John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hi All,

Relative newcomer to the forum. I read quite a lot but don't post often. That's about to change!

A little about me: Musician and producer, living on Vancouver Island (Canada). I make music that's fairly soft, but usually with guitar amps and drums.

Building a new detached building on 10,000sqft property - New foundation, double wall construction, minimal windows with thick separate glass. Interior building dimensions roughly 33' x 22' x 13' (ceiling has slight pitch from 12-14'). Two iso rooms and a small WC. Iso1 is a small vocal booth (7x9) with exterior window and Iso2 is a dead drum room (10x9) with an interior window to CR. The "control room" (CR) is a blended space, where I can pop on headphones and cut vocals and acoustic musicians in the same room, or pop loud amps into the Iso1, Drums in Iso2, and have Keys and Bass DI'd with the speakers on. Or I can put the drums out in the larger space and have mics further away. I prefer to work this flexible way, and I like having a larger inspiring space as opposed to a smaller CR. Especially when I'm not tracking. Which is a fairly large amount of time for me, probably 70/30 split between tracking and editing/mixing/arranging/responding to bands who need more money to finish their EP.

A couple other non-traditional things about my plans: Minimal holes in the walls, everything including electrical and audio will run through conduit-protected channels in the floor to accessible panels around the Iso's and main room. All the audio will run analog over Cat6/7. Headphones as well (Behringer p16). Video monitors as well, potentially.

I already have many questions, for anyone with experience in trying to create no holes in their walls/ceiling: How do you deal with lighting? And how do you deal with HVAC without using a massive amount of space inside your room? I have read quite a bit about baffle boxes/chases for quieting down HRV systems. I am attempting to build this building quite close to Passive House spec: Can I trust an HVAC install company to know how to spec a recording studio for proper air flow and noise levels while keeping my building envelope tight? How hands-on should I be with them?

Looking forward to posting my newest draft of the floor plan later this week. Let's start making bets: How long until I have a treated control room and a working toilet. I'm gonna say 19 months 22 days from today.

What a spectacular project! I'll be checking your thread. Your dimensions seem like plenty of space to create a great environment. I'm almost done with my build here in LA trying to maximize my detached 22x26 garage space in a crowded and quiet neighborhood.

I'm a drummer, not a studio builder and can't answer your questions from much of a technical POV, but I can tell you the approach we took and how successful I'm hoping it will turn out. Should be done in a few weeks.

Your HVAC system should be on a separate breaker. Whoever installs it should absolutely have had previous experience installing systems specific to a recording studio. Meaning any holes put in your exterior walls will need special placement and treatment in line with your sound containment goals. I used two ductless units, one for the CR, one for the live room. A minimum of holes needed. The only drawback is they don't access outside air. For fresh air (still possible in LA) I'll be opening the doors on each side of the building.

We used all led's for our lighting. They haven't been installed yet but all the wiring is in place. Also on a separate breaker. Allow plenty of headroom for electrical. We added I think four new circuits for the CR, live room, HVAC and interior lighting.

Sounds like you'll be running electrical and plumbing to your new building. my electrical was already in and because of space and money consideration decided not to have a bathroom as the main house is close enough. Looking forward to your drafts.

the key to the hvac is to make sure (like any other penetrations) it is as small as possible, no direct path, and sealed. one way to reduce the openings in the isolation walls is to plan on an expansion of the air volume once in the room - typically i use a 3x or 4x volume increase in the interior plenum/silencer so i can reduce my speed (say inbound at 300fpm) to 100fpm or less. this requires a combination of velocity control via the air handler and size to accommodate 6-8 air changes per hour per room made up with 35-50% fresh air.

on the lighting - presuming you'll have clouds and other objects on the ceilings and absorption and things on the walls - surface mount the electrical - switches, outlets, lights etc. paint the conduit to match.

gullfo wrote:the key to the hvac is to make sure (like any other penetrations) it is as small as possible, no direct path, and sealed. one way to reduce the openings in the isolation walls is to plan on an expansion of the air volume once in the room - typically i use a 3x or 4x volume increase in the interior plenum/silencer so i can reduce my speed (say inbound at 300fpm) to 100fpm or less. this requires a combination of velocity control via the air handler and size to accommodate 6-8 air changes per hour per room made up with 35-50% fresh air.

I'm new to HVAC, so I will look into all these terms and start a conversation with the HVAC specialist. I just emailed them floor plans, so we will see what they come back with. Trying to get the ducting and HRV unit outside to save precious space inside.

gullfo wrote:on the lighting - presuming you'll have clouds and other objects on the ceilings and absorption and things on the walls - surface mount the electrical - switches, outlets, lights etc. paint the conduit to match.

We think alike! I was scratching my head and asking my wife for advice on how to not create holes in the ceiling, and I started thinking about industrial buildings with their exposed conduits and surface mount lighting. Said the same thing last night.

Sinclair wrote:What a spectacular project! I'll be checking your thread. Your dimensions seem like plenty of space to create a great environment. I'm almost done with my build here in LA trying to maximize my detached 22x26 garage space in a crowded and quiet neighborhood.

Cheers!! Thanks for following along! Will check out your posts and excited to see your space in photos.

Update: My architect has switched the wall construction on me

We're going with ICF wall construction and a decoupled interior wall. I was wondering about the air gap in between the ICF exterior wall and the 2x4 standard stud wall construction: I'm already getting roughly STC 50-55 with the ICF.. Can I go for a 1" air gap and 2 x 5/8" drywall? I'm losing a lot of interior room with the ICF, but gaining quicker construction time, superior insulation and a lot of mass.

Another question: can I have the double drywall facing the air gap side, so I can fill the interior-facing side with insulation and cover with fabric? (ie. exterior > ICF wall > air gap > 5/8 rock > green glue > 5/8 rock > stud frame > insulation > acoustic fabric > interior)

the air gap between structural members (frame) can be 1". imagine 2 back to back 2x4 walls - you would have 8" of air gap between the two drywall layers. even with the ICF and a framed 2x4 wall you would have 4 1/2" air gap with the frame offset by 1".

gullfo wrote:the air gap between structural members (frame) can be 1".

But can I have the air gap be between the ICF and drywall? Instead of ICF and open frame? So, a true 1" air gap. I'm essentially flipping the wall so the insulation faces the interior room and the drywall assembly is facing the exterior wall, with the 1" air gap. This saves having to build a ton of absorption panels.

I would build the studs flat on the floor, drywall and green glue, seal all the gaps, and stand up the wall (attach it to the floor etc).

yes, the inside-out wall is still your mass boundary regardless of which side the mass is on. so to decouple the inner walls from the outer walls you want: air gap. and ideally isolation from other structure - independent slabs, sway bracing, etc etc. but the 1" air gap is really the smallest you would want to go to accommodate any uneven surfaces and slight shifts.