Studio build advice

[tunetown]

Fellow T'rockers,

Finally, after many years of aquiring equipment and stuffing it all into my small 3m x 4.5m dead space in my house, I have bought a new house with a 7m x 5m area for which I can pretty much do what I want. I don't have the exact measurements but I'll need to frame out a room inside of those dimensions. It is seperate from the house.

So, I need help. I have never built a good sounding room and am looking for some advice from those that know.

So far, my early studies say that in order to remove standing waves opposing walls need to run 1 in 10 away from one another. Is this correct? I can do this but obviously one end will be 700mm skinnier than the other. Can anyone suggest a room design inside that space?

I'm thinking I'll frame it and cover with 12mm Gyprock stuffed with rockwool for sound proofing. Will I need an extra internal layer of gyprock with Green Glue or equivalent? The more sound proof the better. It will also be a man cave away from the house to hang out and not disturb the missus.

I will be going with a floating laminate timber floor. There will be no control room, just a nice mix space that can track acoustic instruments etc. Maybe even real drums but not sure.

The ceiling obviously need to run out of parallel with the floor but you may have other suggestions. I think it's a 9' or 10' ceiling but will need to check.

So, we exchange Friday this week, settle in 42 days after, move in and my space will be top priority after that.

I have so many questions. i.e. Bass traps, acoustic panels, diffusors, etc.

Any advice you can provide will be very much appreciated. I have never done anything like this before and want to optimise my available space to sound as good as possible.

Cheers

[Manning]

Having done something similar, my advice is hold a farewell dinner with all of your friends, as they are about to never see you again.

[rick]

Peter
my advice .. wether you pay me for it . feed me .. or just smile and say thanks
is after you exchange .. before you buy anything decide anything or dream up anything ..
invite me around for a look and i will tell you exactly what you should not do ..
I WILL save you tens of thousands .. I promise

maybe I can give you some direction about what you should do too ... thats always unknown

but the thing about getting something to sound right is knowing what sounds right ..

I am now convinced more then ever that knowing what sounds good by eye sight and experience is the key to acoustics
.. the learning is just a pleasant mindfuck of a distraction .

[tunetown]

Thanks Rick. That is most generous of you. I will ensure you are well compensated by a means yet to be determined. It's a way off yet and I will contact you as it gets closer to arrange a convenient time. I feel privileged by your offer.

I should hopefully be able to enter after exchange so I can take some acurate measurements. I'd like to have a design finalised ASAP after settlement. I have some skilled trades who owe me some favours.

Thanks for your advice Manning. Will do. Although I'll make it so they might like to hang in the man cave on occasions.

I stumbled across http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/index.php which seems to be a wealth of information.

Cheers

[rick]

Just let me know anytime .. back half of the week is good for me
wed nights are probably better .. just give me some notice
..read up on sayers... learn it .. forgot everything you learnt .. learn it again ..
lots of good stuff there ( with caviet to my personal opinions and experiences that differ ) .. but its a total gold mine .. so mine it .. I think Johns a great guy from my limited time dealing with him .
and i have pulled down two of his big budget rooms from back in the day and it was a real eye opener having worked the rooms and also demolished them ..
same kinda thoughts I have on rooms that I have been part of the build team or sometimes just a curious onlooker and also then worked in later and have had the history of time and hindsight to see whats really what ..

mostly its all bullshit .. cept the stuff thats not and thats the important stuff.

so after sayers then read up on something else .. gearslutz has another goldmine of studio build threads
learn that version of the same story as well
see what sticks and makes sense.. etc etc

the big issue is always cost ..
everything else is easy
you have two issues ...
1 soundproofing
2 .. and sound .

first one is easy to follow and learn if you spend $$$ ...if you don't its harder.. but still easy in the scheme of things

last one .. doesn't matter what you spend .. if your on the wrong path in the beginning of the first one ..

you fucked it .

