John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hello all!!

second post
- again: thank you all for this amazing resource!!

I'm designing a studio with a Control Room, Tracking Room and three Iso Booths.
I'm at the beginning stages of HVAC design / planning (doing it right this time...)
Total size is roughly 1300 square feet.

I've read a lot about silencers, machine rooms, exchange rooms, etc etc.
Is there a general consensus re: silencers?
I.e. is the idea to have one large unit by the actual HVAC box (on the roof, probably) and thus get rid of fan and motor noise travelling downstream to the studio?
Or: a silencer at every room, to do the same AND also isolate between rooms?

My instinct would be to design the system so that it spreads out (star config, sort of) from a central source, as much as possible, as opposed to 'daisy chaining" from room to room. Is this typical?
I'm guessing that would eliminate (or help with) crosstalk / bleed between rooms a bit, yes?

Ok, good for now.
Thank you all, and hope your weekend is fab!!!

Is there a general consensus re: silencers?
I.e. is the idea to have one large unit by the actual HVAC box (on the roof, probably) and thus get rid of fan and motor noise travelling downstream to the studio?
Or: a silencer at every room, to do the same AND also isolate between rooms?

At every tracking or listening room penetration, you need a silencer. So, any room that requires isolation, you need to maintain that transmission loss value by having the same insertion loss value. Insertion loss is the term used when referring to the decrease in dB due to a silencer or sound attenuating device. Transmission loss refers to to the difference in dB due to an obstruction such as a wall. Noise reduction refers to the difference in dB between 2 points along a path of sound propagation.

So, just like your windows, you have to maintain the surface density of your wall construction for your penetrations. That typically means something like: if you have 2 layers of 5/8" drywall (~2.2 lbs/square ft each), you could build your silencer boxes out of 1" thick MDF (~ 5 lbs/square ft). There are lots of threads on silencer boxes, but if have troubles finding what you need, there are lots of active members on here to help further!

My instinct would be to design the system so that it spreads out (star config, sort of) from a central source, as much as possible, as opposed to 'daisy chaining" from room to room. Is this typical?

Standard HVAC practice can apply for distribution. The advantage of using the start method is that you don't need such a large cross sectional area from the air handling unit, getting smaller and smaller along the path.

I'm guessing that would eliminate (or help with) crosstalk / bleed between rooms a bit, yes?

No. Silencer boxes providing insertion loss is what will help with bleed between rooms (a lot).

Maybe keep your build thread here from now on so we can keep track of it

I'd like to see your updated floor layout. Note: Everyone on the forum uses SketchUp Make, so maybe draw it up on there so we all know what we're looking at. Thanks!

Greg