[phybeau]

Hello all,

This is a small report of an, even smaller, studio I’m building.
It’s going to be a private studio,...just for my own pleasure...a sanctuary ;-)
Please feel free to ask/comment.


At the end of 2006 I started posting questions in the John Sayers Forum regarding my ‘studio’ design. The original post can be found here:

John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum • View topic - My (private) recording rooms, your suggestions please,...

The final floorplan here:



In the picture above, the outside walls are dark red, the inner walls dark grey. The gap between inner en outer room is white.
The inner rooms are build on an isolated slab. A ditch of 10 cm wide surrounds the doubly reinforced slab of 15 cm thick concrete.

Construction of the outer leaf (amongst others; it was an addition to our house we were building) started around may 2007.



By the end of 2007 the exterior was finished, meaning I could start filling all the gaps, beefing up the ceiling with two layers of gypsumboard etc. (After making another (new) shed for bikes and garden tools of course)



For the inner walls I used concrete bricks (21x10x8 cm)
It was my first time ever laying bricks so it took me a long while to build the walls:
A total of 3 months, with an average of one hour per day, just 30 bricks per hour....patience, patience, patience...
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from building this thing; it’s patience.



The brick laying was especially challenging since I had to fill the joints between the bricks on the outside (of the inner room) right away. Because there is no room to acces it later. This had to be done carefully and not spill too much and thus filling the ditch between the concrete slab and the outside wall, which would compromise the isolation.

Once the walls were done, the beams for the ceiling were next: 20 pieces of 420 x 24 x 7 cm.
In order to try to match the isolation I would get from the 10 cm thick concrete walls, I decided to go with a concrete ceiling as well. I reckoned 6 cm concrete ceiling would provide enough isolation. I had the beams calculated by a constructional engineer who said 60 cm OC with those beams would be enough. I went with 30% more: 40 cm OC, just to be on the safe side.



Because I won’t have much ceiling height, just 240 cm, I came up with an idea to lift the ceiling of the TR a little: 50 cm. The plan is basically to build a rectangle box on top of the TR beams:



Before starting with the brick laying of the elevation, the concrete floor (ceiling), surrounding the lifted ceiling part, had to be poured.



In order to carry the extra weight of the elevation, I glued and bolted 3 beams together on either side.



On top of the beams are 18 mm OSB boards. On top of that, the reïnforced concrete.



The double wall between the CR and TR was done with 5 x 10 cm beams. 1 layer of OSB (18 mm) and 2 layers of (9,5 mm) gypsumboard on the CR side, and 1 layer of OSB and 3 layers of GB on the TR side. Of course filled with rockwool...
**** Cannot seem to find any pictures at all,...but it did happen!!*****

Then came the fun part: building the soffit wall and the CR back wall.
For the soffits I decided to go with the Thomas Barefoot idea, where the speakers are decoupled from the outer frame:

John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum • View topic - Monitor Flush Mounting Method

To give myself a really hard time planning/constructing I also wanted the speakers above ear height, angled down:....Why?
Because of the more clear ‘view’ from behind the desk (interference of sound with the LCD monitors) and,...I have to admit: looks....;-)

John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum • View topic - Downwards soffit angle

The plan:



The construction:



The white boxes in the soffit frame picture are the speaker stands: A wooden box filled with concrete (23 kg each). Each one will rest on 4 rubber (Merfomer) feet of 8,7 x 8,7 cm.



The speakers are firmly attached to the stands.



The backwall of the CR will be filled with rockwool in 3 corners (left, right, ceiling) like the Studiotips superchunks. More than 50 cm rockwool on the thickest side.



The ceiling will also be filled (mostly) with rockwool (24 cm)



Since the speakers (Genelec 1030) are going to be fully enclosed by rockwool, I’ve removed the amplifiers (for easy acces and cooling) and will place them in the frontwall. For this I constructed a wooden frame:



The second layer for the soffits installed (18 mm Meranti plywood)



Next up, the doors.
Basically 3 layers of (ply-)wood in a bankvault style construction. (40 mm Okoumé, 18 mm Meranti, 12 mm Meranti)
Double seals on the doors with a corresponding door frame.



The glass is 14 mm laminated on the TR side and 13 mm laminated on the CR side.

For the latches I found something they normally use in ship building. More or less similar to the ones Paul Woodlock used in his massive studio build (Diary at Studiotips):

Acoustics Forum • View topic - Paul's STUDIO BUILD DIARY

These latches compress the seals to the door jambs.



Normally they attach (weld) the latch directly to the steel door. In this case I had a friend who welded them to steel plates. I then screwed the plates to the doors:



I really, really wanted wood for the floors. If it makes any difference acoustic wise, I doubt it, but I like the feel and look of it. So browsing the net I eventually found this:



I made a desk that fits the 12 degree angle of both side walls and some racks from 22 mm Okoumé. The top layer is a double layer with trims around.



Next up, putting trims around the cloth....



As you can see the bezel is not made of Meranti. I went with 18 mm mdf and painted them black.



All I need now is a comfortable couch and a lava lamp.....and finish the trims around the cloth,..and connect the central heating,...and etc. etc. etc. (not to mention completely building the inside of the tracking room...;-)

In the meantime I’m playing CD’s
Haven’t done that in quite some time.
Just to get a feel for the room.
First impressions: GREAT!....at least to my ears: love the imaging (width and depth), thight bass response,wide sweet spot.
No measurements to back it up yet: my music computer needs an overhaul..


This is where I am today, although still a long way to go, I’m very happy with the results so far. In fact, couldn't be happier..


Thanks for viewing.
Phybeau