John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

This is the gist of a second floor accessory dwelling unit I'm building above a new garage. As you can see it is a multi-use room. Haven't drawn in the bathroom door yet. That is a 6'x10' window bay. It's a really thick window pulled out of a house on Lake Michigan rated to withstand winds up to 100 mph. Hopefully it will not leek too much sound. I plan to put 703 in the walls and to seal the outlets. I'm working to find some better windows to keep noise transfer down in the front under the eve.

The ceiling will be partially sloped. We haven't designed the trusses yet, so don't know how high the ceiling will completely be. At each lowest spot, the walls are only 7 feet. If you measured all the way to the top of the pitch from the floor, the height would be @ 13 feet.

Length of the room is 23 feet. Width is 14.5 ft all the way to the closet between a murphy bed to your left and the bathroom to the right.

My goals:

1. the best mix space I can get
2. reduce but not completely eliminate noise in and out.
3. Use the space for gathering people...kids...family.

Questions off hand:
A. In the second image you can see a space at the top cut out of the large closet. I'm wondering if there is a way to slope those walls, add treatment etc where my desk could sit in there. The little spot is just 4'x4' in the drawing. Perhaps I could mount my Adams A7s in a treated wall? Any ideas on if I should use a treated cut out space like that or will that just become a resonate chamber?

B. Also is the question of whether I should run the walls of that closet and bathroom all the way to the ceiling or if I should put a flat 'roof' above them? Again that will likely become a resonant chamber no doubt. On the outside wall the height will be 7 feet. The wall on the other side of the closet, the wall on the interior, the height will be just 2 feet taller or so..about 9ft. I'm wondering if I might design something above the closet and bathroom that might serve as a large bass trap.

C. A situation might like may cause you to pull your hair out since I'm not attempting a proper studio. Basically I'm hoping someone could take a look and help me think about how to make this a more friendly space for recording.

My main purpose is a podcast I'm developing. Otherwise I make pretty raw hi-fi/lo-fi music that isn't polished. https://ordinaryneighbors.bandcamp.com/

Thanks for any suggestions!

jb

Hi. Please read the forum rules for posting (click here). You seem to be missing a couple of things!

This is the gist of a second floor accessory dwelling unit I'm building above a new garage.

Building a studio on an upper floor is very expensive and complicated, if you need good isolation. You didn't mention how much isolation you need, and there are conflicting hints in your post, so please clarify that, in numbers.

As you can see it is a multi-use room. Haven't drawn in the bathroom door yet.

There seems to be a kitchenette at one end: So I assume that, in addition to adding the bathroom door, you'll be building a wall across the kitchenette area too? You can't have that inside the studio, for obvious reasons.

That is a 6'x10' window bay. It's a really thick window pulled out of a house on Lake Michigan rated to withstand winds up to 100 mph.

Climate rating is prety much irrelevant. What you need to know is how thick the glass is, and what type of glass it is. Isolation depends mostly on mass, so you need to know the mass in order to figure out the isolation.

Hopefully it will not leek too much sound

Being hopeful is not much use for designing a studio! Actually figuring things out using basic design rules and acoustic calculations is a much better option...

I plan to put 703 in the walls and to seal the outlets

703 is semi-rigid fiberglass insulation. It will do nothing at all to seal your outlets. Yes, you do need 703 (or similar), and yes you to need to seal the entire room air-tight (not just the outlets), but 703 is not sealant, and won't seal anything. In acoustics, it is classified as "porous absorption"...

I'm working to find some better windows to keep noise transfer down in the front under the eve.

If you are planning to do only a single-leaf isolation system, which seems to be the case, you are not going to get very good isolation anyway. All you need for your windows is enough surface density in the glass to match the surface density of the surrounding wall.

The ceiling will be partially sloped. We haven't designed the trusses yet,

Why do you want to slope the ceiling? And how do you know that it will be sloped if you have not even designed any part of the roof at all?

At each lowest spot, the walls are only 7 feet.

OK, this is confusing: From what you said so far, it seems that you already have the walls, but you do not yet have the roof, so I can only assume that this entire garage is just framing right now? Photos would help.

My goals:

You did not mention tracking, so I assume that this is basically just a control room? Only for mixing?

2. reduce but not completely eliminate noise in and out.

How much, in numbers? You need to define your isolation needs in decibels. You cannot design an isolation system unless you know how much isolation you need...

A. In the second image you can see a space at the top cut out of the large closet. I'm wondering if there is a way to slope those walls, add treatment etc where my desk could sit in there.

The closet is not marked, and the desk is not shown, so no, I can't see any of that! Also, the ONLY feasible orientation for a control room in that space, is facing towards the left of your drawing (away from the kitchenette).

1. Why do you want to sloe your walls?

Perhaps I could mount my Adams A7s in a treated wall?

Are you saying that you want to flush-mount ("soffit-mount") your speakers?

B. Also is the question of whether I should run the walls of that closet and bathroom all the way to the ceiling

Yes, always.

or if I should put a flat 'roof' above them?

That's confusing again! Why would you want to put a roof on a room that is below the ceiling?

There are several other things in your post that will need questioning, but the above items need to be addressed first, before getting to those.


- Stuart -

Thanks for your thoughts. I'll reply tomorrow when I can think more clearly. For now, I assumed I was not meeting the forum's rules because I'm not trying to design a formal recording studio. This is a multi-use room. I've always worked on my own personal stuff at home. I'm trying to use what I have (in the design) and add to it during construction to make it more friendly to making music.

On one end of the spectrum are peeps specing out a full on professional studio. On the other are peeps trying to make due with their spaces as they are with various traps etc. I'm somewhere in the middle trying to figure out what basic build steps to take that might make the room better for music making.

Thanks,

jb

I assumed I was not meeting the forum's rules because I'm not trying to design a formal recording studio

Not at all! There's no problem with bringing pretty much any type of acoustic project to the forum. We've seen some pretty strange ones, in addition to "traditional" ones.

The problem is not about the type of studio you want to build: It's about reading and following the rules I linked you to... Especially the biggest, most important rule...

- Stuart -