my video studio

[PAPAYAMON]

first, i will say that i did a dumb thing. i put up a metal building (36 x 24 feet). the thing is a tin can, and boy is this ever an acoustical loser! on top of it all, the building sweat so badly that it was a constant dripping rainstorm inside. so i had it sprayed with high density foam, which took care of the sweating... but didn't do a thing for the noise.

so i am starting out in the hole. or rather, i blundered into one.

how would i do it differently? i'd frame it with pressure treated wood, use a plywood roof and modified bitumen roll roofing (it's like a thick rubber mat). on the sides, i'd have used hardiboard (cement siding). those are dense materials that would have worked very well. i know this because that's what i put on my house, and i can't hear at all what's going on outside.

in spite of the poor start, i'm sure i'll wind up with a functioning studio, but the louder noises associated with the tin can effect (such as heavy rain or acorns falling on the roof) will still be something i'll have to shoot around. let this be a word to the wise to plan from the ground up!. i didn't and it's going to end up costing me more $$ for a worse outcome.

so, all that said... the goal is now to build a room within a room. the only thing i don't have to worry about is the weather. materials delivery next week!

[Clueless]

My first question would be structural: how much weight can you put on the roof beam before the whole thing collapses?

[PAPAYAMON]

i don't know... it's irrelevant anyway. i'm not putting any load on the roof at all. everything will be supported off the floor, which is exceptionally strong. you may think of this as more of a building within a building as opposed to a room within a room. however, the inner building has no issues with weather, because the outer building handles that. i think pics of the buildout will answer all your questions. . i'm supporting with one triple laminated beam (an LVL) on the inside. it's a bit of overkill but i'd rather spend an extra $150 on a triple beam vs a single beam than risk it. the lvl only cost me about $500, and that's not bad for something than can carry 600 lbs a linear foot over a 24 foot span. the bottom line is i don't have to worry about it supporting up to 8 layers of drywall on the ceiling, if that's what i need to do.

dimensions of the inner building will be about 23 feet x 27 feet x 9ft 8 inches high - these are after treatments are applied to the walls/ceiling. i might lose down to 9 feet after my lighting grid.

[PAPAYAMON]

okay, finally got a day off and a helper, and did some drywalling. going to attach 2 layers to the outer shell. after that, i can begin building in earnest. . 2 more days of work here before i can start on the new walls.

[PAPAYAMON]

wow i've looked at some of the truly awesome studio build threads here. kudos to you guys! as for me, i'm trying to show what can be done by someone without more than 35k for a project. i've paid for my studio out of pocket all along the way, so i'll have no debt to service (my philosophy in financial management). and certainly, as long as i create my "black hole" in the universe, nothing else will matter, because it will all look the same to the camera.

my goal is production of teaching video/software. it's essential that i can set up the cameras and record, then lock the door, come back in a few days, and it's all exactly how i left it. flip the switch, and i'm back at work. so i avoid all the breakdown and setup. not to mention that the studio is about 70 feet outside my house, all very conducive to getting projects finished.

i feel very fortunate that i don't have to do anything except absorb sound and create a dead room. it's mind boggling when you talk about the acoustics of music production. .

[PAPAYAMON]

okay, pecking away at it. one of the things i've simply got to do is get organized better, and that means shelving. on the end of the outer door, i'm building about 80 feet of 26 inch wide shelving. one more to go across the top. the inner wall and door will begin where you see the drywall height change. there's enough space between the shelving and the inner door wall for a ladder, which gives me a whopping amount of vertical storage. when i get to actually building the walls in a couple of weeks, apparent progress will speed up immensely. it's the things you do beforehand to set it all up that really take time.



two tools i've discovered i can't live without: drywall screw gun and the new vibrating multitool. these are both big timesavers .

the window you see is where i'm putting the air conditioner. the building itself is entirely shaded under large trees, and it really doesn't take much to cool it down, especially since i'm running a dehumidifier. once you get the drywall good and cool, you can film for a long time before temp is an issue. the newer lighting is a lot cooler. currently i've got fluorescent lights, but i'm going to make a serious buy of led lights as well. this is pretty unsophisticated cooling/ventilation but good enough to get started.

[PAPAYAMON]

another backbreaking day where it looks like i got nothing done .

starting the 2nd layer of drywall on the outer shell, plus i got my shelving finished. it never seems to go as fast as you've planned for in your mind.

it's going to take 2 more full days of work before i start building anything that could be recognized as progress .

[Arthur Stone]

Cool. Good luck. Thanks for making the thread

[muziekschuur]

Looks spacious.

