Studio Build

[Mcjnic]

From the control room.

Just … dang.
That is turning out great.

 

[owr]

Beautiful Sinc. I really like the way you guys incorporated the MLV. From what I understand having it free to move a bit on one end is good for the dampening. In my build the guy sandwiched it between 2 layers of drywall which hanging on the ISO clips. I wonder if this lowered the potential of the MLV given it has no flex, and I also get nervous having the weight of 2 layers of drywall and MLV hanging off the ISO channels. Then again from what I can tell I think they just used long screws to drill right through the ISO channel into the studs behind it effectively negating the purpose of the ISO. Hire professionals kids... But my room is quiet enough, so Im not revisiting that mess.

I also have the same drop in wifi, and never hard wired my small room with ethernet. Honestly its been one of the better decisions, I can't look at my phone in there, I just play. Im pretty far away from the wifi router in the main house so thats probably most of it, but once I open the door to the studio the signal jumps considerably. I don't think its MLV specific, just really thick walls.

Keep the photos coming!

 

[Sinclair]

I had concerns about the weight too especially on the ceiling. The 2lb MLV is dense and really heavy. It's actually stapled to the studs and doesn't really hang but is somewhat flexible between the studs. The long screws through the channel clips and MLV are secure enough to hold the additional weight of the drywall that's attached to the aluminum channels. The channel also separates the drywall from the MLV with an additional air gap while the clips themselves ride on large rubber washers on the MLV.

The low frequencies that do pass through the drywall will hit the MLV which is a different density. From there they hit the insulation then the 1" air gap between the inner and outer walls. At that point they still have to go through another insulated wall and the exterior stucco to be heard. They should be pretty defused by then. Even so I expect to be able to hear a bit of low end bass drum outside.

Here's a cross section of the two mirrored control room walls with the 1" gap between. Right to left. Drywall screwed to the channel attached to clips that are isolated off the MLV then the MLV stapled to studs on the insulated wall.

I really get not looking at your phone while in there but we needed to bring in wifi to have a signal strong enough to use email.

 

[Sinclair]

Drywall mud and sanding and a bit of control room window trim. Moving along pretty quickly until Wednesday when covid hit. I've already had it and recovered a month ago but the not other guys We're down for a week at least.

 

[jptrickster]

 

[rock roll]

I thought I'd create a thread on this to add pictures and elicit comments as the 6-8 week construction progresses. If any of you have done this I'd love to hear your experience good and not so good.

After years of playing/recording in my not at all soundproof two car garage, I'm turning the space into an actual studio with a live room, iso booth, control room and storage space. Spurred on by the fact that my son is a recording engineer, writer and touring guitar player it's time we had a real space to work. We've both had projects going in the garage in the past but had to shut down by 10pm or earlier to keep the neighbors happy. This will change that and we're hoping the new room will even attract projects. A leap of faith perhaps with a build it and they will come idea firmly in play.

A few pictures to get started.

There was a thread that I responded to about 2 years ago, as well as many other dfo members did , on another members home studio build.
I'll try to find it and send you a link.
If any members can find it faster than me please do so , there are alot of good ideas on that thread.
I converted my garage into a studio. I read many books on sound waves and construction materials and came up with many low cost options .

 

[rock roll]

Part of talks about containing bass drum low end was to set up on a riser. Cheap to build and it doesn't need to be very high. Even 6 inches off the floor would help. Your neighbors might appreciate it. For the money I'm spending I'm not setting up on no damn riser.

If building a riser consider filling it with sand

 

[Sinclair]

If building a riser consider filling it with sand

I would consider it if I didn't need the flexibility of recording drums in different areas of the live room. In lieu of that, the vinyl flooring will be laid on 1lb MLV effectively decoupling it from the slab. Cheaper than floating the entire floor. This in conjunction with the double walls and ceiling treatment, and the fact that I've already spent the money I budgeted will hopefully be sufficient to reduce enough low end transfer.

 

[Tornado]

I would consider it if I didn't need the flexibility of recording drums in different areas of the live room. In lieu of that, the vinyl flooring will be laid on 1lb MLV effectively decoupling it from the slab. Cheaper than floating the entire floor. This in conjunction with the double walls and ceiling treatment, and the fact that I've already spent the money I budgeted will hopefully be sufficient to reduce enough low end transfer.

I think you're going the right way about this. You could spend 2x or more trying to keep that last 3dB from escaping, but your neighbors shouldn't hear it from inside their houses, which is the only thing that matters.

 

[Sinclair]

You could spend 2x or more trying to keep that last 3dB from escaping, but your neighbors shouldn't hear it from inside their houses, which is the only thing that matters.

So true. We'll have a trial run of recording drums and bass to find out just how tight the room is. Hoping to be able to record anything well into the night if need be.

 

[rock roll]

It may to too late for this idea... when I made my studio in a 25x25 garage ,with 11 foot ceiling , I made a free standing 16x14 room with a 9 foot ceiling inside the garage...you can walk completely around it.
But my best idea was the walls ... I have a 2x6 at the top header and a 2x4 on the bottom , every other stud was cut at an angle so it would line up with the inside wall and every other stud was a regular 2x4 lining up with the outside wall , so I have a dual wall using the same space as a single wall.
The other thing that's good about this is that I have no standing waves because there are no parallel walls.
The corners were tricky to dry wall , especially as I have 3 layers on this inside wall and 2 on the outside wall.
One layer of drywall on the inner ceiling then j-channel and another layer of drywall , then on the outside top of the room there's just enough space to lay on top and screw in another 2 more layers of drywall.

