A beautiful place out in the country
Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2017 3:32 pm
Hi all,
I've worked in several "studios" over the years, each one a step better than the last. I'm getting ready to push ahead with the latest & greatest. I've picked up a lot on various forums for a while, even rec.audio.pro from the Usenet days. Read a few books (like Everest & Rod G). Having said that, I feel like I know just enough to be dangerous. I also know how easy it is to miss details that can screw up a project. So I'm hoping I can engage you guys while I work through this. I'll try and document things along the way, the build threads really help make this a great site.
I have a preexisting, detached building for this project. I decided to leave it as a single room in order to maximize space and simplify. I'm comfortable working this way.
The good news is that I am well situated, with the nearest neighbor about 400 yards away. So sound isolation is not a big priority. The bad news is there is a tiny airstrip a few miles away so I am cursed with occasional low flying aircraft. And we're in the country, so there is sometimes gunfire to contend with... My feeling is that it would be very difficult to truly isolate from this stuff (especially the low end) so I've decided to live with it. But I do plan on some soundproofing.
Purpose:
So.... I want this space to be really flexible. I want to be able to use it for:
- mixing & half-ass mastering (stereo with an option for 5.1 at some point)
- guitar amp recording - loud
- drum recording - ~100dB
- sound design - quiet
- occasional band sessions
I've never had a good sounding room before -- usually opting to make things as dead as possible. So I'd really like to get a space that I enjoy the sound of. This is another reason for the single room design. And probably the biggest challenge overall, due to size (what many would consider small-ish). I have a budget of around $12k to get this done.
Room:
The space is an existing "finished" room within a larger garage. The dimensions are about 24'x17'x9'.
The room is drywall over wood studs with insulation in all walls and some above the ceiling. The entire building appears to sit on a pair of concrete slabs (one for the garage and one for the shop/studio) and has T1-11 wood siding. I plan to build a small adjacent room in the garage to handle HVAC, storage and equipment. It will be about 13'x7'x8'.
These aren't hyper-exact drawings, I'm not accounting for the thickness of walls, etc. I'm still trying to get comfortable w/ SketchUp. Here you can see the plan view with the new space - which will be a room with a room. The dotted lines are a guide showing the 38% distance from each wall.
Soundproofing:
As is, even with a cheap hollow core door, I am getting about 20dB loss when measured 1m from the door. When playing 90dB program music on a PA in the room, I can't hear or measure anything about 200 yards away on a quiet night. This is why I'm pretty confident I won't be bothering any neighbors. The noise floor in the room (on the property overall) is about 34dBC. So far I've measured external noises (aircraft etc) at 44-52dBC while in the room.
(Edit -- My house is across the driveway from this building and there is a new heat pump there, also a source of noise.)
At the moment, I'm planning to:
- Replace the two existing doors with solid core doors and beef up the threshold for both. The door to the new room will be the same.
- Build plugs for the four windows in the room.
- If the walls become a weak link at this point, I may add an extra layer of drywall in the room. This will be somewhat difficult as there are
existing outlets and light switches. In any case, I plan to (somehow) seal up the existing outlets and light switches.
Ventilation:
I'm planning to use Rod's idea of a separate air exchange in the new room. There are a lot of unknowns here but I would like to have a system spec-ed out before I start building. HVAC and fresh air with minimal noise is something I have difficulty getting my head around. I also need to consider that I will be working alone about 80% of the time but need to accomodate more if the need arises, maybe 6 people.
Treatment:
Since the room dimensions are established, I'm planning to take Rod's advice here and live with what I have (rather than slanting walls, etc). So don't have a specific plan yet, but it will likely involve a great deal of broadband bass traps, superchunks, etc. Diffusion if necessary. Probably a cloud over the mix desk. Mode calculations indicate I will have problems in the 200-400Hz area. Again I'm hoping to get a good sounding room here, not just a flat dead one. There's also the matter of wanting *both* a good live room and a good mixing room.
Questions -- high level for now, more later:
- Given the room size, are my goals acheivable?
- You'll note the garage has a vaulted ceiling. Would it be worth the considerable time and expense to open up the existing ceiling for
acoustic purposes? This would present many additional problems with the soundproofing, roof vents, possible structural issues, etc. Much
more $$$. I'm hoping I won't have to go there.
Thanks - looking forward to the build, some days more than others...
