John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum

I don't think that I know everything, and I admit that I am still a relative novice in this area.

i'm totally willing to be told that i'm unclear in my thinking and that i should consider other options. i've just found it extremely difficult to communicate with you thus far.

if you're game to keep going, i'll try again.

i attached a sketch of the studio layout.

according to my current plan, my control room is connected to the outer leaf of the live room.

the rooms are separated by two walls. each of those walls has a solid core man door and a framed laminate glass window. the exterior wall of the garage (my outer 2nd leaf for the live room) will be an interior wall for the control room. I was thinking of having a larger gap between those two walls and I was thinking of suspending (at angles) beaverboard with 703 attached to it in between the walls to act as bass traps.



is this because i'll have a door in the outer leaf where it opens into the control room? please explain this

to clarify, the book that I read multiple times is the Rod Gervais book, Home Recording Studio: Build it like the pros

thanks

your drawing shows things correctly, you need the additional wall between the LR inner isolation wall and the CR. the low height of the CR is a concern. it would be ideal if you could make a taller "shed" on the side of the garage to improve the overall volume in the CR. then you could consider the room within a room for the CR as well as Brien as previously shown.

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Glenn

Where would I add a wall in between the live room and the control room? I would have 3 walls with 3 laminate glass windows and 3 doors? I already have two walls... Please explain

in your description it sounded like 1 wall but your drawing shows 2 (which is correct)

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Glenn

Thanks Glenn, anything else that should I know or be aware of?

Do you think this plan will allow me to play drums at night time? (sufficient STC rating?)

Any thoughts on spray cellulose insulation?

done correctly, the live room should have significantly reduced noise to the outside but you have to check your local ordinances and neighbor situation to determine if it is enough. presumably you are doing all the right things - beefing up walls and ceiling, inner room with lots of mass etc and drums on a drum riser or a damped membrane floor.

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Glenn

What are your thoughts on the ceiling?

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Brien Holcombe
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Sound: You can't stop it, you can only try to contain it.

the plan with the ceiling is to have it bear weight on the new interior walls. trying to get it to angle upwards a bit from the wall and then flatten out in the middle of the room. Just to gain some more cubic footage in the live room. otherwise it's flat 8 foot ceiling that's parallel to my floor. either way i'm going to be building diffusers for the ceiling.

we're trying to decide on:

whether or not to do recessed lighting?

whether or not to do recessed or surface mounted electrical outlets?
light switches?

whether or not to use green glue in between my 2 layers of drywall or this sound damping board that my contractor always uses. We're doing his work (excluding sub contractors for HVAC and Electrical) on trade for studio time. i would have to buy the green glue out of pocket but he could get the sound damping board for his whole sale cost. he was worried that the green glue didn't cover the entire surface area but the sound damping board was the exact size. we would layer them perpendicular. if sound damping board then should I go studs/board/drywall/board/drywall or just studs/drywall/board/drywall. the sound damping board is 1/2" thick.

is it better for me to use one layer of 5/8" drywall and one layer of a different thickness?
does it matter which board goes on to the studs first?

should i have insulation on top of my ceiling and attached to the ceiling of the garage roof? R19? more? less?

what type of acoustical caulking is best for using around the 1/4" gap on the drywall layers?
and for the laminate glass window frame?

i found a mic panel that can be installed to studs that are 16" OC. it would be installed on top of the drywall. i was thinking to frame that and caulk that. suggestions? I was thinking a 24 channel wall plate of TRS/XLR F plugs. suggestions?

that's it for now. 15 hour session at Sound Asylum (www.sound-asylum.com) in 6 hours...

thanks!

drew

i would surface mount everything - lights, outlets, switches etc or embedded as part of the room treatments to mask them. each opening requires mass and sealing which makes it more complex to build and maintain good isolation. what type of "sound board" Homasote 440?

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Glenn

we were thinking of wiring the electrical through the studs and just poking the wire through the drywall and then caulking those small holes and surface mounting the electrical boxes on top of the drywall. would that work as well?

can someone help me about what i would be running that would be low-voltage wiring versus my lighting and stuff?

my contractor suggested fiber board/sound deadening board/homasote . the test data that i saw on the greengluecompany website compared 2 layers of drywall with green glue to 1 layer of drywall and soundboard. not exactly a proper comparison.

what about 2 layers of drywall and soundboard? since i have a double wall assembly should I go studs/soundboard/drywall/drywall or should I go studs/drywall/soundboard/drywall ?
or should i skip all of that and go studs/drywall/greenglue/drywall ?

we're going to be putting in laminate hardwood flooring in both rooms.

the live room (garage) has some cracks in the slab. We were going to grind down some of the high spots and then put the floating floor (laminate floor) over it. Then we decided to do a 3/4" sub floor. I can't remember what he said, some time of OSB i think.

someone had mentioned me tracking drums on a riser. my studio is the only thing on this slab. actually, the slab for the control room is separate but was built abutting the garage slab. from what i understand, i don't need a floating floor because of how the slab is isolated already.

should i do some type of floated floor? or add insulation? or anything like that? under my sub floor? pad?


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what do you think is a good size window?

how high off of the ground should we install it?


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suggestions on mic panel and wiring from the live room to the east side of the control room?

what are peoples thoughts on QuietRock or QuietGlue ?

Over priced.

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Brien Holcombe
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Sound: You can't stop it, you can only try to contain it.

What about quiet glue pro?

Damping the wall panels can be a very effective method of controlling low frequency. I have no comparison of either GreenGlue or QuietGlue Pro saving what the web pages on the Internet would offer.

Many have pushed Green Glue for years, for very specific applications typically the overhead ceiling, and they say this product works.


This may not help you with making a decision, but it reads like we are comparing apples to apples...again I cannot speak to either one singularly or collectively.

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Brien Holcombe
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Sound: You can't stop it, you can only try to contain it.