John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum

*** Edit: New layout shown below ***

Hi All,

Firstly, thanks to everybody involved in this forum. It's an extremely valuable resource, and I've followed the progress of many of your builds for over a year. I'm happy to say that I'm finally at the design stage of a new building in my backyard, containing a single room studio (Edit: changed my mind & added a tracking room! ). I haven't even broken ground yet, so all plans are flexible and suggestions are welcome. A sketchup file of my initial design is attached below.

Requirements:
The studio will be used for rehearsals (4 piece rock band), occasional recording/mixing, video editing, and probably as a home theatre. It's for private use only. The other room will be a gym, rumpus/party room, guest accommodation, and a general hangin' out space.

Good isolation for vocals, V-Drums and DI'd instruments is an absolute requirement. I'm also aiming for a decent isolation for an occasional acoustic drum rehearsal or recording session, though my isolation expectations, among other things, have been beaten into submission by this forum & Rod's book.

Planned construction:
The outer leaf will be a free-standing structure built directly onto the slab, of either concrete-filled 200m cinderblocks, or 200mm Hebel (aerated concrete) blocks. It will be cement-rendered on the outside and painted on the inside. The roof will be a 22 degree scissor truss with a 12 degree angle on the underside. 2 layers of 16mm Fyrchek gyprock will line the underside of the truss to act as the studio's outer leaf. The tiled roof will actually be a 3rd leaf, but as tiles don't form a hermetic seal and it needs to be ventillated I can't see any choice there. The studio room will be a completely freestanding room-within-a-room on a timber frame, lined with 16mm + 10mm gyprock. The slab will be poured to a standard to allow a polished concrete floor.

Acoustic treatment:
This is where I'll probably need assistance. I've got my trusty DEQ2496 analyser & measurement mic, but at the moment I have nothing to measure! These are my thoughts so far...
- Polished concrete floor (Edit: too expensive, so will be timber floor)
- John's soffitraps, if possible planning ahead for 5.1 monitors.
- Broadband panels in the peak of the ceiling?
- Rear wall broadband absorber(s)?
- Other treatments pending room measurements?

HVAC:
A reverse-cycle split system will be installed in the studio.
(Edit: changed to ducted system with fresh air intake/exhaust to avoid suffocating)

Budget:
The slab & outer structure which will be built by a contractor, I'm currently waiting for a quote. I'll be doing the framing, gyprock (drywall), finishing & treatments myself with an initial budget of AUD$20k after which I'll follow everyone else's lead and pour money into it until it's done.

I have just one question at this stage, which I've seen asked but never answered: would I be better off building the studio as a rectangular room, then use angled Hermholtz resonators to create the angles?

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Adam
Clarence Drive Film & Sound Studio

Hi Adam,

Looks like you have the hang of Sketchup
To answer your question - IMHO it would be best to leave the rectangular room idea alone. Make it properly with the angles.
I notice you are putting 2 x layers gyprock inside the frames. Why?
Are you doing the same on the other side of frames?
You will lose a lot more space acoustically by having to treat the room after with traps and resonators. Once you are done it will make for VERY cosy band rehearsals...

My 2cents - hope it gets the mind ticking - maybe give John a call.

Take Care

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Sideshow
http://www.songcave.net

Sideshow, thanks so much for your interest, it's very comforting to be able to pick the brain of somebody who's just done all of this in our corner of the world, and I'll definitely be booking phone time with John as you suggest.

As a bit of background, it took me a long time to be honest with myself about my actual requirements. At the start I really wanted a full-featured recording studio, and in the original plan the larger room was actually going to be a live room & vocal booth. But I gradually faced the reality that the space will spend most of it's time serving other purposes, and the money saved would be better spent hiring a real studio & experienced engineer (like yours!) if I want to record something beyond a decent demo.


Basically to bring the outer leaf mass closer to that provided by the masonry walls. Because half of the outer leaf is 190mm concrete, it seems worthwhile it to make the rest of the outer leaf as beefy as possible.


Good point. Yes, logic dictates that the two "outer leaf" gyprock walls surrounding the studio should also have 2 layers fyrchek, so the entire outer leaf is a minimum of 2 layers.

I see you've used just a single layer for your inner leaf, are you telling me that what I'm planning is overkill? Does your single layer do a decent job of isolating the low frequencies of a drum kit & bass amp? Can you sing your heart out and not even hear a whisper outside?

