Devotion Recording - studio construction

[solo-bration]

This is a photo thread documenting the construction of my studio which began today. It's basically a 25'X25'X25' space in an industrial building which I'm turning into a CR, LR and ISO booth. I plan to add new photos every day or so to document the progress.

DAY 1:

[Tom Higgins]

Good luck

Pictures are fine BTW

[solo-bration]

DAY 2:

Contractor got a good chunk of the wall framing done in just one day. Mostly the Control Room and the Isolation Booth. Standing there looking up, 14 feet is even taller than I imagined.

Note: the entrance door will be moved over to the right about 6 feet.

[solo-bration]

DAY 3 & 4:

Nearly done framing the walls. Started to cut the new doorway (entrance into the live room). I'm currently on the hunt for window glass (may have found a serious hookup! ) and pulling the trigger on HVAC.

Next up: Laying some leveling cement in spots. Then the electrician starts.

[Tom Higgins]

Looking forward to seeing how this will turn out! Do you have a sketchup/render of how it should turn out?

[solo-bration]

Thanks, Tom. Attached is a Sketchup export. It does not include any treatment yet, just the basic layout/use of the space.

DAYS 5-7:
(photos in order: booth window from CR, then from ISO, sliding door from CR, booth doorway from LR). They layed a bunch of leveling cement around the framework, but apparently they have quite a bit more to pour. I think they're doing that and/or starting ceiling joists today. My glass 'hook-up' didn't pan out, but that may actually turn into a studio door(s) hook-up ...so fingers crossed.

[solo-bration]

The electrician came today. I was envisioning non-recessed outlets and switches, but they told me it's code to have them recessed. I guess they'd probably have to run conduit otherwise and that's definitely not happening now. Anyone know of any sound specific gang boxes or other tricks to cut down on sound transmission caused at electrical ports? I feel like custom mdf boxes could help.

The 'hook-up' came through, so I'm picking up 2 heavy duty studio doors tomorrow afternoon - courtesy of a radio stations old storage/junk

[Syncamorea]

Originally Posted by solo-bration

Standing there looking up, 14 feet is even taller than I imagined.

It's so good to have height. What will the finished room height be?

Looking great!

[solo-bration]

Originally Posted by Syncamorea

It's so good to have height. What will the finished room height be?

Looking great!

Thanks. Live room & iso booth will be 14'. The control room goes to 11'.

[solo-bration]

DAYS 8 & 9:

Picked up the sound doors yesterday. FREE! Forgot to take photos, but they'll appear soon enough. They were salvaged from an old radio station building where they were used to enter some on-air studios.

Today I'm receiving final HVAC quotes and will hopefully get that going asap. It looks like the best (but more expensive) option is a packaged rooftop unit. The (less expensive) option is to mount a unit up to the inside of the roof (floating above my rooms), with only the condenser outside. My concern with that is how loud the inside unit may be. I'm afraid I'll hear all sorts of humming/rumbling. Anyone gone this way and care to share any insight?

I only snapped one photo yesterday, but here it is showing the beginning of ceiling joist construction and some in-progress electrical work.

[Syncamorea]

Originally Posted by solo-bration

The control room goes to 11'.

Spinal Tap should record their next record there.

[takman]

Originally Posted by solo-bration

The electrician came today. I was envisioning non-recessed outlets and switches, but they told me it's code to have them recessed. I guess they'd probably have to run conduit otherwise and that's definitely not happening now. Anyone know of any sound specific gang boxes or other tricks to cut down on sound transmission caused at electrical ports? I feel like custom mdf boxes could help.

The 'hook-up' came through, so I'm picking up 2 heavy duty studio doors tomorrow afternoon - courtesy of a radio stations old storage/junk

seal them up good with acoustic caulk.

also, you can stagger any openings. for example, on a wall thats sharing two rooms, like control room to live room.....say you have an electrical outlet for control room and another for live room....dont put them directly in the same positions to one another. offset them in relation to one another, horizontally.

hope that made sense lol

edit:

i was trying to remember where i read about that, but i think it was johnsayers forum. IIRC, they were doing the off set staggering thing when running snakes from the control room to the live room via PVC pipe conduit. But i think they said the same thing applies to electrical outlets, swtiches etc.

[solo-bration]

Originally Posted by Syncamorea

Spinal Tap should record their next record there.

Glad someone got the reference!

[solo-bration]

Thanks, Takman. Definitely staggering everything.

So I think keeping track of the "DAYS" may be hopeless because I'm not able to visit each day and I don't even know when they're taking days off. With that said... here are a few new photos:

The doors. I'm using for inside the live room (one at the entrance and one at the vocal booth. Their windows will go unenjoyed, since there will be non-windowed doors on the other side of each of these doors. I figured these heavy duty doors would be most effective in the loudest room (LR).