 

[Sinclair]

It may to too late for this idea... when I made my studio in a 25x25 garage ,with 11 foot ceiling , I made a free standing 16x14 room with a 9 foot ceiling inside the garage...you can walk completely around it.
But my best idea was the walls ... I have a 2x6 at the top header and a 2x4 on the bottom , every other stud was cut at an angle so it would line up with the inside wall and every other stud was a regular 2x4 lining up with the outside wall , so I have a dual wall using the same space as a single wall.
The other thing that's good about this is that I have no standing waves because there are no parallel walls.
The corners were tricky to dry wall , especially as I have 3 layers on this inside wall and 2 on the outside wall.
One layer of drywall on the inner ceiling then j-channel and another layer of drywall , then on the outside top of the room there's just enough space to lay on top and screw in another 2 more layers of drywall.

Trying to visualize your wall construction. It sounds great. Any pictures?
25x25 is about the same size I started with. I lost 4ft across the entire width to accommodate the storage room, a small iso booth for speaker cabs and bar surface before you enter the actual studio space.
We opted for a control room instead of a free standing room, effectively taking up one quarter of the available studio space, but it'll be well worth it. Our raised ceiling is also 11ft but just in the center of the live room. Five exposed beams at 8ft. Ceiling around the perimeter and in the control room stayed at 8ft.

The 14x16 x9 room in the middle is a nice size. Is it movable. Any windows? How is it used?
The j-channel sounds similar to what we have everywhere except the floor of course. Is that a similar treatment? Love to see pics. Thanks for chiming in R&R.

 

[rock roll]

Trying to visualize your wall construction. It sounds great. Any pictures?
25x25 is about the same size I started with. I lost 4ft across the entire width to accommodate the storage room, a small iso booth for speaker cabs and bar surface before you enter the actual studio space.
We opted for a control room instead of a free standing room, effectively taking up one quarter of the available studio space, but it'll be well worth it. Our raised ceiling is also 11ft but just in the center of the live room. Five exposed beams at 8ft. Ceiling around the perimeter and in the control room stayed at 8ft.

The 14x16 x9 room in the middle is a nice size. Is it movable. Any windows? How is it used?
The j-channel sounds similar to what we have everywhere except the floor of course. Is that a similar treatment? Love to see pics. Thanks for chiming in R&R.

It's kinda movable in that I can unscrew everything since it's freestanding but it would be soo much work.its not attachched to any walls or the ceiling .
I have a couple insta Polaroids I took (old school) I'll see if I can find them . If I remember right there's 3.
There are 2 widows one is about 7ftx3ft with 2 panes , one for the inside wall and one for the outside wall. There's just a little gap between them. I used old rubber backed carpet for the seating of the windows and walls so vibration doesn't go into the concrete floor .
The other window on another wall is smaller and goes to the shelvs storage area.. shelves on both sides going all the way up the 11ft wall.
On My a/c and heat issue ... this studio was made before the Mitsubishi mr.slim 's came out.
So what I did was have a hole cut across from the a/c window unit blowing cool air into the studio but because I didn't want a huge sound leak I installed a box frame maze using 2x4's on the inside wall , the box frame on the wall is 8ftx4ft with a hole at the opposite end ... and this was repeated on another wall with a fan on the outside pulling the air out of the room.
This was all done in the early 90's , I'll take what pics I can later today and send.

 

[rock roll]

Trying to visualize your wall construction. It sounds great. Any pictures?
25x25 is about the same size I started with. I lost 4ft across the entire width to accommodate the storage room, a small iso booth for speaker cabs and bar surface before you enter the actual studio space.
We opted for a control room instead of a free standing room, effectively taking up one quarter of the available studio space, but it'll be well worth it. Our raised ceiling is also 11ft but just in the center of the live room. Five exposed beams at 8ft. Ceiling around the perimeter and in the control room stayed at 8ft.

The 14x16 x9 room in the middle is a nice size. Is it movable. Any windows? How is it used?
The j-channel sounds similar to what we have everywhere except the floor of course. Is that a similar treatment? Love to see pics. Thanks for chiming in R&R.

Here's some pics..

 

[Sinclair]

Walls look massive. I'm sure they do the trick. Love the egg cartons. I'm not sure of my treatment yet. Baffles, maybe some heavy curtains .

 

[ThomasL]

Have you considered some kind of wood paneling on the walls? I've understood that drywall is not acoustically very nice.

 

[rock roll]

I made this as a budget build since It was only a few years after I graduated high school and didn't have much money .
I never spent much time finishing the walls , work got in the way eventually and studio became a storage area.
Now I'm retired I'm fixing it back up.
I'm not sure what I will do for the walls.
For my mixer ...
I took my 32 channel Mackie board out and get a behringer x-air xr-18 mixer... 800.00 dollars.
It's a 3 space rack mount usb 18 in and 18 out to a computer. I am still trying to figure what computer to get but probably a Mac laptop so I can record live gigs also ... 18 tracks simultaneously.
The mixer is an app that I use on my tablet but you can also use your phone or a computer . Touch sensitive with my tablet.

 

[Sinclair]

Have you considered some kind of wood paneling on the walls? I've understood that drywall is not acoustically very nice.

No I haven't. The floor will be a "wood" vinyl. If wood wall paneling is as expensive as wood flooring it's beyond my budget. I'll be tuning the room acoustics with large floor rugs, baffling and possibly heavy pull curtains on one of the walls, depending on what's is being recorded.

 

[drummertom]

Your room is looking great Sinc! Thanks for sharing your progress.

 

[bassanddrum84]

I’d have to put a toy corner in and a space for my wife cause they would never see me if I had a studio like this lol