[rick]

oh yes .. dont worry your pretty little head about parallel walls and roofs and ratios .. thats all bullshit
learn it .. then forget it ... then later learn it again when you understand

the real question I have will be about the real walls ( the outside walls floor and roof )

And I bet they are already a friggin box like every other room ever
built since man stepped out the the real caves ..

that said of course the ivory tower from which I cast stones into the pond doesnt have a parallel surface in it
and its made out of floating strawbails !
.. and I STILL havent made the damn doors anywhere near airtight so I hear aeroplanes sometimes ( $$$ AND TIME ISSUE ) .

but wow it sounds good

[tunetown]

Basically, it's a 3 car garage. 9m x 7m with an extra 2m on one side where a workshop exists. My plan is to take the one car space and knock out the workshop wall to have a space 7m x 5m. Yep, it's square. Brick Veneer with gyprock walls and ceiling and concrete roof tiles. Oh, and roller doors.

Then need to build to room inside that space. My wife & daughter still want to park in the other spaces.

Bit hard to explain so maybe best to go through options once we have walked through and know what's what.

I was concerned about air and found this http://www.daikin.com/global_ac/product ... ideos.html on the John Sayers site. These can replace the air every 2 hours. Seems like the right solution to a room with no windows. Your right, It's a gold mine of information.

[rick]

oh hang on .. your going to knock out the workshop ..?
I might have to reject that plan .. you don't knock out workshops ...
you build workshops ! ..

what on earth is the world coming to ..?

[rick]

oh yes so I am hearing that some walls will have brick behind them some will have air space ..
and cars behind them ..
presumabily vaulted garage style roof ( tiles ..? ) whatever its no roof ..

air con is a $1000 $2000 problem that you can solve in a day .. easy piecy ..

roof noise .. hmm

[tunetown]

The ceiling currently is gyprocked and corniced. Scope to put rockwool and possibly another layer of gyprock or chipboard on top. Roof tiles are concrete with sarking.

What's this I hear about soft or infinite ceilings?

[The Tasmanian]

I like Manning's dinner advice...

[The Tasmanian]

Tell us about your straw bales Rick.
Is the floor sitting on top of suspended straw bales?
The walls ?

[tunetown]

Ok, change of plan.

I will wait until I build a dedicated space away from the house and garage. So, Rick, the workshop stays. It's on half an acre so space is no issue.

I now have a blank canvas. I can build whatever size, shape that is best suited with whatever materials you suggest. This will need to go through council in the guise of a granny flat. It will be bagged and roof tiled to match the house.

It's a longer term goal but hopefully will end up with a better space, more controlled and sounding great.

I hope this will make it easier for you Rick.

[rick]

My world is always a moving target Peter
But you saved the workshop !
Next guy that owns your house won't have to
Wonder why anybody would trash a workshop !


Strawbales

Two rooms like that at my place
Steve's has floating walls holding up a serious serious roof

My room has floating walls meeting a serious serious
Roof which is suspended off a concrete slab on
Acoustic rubber mounts .. But if I had the acess space
I would have capped the roof using the bales as load bearing
As Steve did upstairs

[tunetown]

Hmmm, Not sure council will allow me to build a granny flat out of straw bales. What about the big bad wolf.

I'm thinking besser blocks but have no clue really. It will have to be bagged to match the house. If straw bales go inside the blocks it will greatly reduce the interior size. From what i'm gathering, size matters.

[rick]

nah you misunderstood .. the bales conversation was to appease chris
.. one day when i have my whole place built out i will do somekind of public "this is how you really do a strawbale studio article .." but not till i know enough not to regret it ..


no need to invent the wheel peter .. build a granny flat add value to your property smart move
.. have a bathroom and a beer fridge and kitchen sink inside it ..

and then ..as if by magic it will have the perfect studio dimensions and your man cave will look like it was meant to be there all along ..

now that magic part involves more of you "knowing what you really want" then you can imagine ....
read up ..

dont worry about size or bails or gyprock or anything .. just figure out what you want to do inside .. what you can spend and when you want it .. the good sounding room bit is the easy part .

standard studio construction is undoubtably the way you will go so ...read up


offer is still good anytime