Buidling a Studio

Nedrac

Hey guys,
I'm just finished cleaning out a space in the attic above my garage with the intention of building a studio/music room up there

Its wooden floored with what seems to be 2 cm thick plywood. wooden beams supporting the floor underneath.

I intent to carpet, insulate and timber wall the room, and also put a proper door

I'm really interested if anybody had any suggestions on materials for paneling and insulation, and if I can combine the paneling with treating the room acoustically,

or should i do that after the room has been prepared.

I'm really interested in anybodys input and experiences as I feel I've got an opportunity to create a really good room to work in.

My uses:
My main use for the space will computer based composition I intend to put my desk at the end of the room with the circular window, positioned so that I'm facing the window.
I have some old wooden bar counter tops from a renovated local bar that I am planning to use as a desk/tables for my gear.



I don't really think the room is suitable for recording, live musicians, but I would be interested in potentially putting in a vocal booth.
Does anybody reckon its feasible to record drums in there? bassed on the pictures

Its 202 cm high in the middle. With a triangular shapped roof.

I'll enclose photos and the measurements.

Thanks for taking the time to have a look.

Hello by the way, I've been lurking, reading and learing for a while, but haven't had anything relevant to add.



Ned ..

Rockshamrover

There's lots of useful info in this section of Gearslutz.

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/studio-construction-acoustics/

Fair play, i
I'd love to be in a position to do something like this, maybe one day.

PaulBrewer

We, as in Audio Warehouse, work with Munro Acoustics in the UK.

They've been involved with quite a few rooms here in the last couple of years and Chris Walls there will gladly have a preliminary look at your requirements for no charge.

PM me is you're interested.

www.munro.co.uk

PaulBrewer

Niall - Dahlia wrote: »

I'm still waiting after 2 months for him to get back to me... :rolleyes:

There's a few Irish companies you should check out too Nedrac, who'll also check your space out, do you some rough drawings for no charge, and keep it local. I'm not one to advertise for others, a quick google will bring them up.

It comes down to budget though, how much do you want to invest in the place? Check out John Sayer's manual and the forum there too http://johnlsayers.com/Recmanual/index.htm Lots of people there taking the DIY route with similar size spaces.

And how are the neighbours?

Niall , PM me about this please !

PaulBrewer

Niall - Dahlia wrote: »

There's a few Irish companies you should check out too

Who are they Niall ? I can't find anyone. I know some acousticians here but know none who have built many studios. Theory , like music itself, is all well and good - doing it in the trenches is where it counts.

I'd like to be be keeping our business in Ireland too but I feel the experience just isn't in the country.

The Premier studios in Ireland have all been designed by international companies.

In many respects a small room (as the vast majority of ours are) are much more difficult to control than a big space - hence an even greater need for experience.

Nedrac

Rockshamrover wrote: »

There's lots of useful info in this section of Gearslutz.

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/studio-construction-acoustics/

Fair play, i
I'd love to be in a position to do something like this, maybe one day.

Hey, Thanks for this a serious wealth of information in there. Lots to read which im sure will be really useful

PaulBrewer wrote: »

We, as in Audio Warehouse, work with Munro Acoustics in the UK.

They've been involved with quite a few rooms here in the last couple of years and Chris Walls there will gladly have a preliminary look at your requirements for no charge.

PM me is you're interested.

www.munro.co.uk

Thanks for the link Paul, I don't unfortunatley have the budget to outsource the fitting out of the room, I plan to do all the constructions and fitting myself.

Niall - Dahlia wrote: »

It comes down to budget though, how much do you want to invest in the place?

Trying to keep it as cheap as feasibly possible, doing all labout myself etc.

Niall - Dahlia wrote: »

Check out John Sayer's manual and the forum there too http://johnlsayers.com/Recmanual/index.htm Lots of people there taking the DIY route with similar size spaces.

This is really detailed, very much along the lines of what i'm looking for
like building materials insulation etc.

Niall - Dahlia wrote: »

And how are the neighbours?

A couple of cows, I'm out in the middle of nowhere.

---

Anybody have anyopinions on what to use construction wise,


My current plan is

Floor: Carpeted and insulated.

Walls & Roof: Was plannin either rockwool or fibreglass for insulation, And wooden paneling (Tongue & Groove) nailed to the wooden beams.

