John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hello everyone. My name is Matt Brown. I recently purchased a house in Lake Katrine, NY. I've always wanted to build a detached recording studio in my backyard and it seems as though I'm finally able to!

This build will be from the ground up. The idea is to have the studio on the ground level and a finished space on the second floor. The building will be 24x24 with 10ft. ceiling on the first floor. It will be built with "TJI (truss joist I-beams)" for second story construction No support posts or lolly columns allowing open floor space on first floor. I'm thinking about having the stairs outside the building to maximize studio space.

I've been doing a lot of reading and learning here on the site. I took acoustics classes from Berklee College of Music. I know I have the capacity to understand and learn new concepts. I just have trouble remembering stuff from months ago so please, don't beat me up too much.

Also, being new to this site.. I hope I don't go outside the rules and I apologize in advance.

Here is a photo of the house:
To the left where that small shed currently lives in the backyard is where I plan on building.
Here is a photo of the build site:
I was told that I can have up to 35ft. tall structure, it has to be 20ft. from the side property lines, 25ft. from the rear property line and 30ft. from the front property line. No electrical, plumbing or drainage permits required in Ulster County!

Here is a photo of what I will have built by a company called "Brads Barns". They are 15 minutes away from my home and have a close relationship with the town inspector.

https://www.bradsbarns.com/
So I guess my first steps will be excavation and slab pour. They say that the slab should be 12in. monolithic exactly the size of the structure. I don't think I can afford to go bigger than 24ft. x 24ft.

Some information provided by Brads:

16" on-center 2"x6" framing
Double 2"x10" headers over every door
Engineered roof trusses capable of 75 psf
TJI (truss joist I-beams) for second story construction
No support posts or lolly columns allowing open floor space on first floor
30 year architectural shingles or insulated metal roof
Energy Star rated Tech-Shield roof sheathing
Vented sofits and ridge vents
A variety of options are available to suit your personal tastes and needs

And finally, here is a guideline taken from "Home Recording Studio: Build It Like The Pros"
of what I think will work inside this space:

I also own:
"Master Handbook of Acoustics"
"Handbook of Sound Studio Construction"
"Sound Studio Construction on a Budget"
Does anyone have any good suggestions regarding the slab pour? Completely level? Sections? etc..

This will be a long process. I want to do it as right as I can within the space presented. I hope to end up with a control room that I can trust will translate.
Thank you in advance!
-MATT

Hi Matt, and Welcome to the forum!

I'd love to reply fully to your post, but I'm in "surgery recover mode" today and for the next few days, so I'll have to hold off a bit on the reply. But congrats on your studio plans!

- Stuart -

Hi Stuart!

Thanks for taking the time to reply even in recovery. I hope that everything went as planned and that you get some rest.

Here is some info on me and what I do professionally:

http://linkedin.com/in/matt-brown-76a0a144

-Matt

OK, I'm sort of back in the land of the living, so here's some brief comments:

Also, being new to this site.. I hope I don't go outside the rules and I apologize in advance.

Perfect!

Here is a photo of the build site:

There seems to be a fairly steep slope to the land: are you planning to dig back into that, and have the studio partly underground? Or just level a pad with some space around it? Or buildup part of the foundations above grade?

No electrical, plumbing or drainage permits required in Ulster County!

Lucky you! But do still make sure it is all done to international code. Be safe!

And finally, here is a guideline

So you are planning to basically go with a corner control room design, with a couple of booths and a live room? You might want to take a look at this thread for a vaguely similar studio I designed for a client a couple of years back, now completed: thread about a small corner control room Overall sizes and concepts are similar to yours. You might be able to borrow some ideas from that. But do be warned: corner control rooms are not so easy to treat successfully: by definition, a corner control room is based on a square... and square ain't so good, acoustically. As you can see in that thread, it's possible to do it, but it needs a lot of work, and careful attention to details.

One thing I don't see in your plans, is provision for the speakers. Are you planning to go with an RFZ style design concept? I would recommend that, for a room that shape and size.

Another thing I don't see, is provision for the HVAC. HVAC is a huge part of studios (yes you do need it, not it is not optional... ), and it takes up a lot of space.

Does anyone have any good suggestions regarding the slab pour? Completely level? Sections? etc..

Unless you need very high isolation, I would do it as all one slab. Unless you are going for a very pro studio, where you could sink the LR deeper into the ground to get more headroom, I'd just keep it all flat. Multi-level slabs, split slabs, etc. just add extra cost and complexity. If you do need that, then fine, but beware of the dollar.eating machine that wants to devour your hard-earned cash.... the more complex you make the studio, the more expensive it will be.

I hope to end up with a control room that I can trust will translate.

It certainly can be done! Take a look through that thread I linked to above, and you'll see what type of results are possible. That room is a bit larger than yours: side walls are 12'7", ceiling height is nearly 10'. Floor area is about 144 ft2, and room volume is around 1400 ft3. So try to get yours a bit bigger, if you can. The slab for that studio is about the same total area as your slab, but it's not square: more like 28' long x 21' wide, give or take.

- Stuart -

Hey Stewart,

The photo of the land was taken from my dining room upstairs in the house. Though it looks like a steep angle, it’s really not. I’m sure a bunch of digging will have to be done regardless. I agree, I think one slab will work out. I plan on following international code with everything. The guideline layout is just something I’m looking at from the “Build it like the pro’s” book and by no means a final plan. I do have the space dimensions nailed down though and that’s 24ft. x 24ft. 10ft. ceiling on the first floor. I’m trying to learn Sketchup (which is frustrating).

So in short, I’m in the slab / structure building phase and in the future.. I’ll be looking to do something within the 24ft. 24ft. space. Corner CR? Maybe?


Thanks Stuart!

I've been learning Sketchup a bit. I managed to build a 24' x 24' OD BOX haha. I was able to work on framing, mass and outer wall insulation with 5/8" x 2 sheet rock, 4" Fluffy between outer 2x6 studs. My framing skills are probably a bit off although, I went 16" OC. There is 22' 4" x 22' 4" ID Inside wall sill plate without the obvious. Inside wall height is 9' 2-1/2". Playing around a bit with CR size and location. Really not sure yet but there seems to be room to make something respectable happen.

-MATT

I've been learning Sketchup a bit. I managed to build a 24' x 24' OD BOX haha.

It looks like you might be using the "SketchUp Free" toy version, that runs as a web browser app? If so, then forget that, and download the REAL version, here:

https://www.sketchup.com/download/all

Or simpler, here:

https://download.cnet.com/SketchUp-Make ... 57337.html

Get "SketchUp Make 2017". It is free for personal use, and has all the tools you will need. The online-browser version is a joke in bad taste for serious modeling. So very slow, it bogs down with big models, it does not support plugins, etc. Not much use, really. "Make 2017" is the one you need.

Playing around a bit with CR size and location. Really not sure yet but there seems to be room to make something respectable happen.

Definitely! With around 480 ft2 to play with, you can have a pretty decent studio in there. A control room should be around 215 ft2 minimum (larger is better, a little smaller is possible), so that would take up a bit less than half of the floor area. That leaves quite a bit for the rest. But you could make the control room smaller, if you need more space. Just don't go too small! The smaller a room is, the harder it is to treat, and the less good the results will be...

- Stuart -

OK, got Sketchup Make 2017. Playing around with the idea of dividing the space in half. This gets the CR and LR to around 194 ft2.
.SKP file:
http://shorturl.at/BGLST

I think this is getting closer to the beginnings of a layout plan. This brings the CR to 218 ft2 and the LR to 160 ft2.