round my foundations that have been dug so far, will finish tomorrow, and then hopefully dig and concrete another footing for the shed/tool slab.
I have also managed to get the drains, and all ducts for services in, meaning I could dig the control and recording slabs down far enough for a 2.8 ceiling, I'l try and get some pictures taken tomorrow.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the raised flooring I mentioned in my previous post?

The plastic feet I mentioned are blue with a round base and 10mm thick black rubber on the bottom, they also have reflex stamped on them,

[gullfo]

i think the best approach is floating the inner isolation walls then creating a floating floor inside that using rigid insulation with MDF layers (or equiv mass) and the finished floor. for the cables, since the floor will have some thickness (~90mm) you could build in some troughs to run the cables (along walls for example) in it, or via troughs above the floor. building the floor on 2x lumber tends to result in a "drum" effect which is not good.

[Roguejackal]

Ok many thanks for that, I will not use the plastic isolation feet, maybe see if I can sell them on ebay to help with funds for the construction

[Roguejackal]

Ok just need a little help, things have progressed shed is built and am now building the shower and control room outer block work, which both the control room and the recording room to be built later will be 2 leaf room in a room, my question is to do with the dividing wall between the control room and the recording room, do I build with a solid 140mm concrete blocks/125mm limestone wall facing into the recording room with a 25mm air space then 70mm timber stud 2 sheets 15mm plasterboard stud work filled with rockwool, or will I get enough isolation by just building 140mm solid wall made up of concrete block and panels of limestone with the previously mentioned stud work and air space on the control room side?

The 2nd option would be cheaper and gain me an extra 125mm of space in the recording/rehearsal room but i don't want to go with this if the more knowledgeable feel this will compromise the success of my build.

[xSpace]

Could you post a picture of this plan?

[Roguejackal]

Im not good with pictures iv been taking pictures on my iphone but need to find out how to resize them small enough for the site.

The plan is basically like the picture in post 3 which I added the extra walls to show the shape to gullfo's plan,

I'v decided to go with the centre wall made out of a combination of 140mm concrete blocks with rendered and plastered finish panels on the rehearsal/recording side and different shapes of limestone and sandstone which will be a minimum of 140mm thick but can protrude into the rehearsal/recording side panels, the back of this wall will be rendered and then a 25mm air space before building a 70/40mm stud with 2 sheets of plasterboard on the control room side, back of stud work to have green netting stapled to it to retain the rock wool, does this sound ok?

[xSpace]

That's fine, I wasn't looking for a picture of the existing work, I wanted to see the drawn plan....I'll just hack something together and you tell me if it looks like what you are trying to do.

[xSpace]

Will your interior wall layout look something like this?

Small garden studio & control room.png

Or is it going to be like this?

Small garden studio & control room-3 leaf.png

[Roguejackal]

Like the first pic 2 leaf, only 1 leaf will be blockwork/natural stone the 2nd leaf will be stud and plasterboard, and many thanks for getting back to me so quickly

[xSpace]

If your interior blockwork is going to be decoupled with no additional framing that could create another leaf on the interior of the blockwork, then it reads like your on the right track:)

I would still like to see a floor plan, but if we are in agreement on this aspect of the build, your in good shape.