John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Howdy all! After reading through numerous posts on this forum, I've decided to go ahead and ask for some help... I'm in the process of building a new studio, and am stuck trying to get the best design possible. I have a 30'x50' building in a nice location; no neighbors, no traffic, little outside noise, and space for future additions. The building is a simple pole barn-type construction, with 2x6 exterior walls, concrete slab floor, and 9' ceiling joist height. The joists are spaced 10', so sloped ceilings can be included. The total height of the building as a little over 14'. I'm limited to a 20'x30' area, located at the back of the building.

Right now, the plan is to build the 30' dividing wall with 2x6's at 24" spacing to section off my 20'x30' area, then install a laminate wood floor, laid on top of rubber mats. This way, I can start using the room for a rehearsal space and install the walls as money permits. None of the wall will be load bearing, and they will all be built on rubber dividers, so that they're not directly attached to the floor and they can be moved if needed in the future.

My current studio (for the last four years) has been a single room for tracking and mixing, located in a 20'x20' building with 7' ceilings and 2x4 walls. The outside noise isn't horrible, but inefficient windows make it worse than I'd like.

I primarily work with acoustic music: Americana, Folk, Folk-Rock, Country, etc. Also, 90% of the clients I work with multi-track everything, so I don't need total "soundproofing" between rooms.

I've read through a lot of posts, and looked at a lot of designs and basic layouts online, and have used what I've read to put a design together. I'm hoping that I can get some advice from those of you who have done this before or have more knowledge and experience than I do.

I've attached a copy of my current layout, as well as a 3D view from the south side; any comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

JL Friesen

Hi there JL, and Welcome!

I have a 30'x50' building in a nice location

That's an excellent size for studio. Very nice.

I'm limited to a 20'x30' area, located at the back of the building.

Even so, that's still a good size for a studio. I have designed quite a few studios in that size range, so I'm sure there are good possibilities for yours.

Right now, the plan is to build the 30' dividing wall with 2x6's at 24" spacing to section off my 20'x30' area,

That will create a physical barrier between you and the other part of the building, but it won't isolate very much. Single-leaf isolation walls don't do very much, unless they are extremely massive (read: 18" of solid concrete, or similar). Your diagram shows only single-leaf walls, so I'm guessing that you are not familiar with the concepts of studio isolation. The best way to get high levels of isolation at a reasonable cost is with "fully-decoupled two-leaf MSM isolation". That applies to the walls and ceiling, as well as the doors and windows, plus suitable isolation for the HVAC and electrical systems. It's a "package deal". If you need decent levels of isolation, then all of that together is the best way to do it at low cost.

then install a laminate wood floor, laid on top of rubber mats.

NEver lay any florring on any type of underlay that is not specifically approved by the manufacturer. Rubber would not be good, since rubber is resilient. Any loading on that floor would eventually crack the laminate planks. Use only the type of underlay that the manufacturer specifically recommends.

Also, if you went that route and first laid your floor, you would not be able to build any interior walls to divide up the space into the individual rooms that you need. With studio construction, floors are usually the last part to go in, not the first. For many reasons.

This way, I can start using the room for a rehearsal space and install the walls as money permits.

You'd have to take out all of the flooring, cut the rubber to get back to bare concrete, build the wall, then re-install the flooring. And you'd have to repeat that each time you wanted to add a ndew wall.... Seems like a huge effort and unnecessary expense, to me.

None of the wall will be load bearing,

Ummmm yes they will! They will all be supporting your inner-leaf ceilings. Each room has it's own ceiling, which rests on the walls of that specific room.

and they will all be built on rubber dividers,

Why? That makes no sense. While it is possible to use isolation strips under walls, they are seldom needed in studios, unless the slab is in really bad condition (cracked, flaky, uneven, etc.). Normally, the needed air-tight seal can be obtained simply by caulking under the sole plate, when the wall goes up, then caulking under the bottom edge of each layer of drywall as it goes on. If you are attempting to float your walls, then you'll need to do a lot of math to make sure you get the loads, deflections and form factors correct. If not, the wall won't float, and you'll have wasted a lot of money...

so that they're not directly attached to the floor and they can be moved if needed in the future.

That would be unsafe, and probably illegal. Walls must be attached to the floor, always. If not, they will move with changing load conditions, vibration, or even from opening and closing doors. They are usually either tapconned or bolted to the slab, or nailed to the subfloor. You can't just have them sitting on top.

This way, I can start using the room for a rehearsal space

What would prevent you from using it for a rehearsal space right now? Why do you need laminate flooring to do that? Concrete is a great floor, acoustically. Nothing better, in fact. I don't see why you would be unable to rehearse in there without a finish floor....

have used what I've read to put a design together.

It's quite good! A basic corner control room design, with a large live room and a couple of isolation booths. That could work quite well.

However, you are showing only single-leaf walls: You'll need to fix that to make them all double-leaf.

I would also suggest replacing the double swinging doors on Iso A with sliding glass doors: It's really hard to get a good seal on the line where the two doors meet, and swinging doors also take up a lot of floor space.

Also, corner control rooms are ideal candidates for RFZ design, so I'd really suggest that you modify yours to get that, due to all the benefits that it provides.

In general, it looks like you are on the right track, with the above caveats.


- Stuart -