John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum

Brad,

Congrats on your build! Hats off to you for doing your homework and taking things serious. I'm looking forward to following your progress. I'm also working on my build also. I'm actually killing time waiting for the county inspector to show up today

I'm curious to see what he says about the double wall framing and puddy pads? The inspectors in my county like to point out fire blocking issues with framing but double walls totally blows that out of the water! With use of fire rated puddy pads and doube R39 fire bat insulation, they shouldn't have a problem.....we'll see what they say.

Keep up the good work.

Dan Scott

Thanks for the kind words Dan! What is the link to your build, I'd like to watch yours as well...

It's funny, my wife thinks I'm nuts - because these build-diaries are like porno to us builders! She looks at me and says, "your drooling, what are you looking at, girls? Porn? Guitars?"

"No honey, look at all that 703 - its so sexy and yellow, the way it soaks up all those frequencies, and wow, check out those fat-ass bass traps."

- B

Hahahaha!!! Ain't it the truth???

I got done working in the studio last night, and was absolutely EXHAUSTED from 3 long days down there (I have a whole new appreciation for construction laborers now that I have done all this work!), and STILL had to find a way to post some pictures and check the other build threads before coming to bed! She thinks I am absolutely nuts!

Beautiful family you have there Brad! They MUST look like your wife!!! Haha!!! As mine grow up, it is kind of sad to see the pictures of them as little tikes! My youngest is 12 now, and my oldest is 18. It is crazy how fast they grow up... enjoy each and every moment with them that you can. Each moment in time comes around ONLY ONCE, and if you miss it, it is gone forever. I go to every play, gathering, field trip, baseball game, soccer game, etc. that I can, and treasure every minute of it!

Oh, and the studio is looking good too!!! I have no expertise in HVAC stuff, so I can offer you no advice, but I do wish I had built some silencers. When I re-do the live room next year, that is my plan.

Good luck, and keep on pushing! It will be well worth it, and as you said earlier, it beats the hell out of what you had before!

Brad, that's Funny

You know where they got the shape of the guitar right? and recording studios are just plain sexy! There's just something about all the equipment and rack gear. I love all the little buttons and knobs, etc. not to mention the lights when all the equipment is turned on

Well, after I finished my post to your thread, I walked out into the studio and the inspector was in there checking things out. Needless to say he was very impressed and I'm clear to insulate!!!

Here is the link to my thread for anyone who's interested in keeping up.

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9584

Dan & DH -

Thanks guys for the kinds words about my build and especially my family. I'm blessed with good kids that are cute AND healthy.


And BOTH of your build-diaries have helped me out quite a bit.


Dan, I'm going to run my snake the way your pictures show.


DH - because of you, I bought putty pads and backer rod...(who knew)
lol:

We all cross-polinate each other's knowledge here - what a GREAT site!!

At the risk of repeating myself or pissing anyone off, I'm still a bit confused. I've been back and forth reading a lot about HVAC, codes, and I'm more confused about "what" to do at this point than when I began

My rooms are simple and small. Each one has a supply duct and return duct.

My central-air/furnace system does NOT have a fresh air supply into the system - so my home's air (and studio rooms) gets supplied with "recycled" air. My house & studio relies on opening windows/doors for fresh air.

Two(2) questions:

1. By me and (other musicians) being in the air-tight studio, will we consume/depleat all the oxegen contained in the air that's circulating through the house by the normal central air/furnace system?

2. Because my inspectors over here are SO UNBELIEVABLY LAX**, I want to take safety into my own hands. So, can I install some 4" hard-duct, from my return trunk out of the house through the siding with a screen - will that be enough to supply (or augment) my system with fresh air? I'm figuring that any air brought into the system this way will be cooled and-or warmed.


** My inspector walked in and never saw anythig like I was building. He was in for apporx 3 minutes - and that's becasue I was telling him what I was doing. They don't require any insulation inspection, or fire stops, nothing!! It's really unbelieveable.

i think you also need a pressure relief to the outside as well once you're connecting to the outside for the air intake. I think Rod had pointed that out on another post but it may have been on another forum as well...

