Building studio, need advice...

eirikur · 5th March 2006

We're currently in the process of building a new studio, and have finished all floors, walls and ceilings. (Everything built from scratch as rooms within what used to be a storage area).

We are now putting in glass in our live-room to let natural light in and to make the studio experience less "dark and boxy" for the musicians. This means that one of the walls in the studio will be made more or less completely out of glass. This is (of course) not acoustically ideal.

What we have decided to do, is to create a bass trap construction underneath the entire wall/window, which will effectively create a box upon which the windows can rest. This lifts the "glass wall" appx 70cm from the floor. However, there is still another 230cm to the ceiling from the top of the box.

In order to help on the acoustic side of things, our goal is to mount the glass in an angle which will make the sound reflect towards the ceiling (and its diffusors). This should at least be a lot better than a 90 degree angle on the sound source.

Now the question is, how much should we at least angle the window, and has anyone here dealt with a situation like this before? Any help, thoughts, ideas appreciated. Please see attached file for details on our live-room.

3rd world order · 5th March 2006

******//johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/index.php

you'll probably get more useful answers here

**TonyBelmont** · 6th March 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3rd world order

******//johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/index.php

you'll probably get more useful answers here

Agreed...

eirikur · 6th March 2006

Thanks guys, but that site appears to be down... It has at least been down today, checked it several times. Any other ideas?

**TonyBelmont** · 6th March 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by eirikur

Thanks guys, but that site appears to be down... It has at least been down today, checked it several times. Any other ideas?

Works fine for me... It really has a lot of information there.. Also, take a look at:

******//forum.studiotips.com/

Good luck!

Riad · 6th March 2006

Like others have mentioned John's site is the best source of information about studio construction. John helped design my studio and I could not have done it without his help, and other's on that board.

If it were me, I wouldn't put the windows in the room, especially since they don't lne up with the outer windows, it would really look odd.

If you want to let some natural light in how about just one window in the center that's lined up with the outer window?

I would think that one window on that much wall surface wouldn't really create a problem for you.

jmtc,
Rob

eirikur · 6th March 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by TonyBelmont

Works fine for me... It really has a lot of information there.. Also, take a look at:

******//forum.studiotips.com/

Good luck!

Hmm... I guess there must be some DNS problem... I can't get to the site... Can anyone help me with the IP og the site?

Anderson · 7th March 2006

Did you ask a professionnal to design these rooms? If yes, then he should be able to tell you how to do it or at least give you a good idea!

If I were you, would not put my fingers into all that without at least a professionnal overlooking, even from far, what's going on.

If I understand well your explanation, you are planning on resting the window structure on somekind of Bass Trap (what is it made of? membranes? absorbtive material only? What kind of structure will you use?).

Anyway, I would not advise to do that. There WILL be mechanical transmission between the windows and the bass traps, that may create rather problematic interferences, varying on the design of those bass traps and windows.

Build your windows on solid (decoupled from the floor) concrete bricks structure. Then ask your designer to work on the bass management and he will put the Bass traps where they should be, and probably have them decoupled from the structure to prevent any nasty interaction. Don't forget that those can act as "speakers" as well...

Cheers!

eirikur · 8th March 2006

Thanks for all your replies and suggestions. The sayer-site is finally working for me (must have been something wrong with my ISP's DNS or something).
Just a few quick answers/remarks:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anderson

Did you ask a professionnal to design these rooms? If yes, then he should be able to tell you how to do it or at least give you a good idea!

That's the thing.. Our budget only allowed/allows us to use an acoustic specialist/specialized studio designer to design our control room, and give basic guidelines as to the other rooms. We have, however, decided to at least check how much more he would need to bill us for designing the live-room as well... He's a pretty expensive guy to use, since he's one of the most sought after studio designers here in Norway, but then again, it really doesn't help to have a perfect control room if all you record sounds like crap...

Thanks again for all your replies, really appreciated.

5th March 2006	#1
eirikur Gear Head Joined: Jul 2005 Posts: 63 Thread Starter	Building studio, need advice... We're currently in the process of building a new studio, and have finished all floors, walls and ceilings. (Everything built from scratch as rooms within what used to be a storage area). We are now putting in glass in our live-room to let natural light in and to make the studio experience less "dark and boxy" for the musicians. This means that one of the walls in the studio will be made more or less completely out of glass. This is (of course) not acoustically ideal. What we have decided to do, is to create a bass trap construction underneath the entire wall/window, which will effectively create a box upon which the windows can rest. This lifts the "glass wall" appx 70cm from the floor. However, there is still another 230cm to the ceiling from the top of the box. In order to help on the acoustic side of things, our goal is to mount the glass in an angle which will make the sound reflect towards the ceiling (and its diffusors). This should at least be a lot better than a 90 degree angle on the sound source. Now the question is, how much should we at least angle the window, and has anyone here dealt with a situation like this before? Any help, thoughts, ideas appreciated. Please see attached file for details on our live-room. Attached Thumbnails

6th March 2006	#4
eirikur Gear Head Joined: Jul 2005 Posts: 63 Thread Starter	Thanks Thanks guys, but that site appears to be down... It has at least been down today, checked it several times. Any other ideas?

6th March 2006	#6
Riad Lives for gear Joined: Oct 2004 Location: Monroe, NY Posts: 1,097	Like others have mentioned John's site is the best source of information about studio construction. John helped design my studio and I could not have done it without his help, and other's on that board. If it were me, I wouldn't put the windows in the room, especially since they don't lne up with the outer windows, it would really look odd. If you want to let some natural light in how about just one window in the center that's lined up with the outer window? I would think that one window on that much wall surface wouldn't really create a problem for you. jmtc, Rob __________________ www.carvelstudios.com "I like my women the way I like my scotch, 20 years old and mix up in coke."

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5th March 2006	#2
3rd world order Lives for gear Joined: Sep 2005 Location: hell, michigan Posts: 2,797	******//johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/index.php you'll probably get more useful answers here

7th March 2006	#8
Anderson Registered User Joined: Mar 2005 Posts: 472	Did you ask a professionnal to design these rooms? If yes, then he should be able to tell you how to do it or at least give you a good idea! If I were you, would not put my fingers into all that without at least a professionnal overlooking, even from far, what's going on. If I understand well your explanation, you are planning on resting the window structure on somekind of Bass Trap (what is it made of? membranes? absorbtive material only? What kind of structure will you use?). Anyway, I would not advise to do that. There WILL be mechanical transmission between the windows and the bass traps, that may create rather problematic interferences, varying on the design of those bass traps and windows. Build your windows on solid (decoupled from the floor) concrete bricks structure. Then ask your designer to work on the bass management and he will put the Bass traps where they should be, and probably have them decoupled from the structure to prevent any nasty interaction. Don't forget that those can act as "speakers" as well... Cheers!