Greetings, I have a simple question:
What is the minimum ceiling height for a recording studio?
More questions to follow!
Cheers,
Saki
ceiling height?
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saki
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sharward
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Legally... It's whatever your building code calls for. Around here it's 7' 6", finished.
Practically... When you hang acoustic treatments, the effective clearance could end up much shorter. I'm pretty sure that the treatments don't have to be considered in building code, since they're not permanent... But still, being over 6 feet tall and having something hanging less than a foot overhead is a bit uncomfortable.
Acoustically... I think the relative dimensions and the shape of the room, plus the way it is treated, is more relevant than just "how high the ceiling is."
Aesthetically... If you end up with a very short ceiling, painting it a dark color helps to fool the eye into thinking it's higher and more spacious. I plan to paint my ceiling a dark color for that reason.
--Keith
Practically... When you hang acoustic treatments, the effective clearance could end up much shorter. I'm pretty sure that the treatments don't have to be considered in building code, since they're not permanent... But still, being over 6 feet tall and having something hanging less than a foot overhead is a bit uncomfortable.
Acoustically... I think the relative dimensions and the shape of the room, plus the way it is treated, is more relevant than just "how high the ceiling is."
Aesthetically... If you end up with a very short ceiling, painting it a dark color helps to fool the eye into thinking it's higher and more spacious. I plan to paint my ceiling a dark color for that reason.
--Keith
"Converting a garage into living space requires a city permit . . . homeowners insurance won't cover a structure that's been changed without a building permit . . ." --Sacramento Bee, May 27, 2006
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bassman
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As high as financially possible. Height provides wonderful acoustics. Larger volume of air is a good thing. Early reflections are later in time as well.
-bassman
-bassman
Build thread:
http://johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10533
Pro Tools for Film, Video and Multimedia
http://www.amazon.com/Tools-Video-Film- ... 877&sr=8-2
http://johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10533
Pro Tools for Film, Video and Multimedia
http://www.amazon.com/Tools-Video-Film- ... 877&sr=8-2
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saki
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Interesting answers y'all. Thanks.
I have a bit of a problem then... the height between my concrete floor and ceiling joists is 8 feet 1 inch.
It looks like I have three options:
1) lower the floor - this would not be a good idea and the reason for this is because of the high water table in my neighbourhood (not to mention I live in rainy Vancouver). My garage is actually a double garage separated by a brick wall. The other side has a 9' floor to ceiling height and this is because its floor is lower but when it rains it gets moist and damp.
2) raise the ceiling - would this be feasable considering that if I were to do this I would have to raise the ceiling above the joists? I've attached a pic that shows the style of roof the garage has (sorry for the quality - I took it with my phone).
3) limit the height of the raised floor and the height of the lowered ceiling so that the result would end up at 7'. I'm not sure what the code is for ceiling height here and I do remember an old collegue of mine who mentioned that 7' is the minimum height for recording studios.
Well, there you have it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Saki
I have a bit of a problem then... the height between my concrete floor and ceiling joists is 8 feet 1 inch.
It looks like I have three options:
1) lower the floor - this would not be a good idea and the reason for this is because of the high water table in my neighbourhood (not to mention I live in rainy Vancouver). My garage is actually a double garage separated by a brick wall. The other side has a 9' floor to ceiling height and this is because its floor is lower but when it rains it gets moist and damp.
2) raise the ceiling - would this be feasable considering that if I were to do this I would have to raise the ceiling above the joists? I've attached a pic that shows the style of roof the garage has (sorry for the quality - I took it with my phone).
3) limit the height of the raised floor and the height of the lowered ceiling so that the result would end up at 7'. I'm not sure what the code is for ceiling height here and I do remember an old collegue of mine who mentioned that 7' is the minimum height for recording studios.
Well, there you have it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Saki
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knightfly
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Saki, a lot of our members have less than 7 feet finished height in basement studios; sometimes it's all you can do. I agree with what's been said, that more is better, but if it's all ya got then it's all ya got...
From the sound of it, I'd be more worried about moisture than ceiling height though - check out the REFERENCE section near the top of the forum for articles by Building Sciences, and search on the term "moisture", "water", etc - if you build soundproof construction, you need it to be DRY... Steve
From the sound of it, I'd be more worried about moisture than ceiling height though - check out the REFERENCE section near the top of the forum for articles by Building Sciences, and search on the term "moisture", "water", etc - if you build soundproof construction, you need it to be DRY... Steve
Soooo, when a Musician dies, do they hear the white noise at the end of the tunnel??!? Hmmmm...