This is my first post on the forum. If I break any rules, please let me know and I will correct the problem. I live in Midland, Texas, USA and have a close friend of mine who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We used to play together a very long time ago in a band and have always stayed in touch. He has been a pastor in a small church there in Albuquerque for a long time now which is located in a metal building which he has converted for use as his church. Next to this is another similar metal warehouse building, which is essentially bare of anything within the metal walls, and has a bare concrete floor. There are about six swamp coolers in the walls for air conditioning. We are not in any kind of heavily industrialized area and are not exposed to any unusually loud sounds. There is no heavy machinery of any kind on the concrete slab of the warehouse. Albuquerque is high in altitude, about 7000 feet, and the land is basically scrub desert, with very dry air as a rule. The city is located in a valley between a couple of mountain ranges there.
Our plan is to build a small recording studio in one corner of the warehouse. It will be roughly 20' x 12' by 8', and we are using one of John Sayers designs, which I have found on the web. I have uploaded the floor plan into this post to give you a more accurate idea of what I am planning. Elsewhere on the forum in the projects page I believe, this is the same design of Scott's Studio, there in Australia. I hope that gives you enough information on my plans. My friend has a worship team for his church and writes material (think Hillsong, or something like that) using the basic rock/country type of instrumentation. He wishes to be able to record this songs, yet at the same time use the studio to do outside jobs to help raise more money for the church. We have a good engineer to run it. At the same time, we are definitely going to be doing this on the cheap, as best we can. We will be raising funds for the project, and will plan on taking our time in doing this.
1. I read elsewhere on an old thread that concrete would make the best floor (very heavy, very non-transmitting, very reflective), but is there a reasonably inexpensive alternative (raised wood floor of some sort?)that would be as good? The look of the bare concrete would be somewhat stark, yet if that gives us the best option for sound quality, we would certainly keep it that way. I would like to make as aesthetic as possible though.
2. The first step of this project will be to build the outside walls. I plan on a double wall. The outer layer will be double paneled with 5/8 dry wall using green glue adhesive, and sealed completely before spraying an open cell foam insulation. This is for thermal insulation, not for sound control, although I know it would give a little of that. The inner layer would be surfaced with double paneled dry wall as well with green glue adhesive, using Genie Clips and metal furring standoffs, and then insulated with regular Owens-Corning type fiberglass insulation. I plan to keep a small airspace between the two walls for improving sound isolation. The ceiling would be constructed in a similar manner. This is my initial thought of doing this. I would appreciate any advice on whether there would be any problems or possible ways to improve on this.
3. The dimensions I am planning on are as noted: 20' x 12' x 8' high. I think the design would not be compromised if I made it a little higher, say 10' or 12'. Would the sound handling of the control room benefit from this with a higher ceiling? I think it would just by having a larger space to work with, but I wanted to ask someone.
This project will go slow and take many months to complete. I will likely have a lot of questions to ask about it as I go along. I thank you very much for allowing me on the forum and would appreciate any advice and suggestion in completing my project.
