Doors & Windows

[knucklesmd]

My friend and I are constructing roughly a 16' x 10' home studio in one of his garage ports. Rather than tinker with all the framing and electrical ourselves we hired a contractor to do all the woodwork and wiring. He said he had built studios before and new the proper way to do it which was by creating a 2nd 2x4 internal wall to make them 8" thick. Since neither of us have experience with this we trusted his judgement on the matter. Needless to say thats already been done and can't be undone if its wrong becuase we already purchased and installed the 35 sheets of quiet rock to cover it all, which is rather pricey.


We are now at the part where we are looking at a 16'x10' room with a large 3'x6' rectangular cut out for a plexi glass window, which also contains a 5'x6' iso booth and (2) 6'8"x2'10" cut outs for the door into the main room and one for the iso booth. The question I have here is what is the best route to go for installing the doors here; What materials, frames, double doors? Would it be an issue if we decide to float the floors? (which is unlikely) and are there alternatives to floating floors that are less... complicated and cost efficient? And are there any kind of doors that are half plexiglass so that we would have visibility into the iso booth? We are very much new at this and would like to keep visits from the contractors down to a minimun becuase they usually want money for that kind of stuff.
All input is greatly appreciated, Thanks guys!

[jhbrandt]

Originally Posted by knucklesmd

The question I have here is what is the best route to go for installing the doors here; What materials, frames, double doors?

Doors: Ideally double heavy solid core doors with neoprene seals on the frame, etc. If budget is a concern, buy exterior type solid core doors with frame and threshold and install in the openings. You can also build these out with additional heavy material.

Originally Posted by knucklesmd

Would it be an issue if we decide to float the floors? (which is unlikely) and are there alternatives to floating floors that are less... complicated and cost efficient?

Usually floating the floor is unnecessary and in your case - it's too late as the interior walls and ceiling need to be built on the floating floor.

Originally Posted by knucklesmd

And are there any kind of doors that are half plexiglass so that we would have visibility into the iso booth?

You can build these from a solid core door - add a window.. be sure to use tempered or safety glass - not plexi. Plexi scratches easily and will need to be almost the thickness of the door to match the door's mass. - No room for airspace.

Any windows that you put in need to match the mass of the walls or you are defeating the transmission loss of the walls. Use Glass. And DON'T slant the glass panes! - you loose TL that way and it does nothing for the acoustics.

Cheers,
John

[knucklesmd]

awesome! thanx for the input this is all extremely helpful. As far as glass for the 3'x6' cut out is there any type in particular? Do we need to get 2 panes for air space in between? and is it something that can be done on my own or should it be professionally installed?

[avare]

Being blunt, you started cosntruction and now you are asking for design epxertise? See my tagline.

Andre

(Edit after John's reply following this post) I urge you to stop construction until you have had the design more developed. What may cost nothing to right now, may be cost prohibitive once the studio is built. An example would be having dimensions of a room integer multiple of each other. Move a wall 6" and fixed. Cost nothing on paper, just about impossible once built.

[jhbrandt]

Yes, you need two panes and an air space in between. -- (Andre is so right... Well, there's always next time. right?)

It is something that you can do yourself. I suggest looking up some threads on studio window installations. Lots of good info here.

Cheers,
John

[knucklesmd]

unfortunately the framework sound board and drywall have already been installed by a contractor who drew up the plans to his own specs and felt it was a good design. Flooring is being put in as I speak so halting the construction process and hashing out new plans would eat up the rest of our budget for the internal workings. We aren't attempting to recreate sony productions or anything, just trying to make the best of what we can with what we got.

Thank you for the advice on the window panes and the core doors, I custom ordered the doors last night and should arrive shortly =)

[Rod Gervais]

Originally Posted by knucklesmd

(2) 6'8"x2'10" cut outs for the door into the main room and one for the iso booth.

I custom ordered the doors last night and should arrive shortly

What did you order for doors?

Rod

[Bassmankr]

John, you are correct that slanting the glass in a window frame has nothing to do with acoustics but it has everything to do with seeing through the glass without glare and light reflections. That is why the glass is angled downward. You see the same angled design in aircraft control towers and ships for the very same reason, better viewing. Putting glass into a door I would not bother to slant it plus you don't have much depth to do it anyway. One bit of glass triva, whichever room on the side of the glass is brighter, that room when looking into the glass will be MORE mirror like (same reason birds fly into glass during the daylight, especially mornings). Slant control room window glass should be the rule!

[jhbrandt]

Originally Posted by Bassmankr

John, you are correct that slanting the glass in a window frame has nothing to do with acoustics but it has everything to do with seeing through the glass without glare and light reflections. That is why the glass is angled downward. You see the same angled design in aircraft control towers and ships for the very same reason, better viewing. Putting glass into a door I would not bother to slant it plus you don't have much depth to do it anyway. One bit of glass triva, whichever room on the side of the glass is brighter, that room when looking into the glass will be MORE mirror like (same reason birds fly into glass during the daylight, especially mornings). Slant control room window glass should be the rule!

It really depends on the design & where the lights are. If they are a problem with the flat glass, then slant it. Otherwise don't. Only one of my studio designs have slanted glass and it's for lighting reasons as you said.

But too many home studio owners do it because they think it's the cool way or that helps with the transmission loss or isolation when in fact it makes the TL worse.

Again, it's a compromise and the owner's choice. But I will usually recommend the glass be put in normal for TL reasons unless there is a problem with the lighting.

Cheers,
John

[avare]

Originally Posted by jhbrandt

But too many home studio owners do it because they think it's the cool way or that helps with the transmission loss or isolation when in fact it makes the TL worse.

+1.

Andre

[knucklesmd]

the lighting is recessed so glare is the least of my worries, I heard slanting glass was to avoid parrallel walls and has to do with reflective surfaces that may cause interference...

[Jeffrey Hedback]

Please read Myth #3 in the link

RBDG - Newsroom - Exposing Acoustical Myths

And if you're curious, the other Myths are "must reads" as well!

More specific to your reply Knucklesmd, it may be helpful to angle glass in relation to opposite wall surfaces (maybe). But it is much easier to treat the opposite wall appropriately. When the mic/talent is in close proximity to glass, the angling of glass rarely changes the reflection issues.

There are cases and causes for angled glass such as in a Forward Address CR with 20+ feet in depth. In that case, the front glass can be angled down so the engineer hears conversation behind him better through reflections off the glass...esoteric but can be helpful. In smaller control rooms, I have angled front wall glass and sidewall glass up so the mid-hi reflections are directed toward a very absorptive ceiling. This requires 8 degrees (in my experiences) and a generous window system depth to maintain proper TL.

[jhbrandt]

Yep! -- There you go.

[avare]

[QUOTE=Jeffrey Hedback;5191784]Please read Myth #3 in the link

RBDG - Newsroom - Exposing Acoustical Myths

It is amazing how eternal those myths are. Richard's article was published over 17 years ago, yet is still quite relevant.

Andre