I also snapped a couple shots of the ceilings, recently added joists and some strapping.

More HVAC quotes rolling in this weekend. Looks like we're going rooftop/package. Gotta do it right!

[solo-bration]

I checked in yesterday and snapped a couple more photos. Nothing too interesting to show here, except some more ceiling joists/strapping are up, and the entry door has been moved to it's new location.

The concrete "lily-pads" shown in the second photo are guides for how much leveling concrete needs to be layed since the floor pitches drastically in areas.

[solo-bration]

Leveling concrete is about 75% poured. So much better! We need about 30 more bags to finish tomorrow. The sprinkler install is next. I found a reasonable HVAC quote.

[solo-bration]

Floor is done and it's finally nice and level. Electric is ready for inspection. HVAC is arriving next Wednesday or Thursday. Sprinklers are going in today.

[solo-bration]

[solo-bration]

Slow past week for the build. Waiting for HVAC before we can close everything up. The unit is apparently MIA. Supposed to be delivered last Wednesday

[solo-bration]

HVAC install. I coincidentally stopped by just as they were about to mount the unit on the roof. So I climbed up and helped move it into position. We could just barely move it with the 4 of us - I can't imagine them doing it with only 3

The inside ductwork should be finished tomorrow. I'll try to grab some photos tomorrow when I swing by. Also, ceiling insulation has gone in as well.

Thinking we could be onto drywall by Tuesday.

[solo-bration]

A return duct in that back left corner of the CR. One of supply ducts a little further away from the right back corner.



This is above the control room ceiling. Some ductwork and sprinkler piping in progress.


All ductwork done today. Gas line and sprinklers finishing tomorrow and then we close it all up.

[solo-bration]

Quick shot I took a couple days ago. Sprinklers and ceiling insulation complete. Drywall supposed to start today.

[Syncamorea]

Your build is cruisin' along! Great work.

[solo-bration]

Originally Posted by Syncamorea

Your build is cruisin' along! Great work.

Thanks! The occasional 5-day stretch when work stops, kind of bums me out, but I just have to remind myself that overall the build really has moved along at a quick pace.

[solo-bration]

Does anyone have any opinions for how to handle the floors?

As is the case with all builds, I'm well past my initial budget so things are feeling tighter as I approach completion.

My original plan was to carpet the vocal booth to keep it dead. I thought laminate wood flooring would be nice in the control room. I was thinking something cheap and reflective like laminate tiling in the live room.

Now I'm starting to think the 'wood' laminate could be (and look) better in the live room and perhaps carpet might be a better idea for the control room (possibly even acoustically).

[Syncamorea]

I visited a small local studio that floated a wood floor on thin (less than 1") silicone rubber pucks. They used two layers of 3/4" OSB with a sheet of 5/8" drywall inbetween, then put an inexpensive 1/4" plywood over the top OSB. They didn't use Green Glue but some other acoustical sealant, the name of which I forget. Anyway, they put sealant between each layer and screwed the layers together with drywall screws. Over the top of the 1/4" plywood, they rolled on a layer of a texture paint made for garage floors. I think it has sand in it because the surface was slightly coarse. After fitting the desk, they added a few throw rugs to tweak the sound of the control room. The bottom line was that the floor was very dead to footfall and for a small room, I thought it sounded great. Being able to add or subtract carpet like that is a plus.

[solo-bration]

Thanks for the ideas. I just got back from the studio with some new photos.


It's drywall time!


They built make-shift scaffolding to cut the 14' lift in half. 2 layers of 5/8".


Live room ceiling.


The HVAC guy came to test the AC. Just in time for the drywallers to enjoy.


Supply duct in the control room.


Control room ceiling and one wall done.

[solo-bration]

Plastering has begun.

Live room:





Control room:

[solo-bration]

Checked in yesterday and they finished blueboarding/plastering the control room. The live room is halfway done and they haven't touched the vocal booth yet. These rooms (even half-finished) are sounding much more 'live' than I expected. Looking forward to hearing drums. I'm now trying to come up with a plan for absorption panels/clouds and maybe even diffusion in the CR. Wondering if it's large enough to need diffusors? 18'X12'.

No new build photos, so here's a couple recent gear purchases:

[solo-bration]

Hi again. It's been a while since i've posted, due to not much happening this past week. Waiting for the gasline to be tested, meant not being able to close the ceilings, which put the plastering on hold.

Happy to say that we've moved forward these last couple days and plastering is complete.

Live room looking at entrance.


Live room looking at sliding door into control room.


Control room looking into LR.


Iso booth


Electric panel


Old pair of 165A's I scored