[PAPAYAMON]

a close up of the second layer of drywall. first, i'm mudding the edges of the existing sheets, then setting the new sheet on top of that. mud squishes everywhere, but at least i know it's rock solid. all joints staggered as well. i'm putting a thick bead on acrylic/silicone caulk on the floor, so i've got an excellent seal between the floor and the drywall. none of this will be visible because i'm dropping back about an inch and building a new set of decoupled walls. so it really doesn't matter if it's a bit sloppy. i'm using way more mud than you'd use if you were just putting up walls in a house. it's all about sound isolation.

today we got quite a bit done. one more workday before we start putting up the walls. two weeks from today, i should be standing the inner walls .

[PAPAYAMON]

a minor milestone: both layers of drywall on the external shell finished! for what it looks like, that was an incredible amount of work. it was a real pain working around the braces.




this morning we got to work and within about 3 minutes i had cut my right ring finger. i bandaged it but the bandage came off and drywall mud kept getting in the cut. made for a bit of a lousy day, but we got it finished. i have 2 days off with help this week, so tomorrow we're going to clean up the grounds and prep for the decoupled walls. in about 6 weeks it will be finished .

next week i hope to stand 3 of the walls. it should move a lot quicker when i can set up the chop saw and use the nail gun.

[PAPAYAMON]

got the shelving finished, but not yet organized. lots of space, and i'll pick up about twice this storage again on top of the studio room. one thing i've learned is you can never have too much storage . i'm going to make a little workshop in here as well, so i can fabricate whatever things i need for filming.

[PAPAYAMON]

ok, the first decoupled wall is in . this wall sits out an inch from the rear wall. it's 2 x 8 lumber, and i had to put it up in 3 sections because it is somewhat damp pressure treated southern pine and it's really heavy for 2 guys. this will be a load bearing wall, and the 2 x 12's will sit on the top of this wall and run to the LVL beam in the middle. there's still a considerable amount of bracing to do, but it's nice to have one wall up.

the top of this wall will be the bottom of the ceiling, less drywall, 4" mineral board and supporting wood for the lighting grid. it will end up giving me a height of 9 ft 8 inches after the lighting grid.... enough to mount lighting overhead with reasonable ease.

tomorrow i try to get the side walls in.




there are about a million things i'm taking note of in the event i build another studio .

[Syncamorea]

Green Glue is your (expensive) friend!

[PAPAYAMON]

as dr. mccoy used to say in star treck... dammit jim, i'm a registered nurse, not a carpenter!. so of course, it's proceeding a lot slower than i'd hoped. there are always so many other jobs to do rather than just build. we did get one side wall framed, for the most part. next week we should be able to get all the walls fully framed. these side walls aren't load bearing. it was a bear figuring out how to get around the braces, but now i've completely got it figured out. when i'm done, you won't be able to see the braces at all.



these are 2 x 6 decoupled side walls, by the way .

[PAPAYAMON]

on the green glue. i've got enough quiet glue pro for the ceiling. i'm going to double drywall the inside walls and see if that does the trick. if not, then i'll buy quiet glue for the sides too and go with yet another layer of drywall. i really don't think i'll need it, but if i do, i do. at this point i'm not kidding myself. this stuff isn't cheap, none of it. it took me a while to come around to that fact. at some point, this hole i'm throwing money into will fill up... i hope! .

[PAPAYAMON]

when i visualized this project, it was on a so much grander and easier attainable scale. now that i'm experiencing the reality of scrapping it out in the mud and going to work with cut fingers, etc... i feel like i'm building a homemade plywood rocket ship that i don't even know how to fly, while the competition is using warp factor space craft.

such is the reality of building your first studio on a budget . i'm going to go have a few drinks (that's something i rarely do) when i get this thing finished. heck, i might even get drunk!

[Syncamorea]

Yea, funny how conceptualization and visualization can get decoupled from realization.

[PAPAYAMON]

Originally Posted by Syncamorea

Yea, funny how conceptualization and visualization can get decoupled from realization.

what you have to do in that situation is just lay your ears back and push... and do just as good a job decoupling your walls as your actual reality has decoupled from your prior visualization.

there's a lot to be said for not giving up. i've come too far to give up. it's finish or :: !

it's gonna be great to spin my head down after this is over in about 6 weeks. i'm going to be able to cut back on how much extra work i've been doing and get a good rest. it is still going to be big enough to do what i wanted to do with it. so while things have changed a bit along the way, the dream is still alive more than ever. this is gonna be awesome

it's shaping up for me to have 3 days to work on it this next week, with help. i am thinking we might even get the ceiling joists in, but i have to laugh at this prediction. we'll see how it comes out by next wednesday.

