John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hello,

Just found a great new space in the East Village in Manhattan. It is a basement space but has 9 ft ceilings. I think I can make it work BUT.......

The only door leads straight into the control room. i need to replace whats currently there with something..

1. soundproof

2.secure

Have been looking over all the old door threads, but most peoples doors are not their main entrance. SO.........

What do you consider the safest secure locking system? Many here in thge city swear by the police style locks which involve a big hole smack bang in the middle of the door. Would this result in too much leakage or shoul I try and make it work? Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

Short of a pair of attack-trained Rottweilers and a big, nasty dude who owes you money, this is a tricky one - if your stuff is all gone (no locks, no penetration of door) because somebody stole it, then sound proofing/acoustics won't matter much - OTOH, you're right about not wanting holes in doors - even if you caulk things well, the metal parts will transmit sound through the door pretty well.

IF you have enough floor space, the ideal way would be to use a security door in place of what's there, with whatever locks will withstand any likely assaults - Seal as good as you can, then a small vestibule (maybe 3' x 4') and a second, solid core exterior door with tight weatherstripping and a "drop-seal" (around $250 for seal and hardware, plus cost of the door/frame) - use sound absorbent within the vestibule, and you're about as good as you can get.

Depending on the construction of the rest of the place, you may have various flanking paths/leaks that might limit the amount of isolation you get - have you stood in the space with door(s) closed during busy times to see how quiet it is? Notice any footfall noise, radios, people yelling, etc? This will give you an idea of the potential, although a lot of this can be helped with good sealing around openings, extra layers of wallboard, etc. -

Hope that helped some... Steve