Acoustic isolation:
One of the guys from xmusic recommended auralex.com for acoustic foam, diffusion etc, I haven't even had a chance to look at this yet though, anybody have any experience with them?



I'm very interested in suggestions on my current planned construction and their respective positive and negative attributes.

PaulBrewer

You can just buy the design and build yourself.

Auralex foam provides no acoustic isolation, we're dealers here.

Elevator

my mate recently built a studio in his house, he got lots of help from pros the other side of the planet after he gave them exact plans of his 2 spaces, it turned out real well and he had slightly less space than you, I will be talkin to him tomorrow eve and can post you up links then if ya like

quickly tho I'd recomend maybe strengthening the floorboards and filling the spaces with rockwool, your space looks nice but you might have to do something with the shape of the ceiling,

I'd try put a vocal booth down the back part where half the space is available, can't remember the height of the middle ceiling but it may work. (edit. at nearly 2 mtrs the booth would most definately be suited down the back. you could partition off the space nicely and use it with good results imo

carpet the floor and purpose built rectangular boxes filled with rockwool, upholstered with light material positioned correctly around the walls will sort out some of the frequencies from causing sound problems.

will post up them links tomorrow for you

iquinn

imho- the money you might save in not getting some professional acoustics help, is money you will more than likely spend further down the line trying to undo bad design choices.

I would at least find out how much a design consult would cost.

PaulBrewer

iquinn wrote: »

imho- the money you might save in not getting some professional acoustics help, is money you will more than likely spend further down the line trying to undo bad design choices.

I would at least find out how much a design consult would cost.

I couldn't agree more.

Ireland is FULL of sub standard rooms, some with great gear.

Great rooms with average gear will always make a better result than great gear in less than great rooms.

studiorat

Nedrac wrote: »

Hey guys,
I'm just finished cleaning out a space in the attic above my garage with the intention of building a studio/music room up there

It would suggest to me that we're not talking about a commercial facility here no?

If that was the case I'd be mostly concerned about making the room comfortable, so it wasn't like an oven during the summer and like a fridge during the winter. Then I'd think about acoustics.

Aridstarling

+1 on the above. If its not for commercial purposes, which it wouldn't seem to be, then worry about being comfortable. You'll probably never get to a stage where the acoustics matter that much if you're always boiling in your own skin/freezing! And its a real danger when this amount of insulation/rockwool is being considered.

As for professional consultation, if you've got the budget then cool go for it, if not, well there's a never ending mine of information on John Sayers' website that covers almost every situation imaginable. Actually going out and reading up on it will stand to you in the future also, should you wish to redecorate/relocate. I've got a bunch of books/pdfs on the subject too, if you want to borrow them/have a look sometime then shoot me a PM.

Get Sketchup as well, its free and its dead handy when you're trying to sort out options, find reflexion points, finalise couch position, etc.

Elevator

anyone recomend room acoustic software for mac? free = cool

I called to my mate today but couldn't stay long as he was fairly sick.

all I can say is listen to your own mind when it comes to this craic, people including me are very opinionated and ya wouldnt believe some of the absolute joke of advice I got from some people who really didn't have a clue,

not sayin there's jokers on here (honestly) but I'm sure we can all agree we've heard some stinking advice here and there.

if I was you I would rockwool the floor under the boards and plasterboard the ceiling, then only rockwool the right patches on the walls. correct me if I'm wrong but ya don't necessarily need to carpet all the walls but the right amount of boxes with rockwool can achieve good results??

if you have a spare room in the house I'd make that your control/mixing room and use the attic as your recording space only

still think the space down the back could make a nice vocal booth

will pm ya the links to the engineers and sites my mates used for advice and references building his studio in a day or two. solid advice given for nowt from a pro can't be bet (only opened it the other week and it has been used with good result already)

PaulBrewer

Fair points from D'Rat and Arid.

But if your aim is higher it can be facilitated too.

