Double garage to studio - Original drawings and graphics

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2D Groundplan:

Here are the original drawings for the garage:

Double garage to studio - #1 Overview

I'm planning to convert our double garage into a sound studio.

This is my second attempt to get a functional room for recording and mixing (last attempt here)

Links and TOC

• Design and build, John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum
• Discussion, Reaper Forums
• Starting point
• Images
• Original drawings and graphics (2D)

Goal

My  goal is to have a good place for recording and mixing music, mostly for myself, one instrument at a time -e.g vocal, ac.guitar, percussion. But it should also work for a band with drums, or several people doing voice-over. Sound-isolation aim is 60db. It should also be a nice room to be in.

..edits to come :)

Double garage to studio - Pictures1

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Here's some pictures from before the conversion into studio.

From East

Garage door and second door

Second door

Expanded clay 8cm

Expanded cley, 8cm and 13cm

Outer door

Drain

3rd door (for inner wall)

Building a small studio - The big halt

So, I've been planning my new sound-studio, converting part of our shed into a functional one room recording and mixing room. Then, realizing what needed to be done, things have come to a big halt - a musical G.P. (General Pause).

In order to get a good small studio-room in our shed I would have to:

• Redo the floor completely, making it concrete, leveled and with insulation and heating.
• Redo the outer wall completely.
• Build a room in the room (inner room)
• Redu most of the rafter-structure, possibly two new ridge beams.
• Replacing 90% of all studs
• Redo the roof with heavier sub-roof
• Redo the electrical completely
• And then all the inside-room acoustic taming and tweaking.

So, then it seems like less work to tear it all down and start from the bottom. And then, I might as well build something from scratch on another spot on our property.

So it's time to rethink the whole project..

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Building a small studio - Part 3: Floor, walls and roof

In Part 2 I layed out the overall plan for my sound-studio.
In this post I'll go into the details for walls, roof and floor.

Floor

As it is, the floor is a divided in a section with concrete-slab (no: betong-såle) and a wooden construction on concrete poles.

Concrete-slab and wood

 My plan is this:

The acoustic underlay of 20mm is high-density floor-insulation (no: trinnlydsplater), like this.

Question: The plan for the floor is creating some treaple-leaf-effect. Is it good enough? Any other way to do this?
Qustion: Any alternatives for using the asphalt-plates? 
Isssue: It's not much space below the studs: I don't know how well I can stuff in the insulation, not to mention to put the asphalt-plates on.

Edit: I need to give the studio-floor a second thouht. Maybe it should be reflective and wood-based. Plywood maybe.

Update: http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=17820

Walls

Walls are currently studs with "barn-clothing" (no: låvekledning).

My plan is this:

For the walls with door and window (east and west) I plan 2x4" studs with 10cm insulation for the inner walls. That's for easier installation of door and window.
For the two other walls I'm using 1,5x3" studs and 7cm insulation.

Update: http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=17826

Roof

My plan for the walls applies for the inner roof as well (1,5x3" / 7cm) .

Before

 Like this:

Updated plan:

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Appendix 1: More pictures

Building a small studio - Part 1: The starting point

appendix 1: More pictures from before building the studio

From south easth

North (back)

Foundation for studio

Under studio

Where concrete floor and wood floor meet

Studs in 2,12m hight from floor

Exposed studs

Some repair needed

Barn electricity with one circut of 16A/230V

 

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Building a small studio - Part 2: The plan

In Part1 I described how things are now.
In this post I'll try to formulate a plan for the new sound-studio, with pictures and drawings.

Note 1: This is plan version 1, and will probably change according to feedback from more experienced studio-builders and  knew insight along the way.
Note 2: Details about the plan will be posted in later posts.
See toc for overview.

General idea

My general idea is this:

3D-modell. Click for bigger image.

Front, from south

I'll make a double-wall construction for the sound-studio, 12,8 and 8,9/11,5cm wide, with a gap of 1cm. So that basically aplies for walls and roof. For the floor it's a floating (no: trinnlydspate) with insulation under.

This give me a space of 4,25m x 3,14 m and a hight of approx. 3,17m, in this shape:

Giving me a room-volume of .. (< 40m3)

My mixing-position will be facing north, with monitor-monitor-myhead making a triangle of 3 x 1,2m (approx)

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Building a small studio - Resources

Here is an overview of resources I've used for the project.
(To be updated)

General web-sites

• www.johnlsayers.com 
• www.gearslutz.com/board/studio-building-acoustics/

Specific issues

• What is triple leaf effect: http://www.soundisolationstore.com/research-the-triple-leaf-effect 

  Ventilation

• http://www.soundproofingcompany.com/soundproofing-articles/how-can-i-ventilate-a-sealed-soundproof-room/ 
• http://www.ambthair.com/air_conditioning_design_for_studios.html 
  
  

  Flooring and surfaces

• Studio floor: http://www.realtraps.com/art_surfaces.htm 
• http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=17820

Books

• Trehus -en figursamling (no)
• Acoustic Treatment and Design for Recording Studios and Listening Rooms (free eBook from Ethan Winer)

Software:

• Google SketchUp 

Comercial resources

• Auralex: http://www.auralex.com/ 

Help

• Woodworking Basics
• http://www.awc.org/pdf/wcd1-300.pdf
• Wood framing
• Basics of Wood Framing  
• http://buildthisroom.com/sheetrock-transmission-loss/

Thanks to all who's helped me!


