Studio considerations in a pole building.

[farmboy]

Hello from Northern Minnesota, USA. I am a married 55 year old drummer-songwriter, a woodworker, and gardener. My goal is to build a small recording studio on the east side of my 30' x 60' pole building. I would like to build a control room, drum room, vocal booth, and possibly a small guitar amp isolation booth. I am out in the country. My neighbors are approximately 800' away on the east and west, no one for miles on the north and south. I live on a dirt road with 1 car driving by every 2 hours. The studio will be used mainly for my own personal projects. My budget is minimal, which means I am willing to go further into debt to make this dream come true. My only real sound-proofing consideration is my wife sleeping approximately 150' from my drums. I am open to any suggestions. The building is constructed of 4.5"x5.5" 12' poles, 8' on center, with 2x4 horizontal purlins holding the metal siding. The floor is unfinished sand. There are 4/12 roof pitch trusses spaced every 4' except for the last 12' on the east end of the building, which has vaulted roof framing. This brings the east-side ceiling to 15' at the peak. There is a 12'W x 8'D x 8'H bath/utility/well-pump room in the SE corner.

facing east.jpg

I am at the very first planning stage. I spent a few hours at sketchup and need time to figure it out. Will this east side make a good sounding drum room? The rough dimensions would be 12'W x 22'L x 12-15'H. (plus the air space over the utility room). I realize that these dimensions will change when I build the inner walls. I already purchased enough lumber/insulation to build a wood floor (hope that wasn't a mistake-this is why I am consulting you).
I have looked around a bunch of websites and you folks seem to be quite intelligent. There is a ton of misleading information out there. Math is not my forte, but I am willing to put in the time necessary. I am very good with construction/wood working, and can build the whole studio myself. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Sincerely,
farmboy

[Soundman2020]

Hi there "farmboy", and Welcome!

My only real sound-proofing consideration is my wife sleeping approximately 150' from my drums. I am open to any suggestions.

There's two sides to isolation: Out-going sound annoying neighbors, and in-coming sound trashing your recordings. That might be in the form of traffic on the road you mentioned, or your neighbors mowing their lawn, or it might be rain, wind, thunder, hail, or it might be aircraft flying over, or even sounds in your own house, such as vacuum cleaner, dryer, food mixer, water running in pipes, toilet flushing, phone ringing, radio, TV, or even just people walking around, opening and closing doors. What you really need to do is to take measurements of the typical ambient sounds around your place at various times of day and night, to figure out what the loudest, most complicated, or most persistent sounds are, and put a number on that (decibels). You also need to take a measurement of how loud YOU are when you have a typical recording session going, and finally of how quiet you need that to be in order to not disturb your wife, your neighbors, or the cops who might come knocking on your door...

To do all of that, you need a proper sound level meter. Not an app on your iPhone! A real meter. Decent ones cost around US$ 100 on Amazon, ebay, etc. Don't get a cheap Chinese "toy" though: they go for around US$ 50$ or less.

When you have all of that data, you can figure out how much isolation you need, in terms of decibels, then we can help you decide on the type of construction you need, the materials, and the techniques.

with .... metal siding

That might be a problem, since that type of thin metal panel on widely spaced supports tends to vibrate, ring, and resonate at various frequencies. You might need to damp that in some way: perhaps some type of spray foam, or perhaps rubber pads applied at specific points. You could do a test using the REW acoustic software package (free!) to see if the metal or the structure has that problem.

well-pump room in the SE corner.

How loud is that? There's a noise source that you should be concerned about, right there. Two noises: one is the pump itself, the other is possibly the noises made by water in the pipes, perhaps even when the pump is not running.

Will this east side make a good sounding drum room

The acoustics of the drum booth does not depend on the shape/size of the existing building: it depends on the shape/size/treatment of the actual booth itself. The bigger it is (volume) the better it can sound. For drums, a higher ceiling is better than a low ceiling. The construction materials you use for the floor, walls, ceiling, door(s) window(s) etc. all have an influence on the overall sound, and most of all, the acoustic treatment you put inside the room, which "shapes" and colors the sound the way you want it to be.

The rough dimensions would be 12'W x 22'L x 12-15'H.

That's quite a reasonable size for a drum booth, especially the height. That can, indeed, sound pretty good.

(plus the air space over the utility room)

That would be irrelevant, since it will be outside of the isolation shell for the drum booth, and therefore would have practically no influence on the internal room acoustics.

I realize that these dimensions will change when I build the inner walls.

... and the inner ceiling! And the floor...

I already purchased enough lumber/insulation to build a wood floor (hope that wasn't a mistake-this is why I am consulting you).

Probably! Floating a floor is a bad idea. Here's why: http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... f=2&t=8173 . Your very best bet for a studio floor (and especially for a drum booth!), is concrete. Just dig a bit, then pour yourself a nice solid concrete slab. There simply is no better floor than that, acoustically.