Aridstarling

Elevator wrote: »

anyone recomend room acoustic software for mac? free = cool

Modecalc

cmx aka mexy

Will be be very interested to see how this goes. I'll be doing the same thing myself in a couple of months.
Best of luck with it.

boo3000

If anyone is building a studio in Ireland at the moment, im taking a trip soon to the uk to collect some acoustic materials from siderise, they supply neoprene strips, barrier mats and rockwool slabs amongst other things, not making money out of this but ill be happy to collect stuff for people for a contribution to my diesel costs. im leaving in a fortnight but you'll need to get back to me soon so we can arrange this and the materials will be ordered in time. Barrier mats and rockwool slabs can be used to make bass traps, good design for these here:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar06/articles/studiosos.htm

PaulBrewer

boo3000 wrote: »

If anyone is building a studio in Ireland at the moment, im taking a trip soon to the uk to collect some acoustic materials from siderise, they supply neoprene strips, barrier mats and rockwool slabs amongst other things, not making money out of this but ill be happy to collect stuff for people for a contribution to my diesel costs. im leaving in a fortnight but you'll need to get back to me soon so we can arrange this and the materials will be ordered in time. Barrier mats and rockwool slabs can be used to make bass traps, good design for these here:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar06/articles/studiosos.htm

Tell us more about your studio Boo.

i57dwun4yb1pt8

Aridstarling wrote: »

Modecalc

i use room eq wizard

http://www.hometheatershack.com/roomeq/

with a radio shack meter ( the software above has a clibration file for it included )

but a quick dirty test of your studio is to play a sine wave sweep with a bass synth or a signal gen from c1 to about c5 on the keyboard

if you hear notes get louder , alot louder , or qiueter , or alot qiueter

then you have room issues.

ideally they should all sound the same volume in a perfect room

Echoplex

Hi Nedrac. Mode calculators will not work due to your room shape.
There is little need for Measurement either. However, try FuzzMeasure Pro if you are curious.
You will not need much treatment in a space like that. You could if you wish fill the gaps between the beams with fibre insulation, then cover with fabric. No need to do all of it. Just focus on a vocal recording area and an RFZ.
See RFZ at RealTraps.com or GIK acoustics. This Reflection Free Zone, surrounding your mix/listening spot would double as a great vocal and acoustic gtr recording area. Same requirement, no HF reflections.
There is a wealth of DIY info at studiotips.com.
In Ireland you will not find the materials you want readily. Try to find an industrial supplier, one who works with factories, HVAC installations and so on. Try Christy O'Keefe 021 4311327 Tell him Dan sent ya.
He will have products like RockSilk RS60 or RS100 or his own version of 100KG per cubic metre Rockwool. Also look out for Isover High Performance Duct Slabs. Get some Sprayfix glue while you are there.
You can wrap these panels in Hessian, Jute, Painters spill cloth.
The cosmetic is up to your skills but the performance will be equal to the commercial products or the extremely expensive Owens Corning versions.

DD

boo3000

Hi Paul, my studio is being built in Co. Limerick about eight miles from the city. Im converting two old stone stables, each about 21m2 with high ceilings, one will be a control room and the other a live room. For acoustic treatments im gonna keep it simple at first, bass traps and acoustic foam and some soundproofing but its pretty quiet out here. If i find im not happy with the sound in my room ill turn to the pro's for help but i want to see what it sounds like on its own first. The studio is based around a PC running Nuendo with two RME 400 soundcards (ill prob update to lynx aurora 16 next year), i have a dda q2 desk (almost identical to midas xl200) and would hope to record digitally and mix down on the desk, i have some nice effects, joe meek sc2 compressor, handcrafted labs valve compressor, dav compressor, neumann eqs, quad eight channel strips, hand crafted labs valve preamps, acmp neve clones, lexicon pcm 80, dynacord drp 20.
I have a lot of nice synths and different hardware effects aswell, things like a roland space echo, mutronics mutator and 2xstuder b67s.
As i work full time at the moment ill be planning just to do some recording and producing on my time off and hopefully rent the studio to freelance engineers and bands who want to track themselves while im working. Im hoping to have it ready to go in the next 3-4 months and ill be posting more about it when i get closer to that time. But i always appreciate advice and comments from experienced people.
Cheers
Justin

Echoplex

Hi Justin. I have seen an unfortunately large number of cases where the build went ahead, acoustic advice was called in later. I have seen a multi-room rehearsal facility fail, a multi million community centre unfit for purpose. I would strongly encourage you to have a chat with an acoustician before any building. There are decisions which will have very strong implications at the treatment end. The room dimensions for instance. The first chat is normally free. The following process is probably much cheaper than you might think.
DD