As for space, I won't be installing a fixed console because my live/recording rig is all contained in a rolling 19" road case, which frees up space for rehearsals that a real control room wouldn't have. What do you think a reasonable area would be for a 4-piece band to rehearse in? With bass traps and soffit mounts in each corner, panels and clouds, would I also need variable-depth hermholtz resonators?

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Adam
Clarence Drive Film & Sound Studio

Aloha and welcome to the forum, Adam

Congrats on your studio build!


It's not my intention to muddy up the waters but I would be remiss if you started your project and nothing was said, and I apologize if I am mistaken.

If I understand the question/response correctly, I seem to remember reading recently that its easier to build your structure as you normally would (square/rectangle usually), and then angle the walls inside it (by John or Knightfly, I think?) I'll try to locate the comment to verify.

Aloha

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Jerry Maguire: Help me... help you. Help me, help you.

Yes I agree with Kendale's update - he is an expert here - and has done it a few times - the external building may be as normal - but my thoughts swayed toward having the main internal wall be on the angle to minimize space wastage? (as per your floor plan) - as for traps and resonators they would go inside this current floor plan you have yes - i.e. don't do what one new member did and have the gyprock wall built in the shape of a corner trap to avoid having to make one!!!!
Quite possibly (and probably) my misinterpretation of the question.
Cheers guys - no mud seen except probably on my part

Hey, in relation to the question of "quiet as a whisper" with firecheck - well I cranked our system up the other night (about 8pm) - louder than a kit or Joplinesque vocalist - barely audible outside - except for some bass barely audible outside.
In essence I am amazed how good the 16mm firechek gyprock is as a single layer - with the semi rigid (<75mm). What impresses me -may leave you cold
Then again we know bass does (by nature) walk thru walls so if you have the space go double walls - I didn't have the real estate and did the best with what I had. I am happy with my results with fairly close neighbours)
I think you really have to weigh up what level of isolation you need - neighbours and rehearsal times etc.

I am yet to do a test in the quiet of the night (2am) with a snare drum cracking and see how that goes from outside - with minimal background noise. Our inside doors go on tomorrow morning so Sat night is the test


Take care with the advice though - like everyone's I have done my best as have many others here - but I am sure you are aware that some err on overkill for an arguable extra 4-5 points of STC - fair but you have to weigh it up - every extra layer is such a pain and SO expensive AND as you appreciate must be done right.





Anyhow, great to chat Adam,
Kendale thanks for the input buddy

Speak on Monday after my midnight "test"... you are awlways welcome to pop over (2 hours?) to set your mind at ease and have a listen.
In the grand scheme of things ACT to Blue Mountains aint so far

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Sideshow
http://www.songcave.net

Thanks for your input guys, sorry about taking so long to reply but I've been off getting married. I've also gone back to the drawing board and come up with a new plan, inspired by Stick's masterpiece.

Sideshow, your iso results are comforting. Hopefully that will save me a whole lot of gyprocking, but I'll still be able to test it once the first layer is up in each room to how it performs. Thanks for the invitation for a visit, I might to take you up on that once I get the build started to see how you've done a few things.

I have a question about maintaining isolation at the join between an inside-out walls and standard wall. See the pic below. Do you just rely on the end stud to act as part of the leaf, and caulk it for a good seal? Would the mass of a 4x2 pine stud match 2 x 5/8" sheets of drywall? Edit: That question is answered here

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Adam
Clarence Drive Film & Sound Studio

The sketchup file...

Hey buddy!

Have a look at my ISO North wall.....split in centre at 16 degrees I think from memory - you will have to check on John's drawing with protractor.
This will get rid of corner and add broadband (esp bass) trap.

U Got married, congrats!!!

Now you need approval before upgrades ha ha

Take Care till next time

El

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Sideshow
http://www.songcave.net

Good suggestion! I might have to shuffle that door a bit but it should work.

I already had domestic approval (and encouragement!), but I also decided to take the high road in terms of development & building approval. Damn my morals! In our great nation's capital, the approval process moves at a glacial pace, so right now I'm feeling envious of all you guys who had nice brick garages or basements to start with!

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Adam
Clarence Drive Film & Sound Studio