I have looked around a bunch of websites and you folks seem to be quite intelligent.

Thanks! We think so too! (But perhaps "modesty" isn't high on the list of our attributes... )

There is a ton of misleading information out there.

Yep! Absolutely. If I had a dollar for each YouTube video on "how I built my studio" but shows stupid, dumb, mythical, unsafe, or illegal construction, I'd be well off!

Math is not my forte,

That's OK. Most of the math you need for building a studio is pretty simple. Ordinary high-school stuff. Nothing more complicated than simple logarithms, at the most extreme. No calculus required! Most of it is just adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing. And the "adding" and "multiplying" is mostly about figuring how much more money you'll need to do it!

but I am willing to put in the time necessary.

Great! I'd suggest that you start with two books: "Master Handbook of Acoustics" by F. Alton Everest (that's sort of the Bible for acoustics), and "Home Recording Studio: Build it Like the Pros", by Rod Gervais. The both give you the basic background you'll need to design and build your place, and they only use basic math. They both start out very simple, and explain the concepts fairly clearly. With those two, you'll have a good basis, and if you get stuck, well, that's what the forum is for!


- Stuart -

[farmboy]

Thank you Stuart for taking the time to reply. I really like your signature quote about amazing people. "That'll do" is exactly what I don't want. I have been involved with studio building projects in the past and would love to get it right for once.

What you really need to do is to take measurements of the typical ambient sounds around your place at various times of day and night, to figure out what the loudest, most complicated, or most persistent sounds are, and put a number on that (decibels). You also need to take a measurement of how loud YOU are when you have a typical recording session going

The loudest incoming sound is rain on my metal roof. I measured a normal rain 2 days a go and the meter read 65db. I don't know about a real heavy rain or hail. When I drum my meter read 108db. This was with the meter set at "C" weighting.

That might be a problem, since that type of thin metal panel on widely spaced supports tends to vibrate, ring, and resonate at various frequencies. You might need to damp that in some way: perhaps some type of spray foam, or perhaps rubber pads applied at specific points. You could do a test using the REW acoustic software package (free!) to see if the metal or the structure has that problem.

I will do whatever it takes. Not quite sure how to utilize the REW software for proper testing.....

Two noises: one is the pump itself, the other is possibly the noises made by water in the pipes, perhaps even when the pump is not running.

Whoops! I forgot to measure that. I will let you know when I get back up there. Right now that well pump is only used to water my garden but eventually I will be putting the toilet back in there (I pulled it out to make room for my drumkit!)

That's quite a reasonable size for a drum booth, especially the height. That can, indeed, sound pretty good.

I want to make this room bigger. I have decided to go with a drum room, control room, and iso booth for vox/amps. I am still trying to figure out sketchup but here is a rough view of the shed looking from the back. The 12'x8' room will have the well pump, toilet, small sink and a forced air furnace.

buildingwithdimensions.jpg

Floating a floor is a bad idea.

I had decided to build a wood floor because it's something I can build and it would save me some money. After following your link, I realize now that it 's a bad idea. Maybe I can figure out a way to utilize the 3/4" 4'x8' tongue-n-groove osb and floor joist lumber elsewhere in the studio construction. I will go with concrete floors.

I'd suggest that you start with two books: "Master Handbook of Acoustics" by F. Alton Everest (that's sort of the Bible for acoustics), and "Home Recording Studio: Build it Like the Pros", by Rod Gervais.

I bought both books. It is a bit overwhelming. I need to start someplace. Here is a ROUGH drawing of what I am considering. There are no splayed walls, no speaker placement, nothing but ROUGH dimensions. Is this a good start for a small studio? I am trying to utilize the vaulted ceiling for the drum room.

[farmboy]

Two noises: one is the pump itself, the other is possibly the noises made by water in the pipes

I measured the pump and it read 79db up close. All the plumbing will be in the utility room (toilet,sink) so I don't have to worry about noisy pipes.

[farmboy]

That might be a problem, since that type of thin metal panel on widely spaced supports tends to vibrate, ring, and resonate at various frequencies. You might need to damp that in some way: perhaps some type of spray foam, or perhaps rubber pads applied at specific points. You could do a test using the REW acoustic software package (free!) to see if the metal or the structure has that problem.

What do you think about removing the metal siding and attach as many layers of osb necessary? This would then become my outer leaf. I could also arrange to have a separate concrete "footing" poured just for that outer leaf. The main support posts are 5 1/2", so I could leave a 1" gap (or more if you think it would help)and then begin the pour for the studio floor. This would allow a 10" air gap between masses for the walls. Thoughts?

[farmboy]

[/attachment]
Here is a cutout image which shows the support post and concrete pour that I am referring to. I also show the base plate for the studio wall. Of course the sheeting (leaves-not shown) will go on the inside and outside surfaces. I thought I should include a sketchup view to help explain what I am talking about. Is this a good idea?