Ok, so I just got the hang of Sketchup. Here's a couple concept pix... (this program is pretty impressive)

I'm at a stand-still

I'm ready to insulate my walls. But before I begin, (and I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier), but regarding my windows in the basement, is it OK that I framed a wall right over them? Is this a complete NO-NO, or am I cleared for take-off?

Will there be any issues with moisture, mold, anything? The basement wall that has these windows faces the EAST, so there is direct sun hitting the window for an hour or two - until it gets high enough in the sky, and then moves over the house entirely.

So if I'm missing anything, PLEASE let me know, in the meantime, I'll begin insulating the other walls.

While waiting on and suggestions on the basement window situation, I got busy with running my snake. I devised a method of mounting it that is made up an electric box and a compression fitting and a clamp.

I've also posted something that I'm hoping SOMEONE can offer some suggestions on as per my supply register.

Here is the picture of my register. I will adjust it to achieve the correct ceiling height. I figured I would install one layer, then mount the tabs, then install the second layer?

Is this the correct way to install these registers?

That will work fine.

It isn't code compliant - it looks like it would be ok. - but it definately is NOT code compliant.

Typically - a break-out box would be done with a full panel installed - then you would install the bushings to protect the cable as it passed into the panel - you would usually end with a single lock type plug assembly to join your drops out of the panels into the rooms, aslthough you could have a coil of cable (that terminated as I see in your pics) left inside the panel itself.

Otherwise you just use the assembly uyou have an build it into the wall (more normal construction type in a pro studio).

BUT I SEE SOMETHING THAT CONCERNS ME - 2 things in fact.

The first is that I do not like the location of what appears to be a vapor barrier that is going to force condensation on both sides of it - that should be on the warm side of the room where you live. That is a clear poly - looks like mabe a 6 mil - installed behind the metal framing up against the concrete wall isn't it?

The other is (and here I thought you had my book for some reason)........ but you have created what is a very serious offence when doing any wiring that includes critical low voltage signal wiring and line voltage wiring.

They should NEVER be run side by each - if they HAVE to cross paths it should always be at a 90 - and then still always as far apart as you can run them - but they should never ever EVER be run parallel to one another - especially within 2 or 3 feet -

That is why I explain in the book that I always run my LV wiring low - and run my line voltage high (meaning the top of the wall or through the ceiling -

then you simply drop straight down to a box for power and straight up to a panel or break-out box for your signal lines.

Then they never have to even cross paths - and you don't create the possibility of 60 cycle electrical interference (or any other sort of EMI) making noise in your recordings.........

do you have other places where this is happening?

It really is a serious concern - it will be a nightmare if this were to happen,.,,,,,,,, you can't generally fix a problem with this by just installing some filters or feeding power through a clean power supply with a faraday case as a part of the assembly (something you can do at the panel location if needs be).

If the wiring in this room is run like this in general you truly have a nightmare on your hands - I cannot stress this enough.

Sincerely,

Rod

On the money! Yes - exactly, 6 mil. The warm part of the room, I'm not sure I know what you mean? I put it there from habit - usually when basements are finished, the vapor barriers are installed in this manner. So for a studio situation like this, is the best bet to just take it down?



Yeah, I missed that... I think a bad habit that I have, is that when I think I "know" something (for regular, non-studio construction), I simple just glance over the topic. I'm finding out more and more that this is not good

Luckily, this is the only place. I'll fix that today before I begin.

And again, that vapor-barrier - should I take it off?

THANKS brother, you saved my ass!

(I know these posts from some of us newbie-studio builders can be real draining, but you're doing GREAT things and for that you're a good person. I can't thank you enough for all the free-info I've got from you and others here on the forum. For us, it really means alot)

Don't feel bad, I had the same problem at one spot in my build too, but the bad thing is that I *knew* this, and wasn't thinking! I joined two AC boxes together that are going to be on the same circuit, and just ran the wire between the 2 without thinking.

I stated looking at what I had, and all of a sudden, it hit me like a ton of bricks! I posted here for confirmation, and then yanked out the wire, and ran it up high, and then over, and then down to the second box.

It is easy to get caught up in all the crap that we have to remember when you are an amateur like me. It is great to have the pros like Rod around that can spot this stuff in a heartbeat!

Keep on pushing Brad... Getting closer and closer!