[PAPAYAMON]

my 1st of three days.

and firstly, the camera is bending my picture, the wall isn't bent! second, if you go back to the picture of the 2 x 8 inch wall, you'll notice that this wall now has a couple more studs. this is because i measured them 18 on center when i first put the wall together. doh! i had to painstakingly go back and knock each stud out and place it at 16 on center. otherwise, my insulation wouldn't have worked.

how, might you ask, could one make such a stupid mistake? after all, tape measures are layed out with red numbers every 16 inches specifically to help you frame a wall at 16 on center. for this, i have no answer. i screwed up. it took two of us 3 hours to fix it. i point this out to show the fumbles i made along the way. all of us who don't do this kind of work regularly will make foolish mistakes. the great thing about working with wood is that you can easily fix it .. as long as you didn't cut it too short .

we also got together the second 2 x 6 wall (built on the floor), ready to stand in sections tomorrow. i also hope to get the double 2 x 4 walls finished as well. we are definitely working out a system and picking up speed.

i'm going to buy a couple of cases of silicone/latex caulk (i use alex plus), and i'm going to caulk every wood joint in the walls before i put drywall on top of it. maybe i'm wasting 50 bucks, but i don't have so much as a pinhole in anything that should be sealed off, and i'm not giving any sound waves a free pass with even a small crack.

[PAPAYAMON]

my 2nd day.

got the 2nd 2 x 6 wall up, got the decoupled front walls up, got the supporting posts for the LVL beam in. all in all, a pretty good day.

tomorrow's goal : get the LVL in, and get the ceiling joists up.

[PAPAYAMON]

a view of my decoupled front walls. these are 2 x 4 walls with an inch and a half space between them.

[PAPAYAMON]

not a very great day, got a late start and had to quit a bit early. we did get the LVL in, which was 23 feet long, 16 inches wide. we put it up in 3 pieces, and wow was it ever heavy. this is when the guy doing his own work can break his neck if he's not careful. i completely lost control of the middle piece when i put it up. my friend didn't keep it from tipping over (or more accurately, i failed to plan) and i was very fortunate that it wedged in the wall (caught on the fire blocking after falling a few feet) and didn't knock me off the ladder or land on me. if i were to do it again, i'd devise something with a safety rope. i put one of the ceiling joists on top to see how it will look.

[PAPAYAMON]

the LVL will hang down about 8 inches below the ceiling, and the bottom of it is 9 feet high. because of this, i ran it a bit off center so i could have an unfettered 9 ft 8 inches to work with in the middle. it's 17 feet to the back supporting wall, and 10 feet to the front supporting wall.



well, tonight i have to go back to the salt mine for 4 days. so it's all going to sit until next week. i didn't get quite what i'd hoped for finished, which goes to show how you tend to continually fool yourself .

next week, i hope to get all the ceiling joists in, the insulation in, and be ready to drywall the following week.

[Clueless]

Triple LVL! My favorite:

[PAPAYAMON]

that's awesome. LVL is an amazing product.

[PAPAYAMON]

only got to work 2 days this week. got the ceiling joists in for the most part. left a few out to make it easier to put materials on the top. i'm going with one layer of osb and two layers of 5/8 drywall on the top of the ceiling joists. on the bottom, i'm going with 2 x 4's every 16 inches across the joists, and then two layers of 5/8 drywall, with quiet glue pro in between, and then 4 inch thick mineral board.

i chose to go on top of the lvl beam rather than use the buckets. the drywall and ceiling treatments will extend down about 8 inches from the ceiling, leaving only the bottom 8 inches of the lvl exposed. the area where you see the sawhorses will be a presentation area for teaching. i'm going to run a lighting grid from the bottom of the lvl beam to the 2x4 walls in back of the sawhorses. to this i'll mount permanent lights.

i'm fortunate that i've been able to hook up with people vastly more knowledgeable than me at a nearby university. making some friends there, and getting lots of good advice .



my prediction for next week (3 days of work)... we should get all the insulation in and all the drywall and osb in the building and on top of the ceiling, with all joists and bracing in place. drywall starting in 2 weeks. i'm learning to expect less rather than more!

[muziekschuur]

You can't follow the angle of the roof? That would give you more acoustical benefit and heigth. (Heighth is allways good...). Or do you need the room above this space for other things?

[erikdrink]

Looking great so far!