Studio Journal 3-6-2015

Hello all you wonderful studio designers!

My name is Phil and I’m building a rehearsal room/recording room in my house.

My house has been rebuilt and Frankensteined many times since 1947. A single car garage was added to the property at some point, which was then attached to the house. Some time later the single car garage was expanded to a double car garage. Then some time after that it was converted into a 2nd living room area with library, and on the 2nd story the master bedroom was extended over it and a bathroom and closet were added.

I moved in 2 years ago, and it was tough to dig up the plans to even learn that much. The house was a residence, then a dentist office, and then a residence again. Pretty wild!

Anyway, I’m converting the garage area into a rehearsal room/tracking room. I went to school for music, and did a thesis in acoustics, but I’m always ready to learn more, and also to dispel fact from fiction in this confusing world of acoustical materials and misinformation. I’m also nearly clueless when it comes to practical construction techniques, I feel much better building hanging diaphragmatic panels and diffusors than a framed wall.

Demolition has begun, and a new frame has been built sectioning off the room from the rest of the house. I didn’t have much choice, the new frame had to go where it went because of the outside door. However… now…. I am free to go as acoustically wild as needed.

I would like to isolate the room as much as possible. I would love to be able to practice and record with an 8 piece band while the kids are sleeping. Neighbors are less of an issue, and we are a block away from the train tracks, but my biggest concern is not disturbing the family while I play to my heart’s content.

Budget is not as important to me as doing it right. I would rather spend more, take longer and do it right. I expect about $50,000 if I hired people to do all the work. I would be really embarrassed if I had my Sound Recording degree hanging up on the wall inside a faulty room I designed!

Design so far:

I’ve decided to go double walls, room inside a room, green glue. I was debating using clips as they claim to have higher STC ratings than double walls, but this quote got me, “Phil, those tests are done in perfect environments, what do you think will work better? Something that simulates decoupling or actual decoupling?” And that was that. Though the walls aren’t up yet….

A local company keeps trying to sell me Mass Loaded Vinyl, but never fear… I was finally sworn off the stuff a few weeks ago after I saw a study showing that if you put it in the walls it either creates a triple leaf, or doesn’t work, or adds less mass and more expensive mass than sheetrock. So none of that!

We are looking at getting an isolated HVAC system for the room. Probably a split system that does heat and AC. We already have 4 split units in the rest of the house, and they are awesome. 4 is the max you can put on the system we have, so it’s full, and it costs as much to move one as it does to buy a new one. So I kind of lucked out there. I have to get an isolated system! Yay! I have questions about what I should do here. If we get a wall mounted remote controlled unit like we have, how and where do I build the isolation muffler box? How should I send it around the room?

The walls are mostly concrete blocks. I think I’m going to be fine building a 2×4 frame around the room and filling it with fiberglass. It was a surprise tearing off the existing wall and finding the old garage doors still inside! I’m debating on converting the alcove on the south wall into a vocal booth/amp closet/storage closet/bad drummer cage… what do you think? I could decouple a little room there. Could be fun!

I’m not sure what to do about the floor. It’s a poured concrete floor, and I think it’s technically isolated from the rest of the house. I want a hardwood floor, but what goes under that? I was thinking of some kind of mat that goes on the concrete, then plywood, then hardwood floor. I don’t think I need to go much crazier than that but I’ll know more when I do my tests.

The ceiling is my weakest point. There’s a hole where I can actually see the bathtub! On top of that I can’t add anything to the hardwood floor above. Not allowed. I’m all for suggestions here too. Any success gluing sheetrock to the bottom of the floor to add mass? My loose plan was to caulk and fill all gaps and holes, and fill it with fiberglass. Also there is an I-Beam running though the middle of the room… .what to do with that?!

Here’s a rough outline of construction:

Phase 1: build the new wall – DONE!, Add new outer door (coming next week)
Phase 2: build the outer frame around the room, fill gaps, caulk, and add fiberglass
Phase 3: Test! I’ll start my baseline tests here. Figure out how my room is doing. And how to proceed. I’ll be able to take out or add more fiberglass, try different materials
Phase 4: New Floor and HVAC, convert one of the outside sets of doors to a window.
Phase 5: Inside walls and ceiling, inside doors, power ect… finish the isolation portion.
Phase 6: Variable Room acoustics – this is when I get to have fun building contraptions that will absorb the drums If I want, spin around, and diffuse the violin if I want… There will be some permanent installations for sure but I’d love to be able to play with different acoustics.

Pictures, Diagrams, ect to follow:

 

south_wall_full

south wall

left_side_of_south_wall

alcove in south wall

top_of_door_east_wall

top of door east wall

west_wall

west wall

north_wall

north wall

east_wall_3

east wall 3

east_wall_2

east wall 2

east_wall_1

east wall 1

wall_dimentions

wall dimentions

floor_dimentions

floor dimentions