Edit -- Updated drawing & some words.
I've worked in several "studios" over the years, each one a step better than the last. I'm getting ready to push ahead with the latest & greatest. I've picked up a lot on various forums for a while, even rec.audio.pro from the Usenet days. Read a few books (like Everest & Rod G). Having said that, I feel like I know just enough to be dangerous. I also know how easy it is to miss details that can screw up a project. So I'm hoping I can engage you guys while I work through this. I'll try and document things along the way, the build threads really help make this a great site.
I have a preexisting, detached building for this project. I decided to leave it as a single room in order to maximize space and simplify. I'm comfortable working this way.
The good news is that I am well situated, with the nearest neighbor about 400 yards away. So sound isolation is not a big priority. The bad news is there is a tiny airstrip a few miles away so I am cursed with occasional low flying aircraft. And we're in the country, so there is sometimes gunfire to contend with... My feeling is that it would be very difficult to truly isolate from this stuff (especially the low end) so I've decided to live with it. But I do plan on some soundproofing.
Purpose:
So.... I want this space to be really flexible. I want to be able to use it for:
- mixing & half-ass mastering (stereo with an option for 5.1 at some point)
- guitar amp recording - loud
- drum recording - ~100dB
- sound design - quiet
- occasional band sessions
I've never had a good sounding room before -- usually opting to make things as dead as possible. So I'd really like to get a space that I enjoy the sound of. This is another reason for the single room design. And probably the biggest challenge overall, due to size (what many would consider small-ish). I have a budget of around $12k to get this done.
Room:
The space is an existing "finished" room within a larger garage. The dimensions are about 24'x17'x9'.
The room is drywall over wood studs with insulation in all walls and some above the ceiling. The entire building appears to sit on a pair of concrete slabs (one for the garage and one for the shop/studio) and has T1-11 wood siding. I plan to build a small adjacent room in the garage to handle HVAC, storage and equipment. It will be about 13'x7'x8'.
These aren't hyper-exact drawings, I'm not accounting for the thickness of walls, etc. I'm still trying to get comfortable w/ SketchUp. Here you can see the plan view with the new space - which will be a room with a room. The dotted lines are a guide showing the 38% distance from each wall.
Soundproofing:
As is, even with a cheap hollow core door, I am getting about 20dB loss when measured 1m from the door. When playing 90dB program music on a PA in the room, I can't hear or measure anything about 200 yards away on a quiet night. This is why I'm pretty confident I won't be bothering any neighbors. The noise floor in the room (on the property overall) is about 34dBC. So far I've measured external noises (aircraft etc) at 44-52dBC while in the room.
(Edit -- My house is across the driveway from this building and there is a new heat pump there, also a source of noise.)
At the moment, I'm planning to:
- Replace the two existing doors with solid core doors and beef up the threshold for both. The door to the new room will be the same.
- Build plugs for the four windows in the room.
- If the walls become a weak link at this point, I may add an extra layer of drywall in the room. This will be somewhat difficult as there are
existing outlets and light switches. In any case, I plan to (somehow) seal up the existing outlets and light switches.
Ventilation:
I'm planning to use Rod's idea of a separate air exchange in the new room. There are a lot of unknowns here but I would like to have a system spec-ed out before I start building. HVAC and fresh air with minimal noise is something I have difficulty getting my head around. I also need to consider that I will be working alone about 80% of the time but need to accomodate more if the need arises, maybe 6 people.
Treatment:
Since the room dimensions are established, I'm planning to take Rod's advice here and live with what I have (rather than slanting walls, etc). So don't have a specific plan yet, but it will likely involve a great deal of broadband bass traps, superchunks, etc. Diffusion if necessary. Probably a cloud over the mix desk. Mode calculations indicate I will have problems in the 200-400Hz area. Again I'm hoping to get a good sounding room here, not just a flat dead one. There's also the matter of wanting *both* a good live room and a good mixing room.
Questions -- high level for now, more later:
- Given the room size, are my goals acheivable?
- You'll note the garage has a vaulted ceiling. Would it be worth the considerable time and expense to open up the existing ceiling for
acoustic purposes? This would present many additional problems with the soundproofing, roof vents, possible structural issues, etc. Much
more $$$. I'm hoping I won't have to go there.
Thanks - looking forward to the build, some days more than others...
Edit -- Updated drawing & some words.