[therealbigd]

Originally Posted by steveyraff

We are currently messing around with plans and ideas. It is one long barn, divided up into three sections. This means there will be 3 rooms in-line. Picture a rectangle divided equally into 3 Thirds. One will be the live room, the other a control room, and the third section will be converted into a reception area which will be more like a chill out room, with kitchen facilities and a small toilet.

honest opinion? for the kitchen, get a sink, a kettle, a fridge / freezer and a microwave. Anything more, and a drunk bunch of idiots known as a band will likely burn the place down.

I would like a small sound proof window between the control room and the live room. Because of the layout, the door into the live room will most likely have to be in the control room... so advice on sourcing or making soundproofed doors will be appreciated.

You really need to make a double door. (not double doors like you get on big buildings. Like, one leading to another). A single door will have little effect, unless it's a GBFO studio door that looks like it came off a nuclear bunker. And will eat your £3k budget by itself. If the wall size means you can only fit one door onto, you may wish to think about building a second wall over the top of it (probably in live room side). You can do this by building a wooden frame and filling the cavity with dense rock wool (will add to isolation properties). What you put over the top is basically dependent on what you want the room in question to sound like. If it's in the live room side, and you want a lively sound, you might want to consider plasterboard or laminate wood. If you want a dead sound, you might want to consider a fabric cover, to allow the rockwool to absorb sound rather than reflecting it.

One thing I am particularly keen for advice on is room dimensions i.e ideal ceiling heights etc. Another thing I am wondering about is angles. I had thought that for acoustics, it might be a good idea to angle some walls or ceilings and avoid any surfaces running parallel? I have already invested in a lot of acoustic treatment and absorption in the form of 20 meters squared of acoustic foam tiling, and a number of home made bass traps. Obviously, I already own almost all of the studio equipment to install when building is completed so I need no advice on that.

Your ceiling height is mostly set by a) the sound you're looking for, and b) what you've got to work with. I like big rock n roll drums, so I like live rooms with higher ceilings and the rafters out and everything covered in wood. The guy who does my mixing likes tight, over-processed pop drums and likes low ceilings and dead rooms to reduce the character the room provides. Again, it's up to you to choose what you want, there is no 'set standard'.

I guess, I am just looking for any construction/build tips anyone has to offer that will not be much more expensive than it would be to renovate a barn into regular rooms like those found in an average house.

It can be very expensive but it can be very cheap. It really helps to do as much of the work yourself as possible as this reduces the cost of paying tradesmen. A lot of the stuff you'd think you need to get done for you is actually quite simple to DIY. Ive seen a big shed converted into a very nice sounding drum room with Pro Tools LE for under a grand, and I've seen 10s of thousands spent on rooms that still sound awful! Key is - if you know what you want, and you know how to do it - or have the patience to find out and the nerve to try it, you can achieve a lot for a very little.

I know a lot of people put much thought into the flooring, making things such as a floating floor. Unfortunately, this idea is a little out of my budget. I have a budget of a little over £3000 ($5000 USD), so this is by no means a big scale project. My father is an architect, my father in law is a joiner and plasterer and I have other relatives who are plumbers and electricians, so I guess the budget can all be allocated to materials. I am just afraid of making silly mistakes, or missing the opportunity to construct something I could have made much better with the same amount of money if I'd only known better.

£3000 is do-able, although I'd say it equates to $3000 USD, as most material costs are cheaper there! But still, you should be able to get some good stuff together, especially if you do the great studio-owners thing and get all your friends / relatives to chip in and help you build it. I come from an area in England where everyone does trade jobs, so any work we've done on the studio has always been done at the best going price by one or other of my mates - who'll do it free for 2 days in the studio with their band!

My father is currently drawing up some plan ideas. When they come in I will make sure to post them for you guys to have a look over.

Do it, it's the way forward! Learn to use Sketchup, it's a really great tool for 3D stuff. It took me about 15 minutes to do a full 3D model of my room, including measurements, which is posted on this forum.

By the way, I see you're in Ireland. Is that NI (based on your price being in pounds?)?? It's not a difficult journey for me to get over there, I'd happily fly over for a few days if you want a hand or just take a look at the place and come up with some ideas? Just drop me a PM.

D