To Table of Content (TOC)

Bassguitar mod - Part 1

The Morgan YB-48 is a (Norwegian model only?) bassguitar that looks like this (left picture)

Stock 

Stock it has this setup:

• Neck: Jazzbass-style bridge pickup
• Bridge: Musicman Stingray -style pickup
• Electronics: Preamp/active electronic
• Volume, Balance, Bass and Treble pots

Mod

After some usage, I found myself not to happy about the sound. So, I did some mod/upgrade to:

• Neck: Fender Jazzbass '75 Bridge-pickup
• Electronics: Passive jazzbass pots (vol, vol, tone)

Here are some soundclips before/ after
Stock:
http://g-sun.no/Upload/Bass%20mod/Bass%20stock-neck.mp3
http://g-sun.no/Upload/Bass%20mod/Bass%20stock-bridge.mp3
http://g-sun.no/Upload/Bass%20mod/Bass%20stock-Middle.mp3
Modded:
http://g-sun.no/Upload/Bass%20mod/Bass%20mod-neck.mp3
http://g-sun.no/Upload/Bass%20mod/Bass%20mod-bridge.mp3
http://g-sun.no/Upload/Bass%20mod/Bass%20mod-Middle.mp3

44/16 wav.zip /all files here

Note: Of course not identical takes, so very unscientific 

My conclusions

 I realy liked the change. But, it seemed obvious to me that the bridge-pickup wasn't to happy about the passive mod. So, that brings me to Part 2 of the bassguitar modding..

Building a small studio - Preface and TOC

This will be a table of content (TOC) for my project:

Building a small studio

• Building a small studio - Part 1: The starting point
• Appendix 1: More pictures
• Building a small studio - Part 2: The plan
• Building a small studio - Part 3: Floor, walls and roof
• Building a small studio - Part 4: Windows, doors and ventilation 
• Building a small studio - Part 5: Electricity, light and heating 
• Building a small studio - Part 6: Construction details  
• Building a small studio - The big halt
• Building a small studio - Resources

Forum-threads

Latest news, updated plans and discussions can be found here:

• forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?p=1052509
• www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=17850

 Tips

• Please click on images to view them in full size.

 Note

• I'm a building/construction newbie, so please read, comment and give advise with that in mind. Thank you!
• Please inform me if I'm using wrong words or you if don't understand. I'm not to good at building construction  words in Norwegian, and worse in English :)

This post will be edited on the way to give easy overview and navigation for the project.

Building a small studio - Part1: The starting point

So, we've moved house, and I'm about to build my new sound-studio..

 The goal

My goal is a one-room, budget-studio. I'll be recording and mixing in same room, with mostly me doing things alone. I'm planning it big enough for a trio with drumset, but no vocal-booth -at least not for now. Budget is tight, so it'll have to be a few compromises and DIY-solutions.

I'll often record vocal, acoustic guitar, some percussion and misc.

What is

The house is a shed, located on the middle of our plot, with trucks passing by at 60-70km/h 150m away, and occasionally some planes passing by. So, this means I have to to my sound-proofing well.

Shed with planned sound studio in the left part.

The hight is 1 1/2 floor. And the interior is currently a small garage, an isolated room and a room for firewood and tools.

The sound-studio will be inside the blue arrows 442cm x 339cm, possibly the 442 (magenta) arrow.

Floor, walls and roof

Walls: The outside walls of the shed are typically built with 2x4" studs, with "barn-clothing" (Norwegian expression, no: låvekledning).
Floor: The floor is one part concrete fundament, another part studs (2x4") on concrete poles with hardwood on top.
Roof: The roof is studs, some hardwood slats and metall-plates on top (yes, those that make most noise if raining)
1st floor: Studs with hardwood

Note

• I'm a building/construction newbie, so please read, comment and give advise with that in mind. Thank you!
• Please inform me if I'm using wrong words or if you don't understand. I'm not to good at building construction  words in Norwegian, and worse in English :)

See also

 Appendix 1: More pictures

ToC | Next >>

Mics: Trion8000 - C1jjMod - M179

A new shootout.

Mics:
- Cad Trion 8000
- Studio Projects C1 jj mod
- Cad M179 

All files, mp3 and wav are Here

All takes normalized to same RMS-volume
(0,5s vocal / 0,1s guitar). No highpass.

Preamp/AD: Mackie Onyx 800R

Enjoy!

Gearslutz thread >>