John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hello everyone,

I am building a recording studio within a music store. (see the previous post )http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4558

Today, our general contractor (he is also the owner of the building) asked about changing the ceiling design of my live room and my control room due to cost. The ceiling of the live room and the control room is supposed to be 2 layers of sheetrock...RC...insulation. He asked if I could keep the ceiling open, or possibly just hang a suspended ceiling in both the live room and the control room. (see picture of open ceiling)


My question to all of you is.......can I do this? I know a suspended ceiling has no real benefits regarding acoustics, and either choice is not very good for sound proofing.

The roof of the building is made with...3ft joist...2 inch corrigated steel beck...3.5 inches of insulation...rubberized tar paper...roll of granulated roofing material.

Can this roof work to soundproof the studio and I can just keep the ceiling open? The benefits of keeping the ceiling open is it will increase the space volume of both rooms. But I've always been taught to finish off the ceiling like you would do the walls...layers for mass and sound channel and insulation.

I appreciate your help in this matter...

Jordy A.

In your original thread, remember my reply about "alarm bells ringing inside my head" and my question about whether your contractor knows anything about soundproofing?

This is proof positive he knows squat.

You are right to question this. You are even more right to refuse this. You'd be most especially right to supervise every minute of construction.

no, the person who has built some studios is not the general contractor, but he is the person in charge of the framing and sheetrocking. The owner of the building, however, has not built any studios and does not know about soundproofing, etc. This I already knew. I have been keeping close tabs on what he wants to do, but usually he just does what I say should be done. In this case, he will do what I want for the ceiling...he was just asking about changing it becuase the cost of the ceiling was way more than he had anticipated.

I told him I would check to see if it could be done his way, but I told him that it would probably be best to stay with the original plan, regardless of the cost. Therefore, I ask you if using an open ceiling is even feasible?

Thanks again Keith for "keeping an eye open" for me. I suppose you are confused regarding all these different people who are involved in this buildout. Here is a rundown, for future reference...

Dan...he is the owner of the building and serving as the lead general contractor (actually, myself and the other owner of the store are also serving as the general contractors, but Dan has the contacts so he took the lead. However, he does not do anything unless we approve.)

Jim...he is in charge of the framing and sheetrocking crew. He is the one who has built some studios in the past and his knowledge was pretty decent, considering he is not advertising himself as a recording studio construction guy


I'll add more guys as situations permit...

So, it sounds like I should stay with my original plan...but just in case, is there anyone who thinks I can make this work with an open ceiling instead of closing the ceiling with sheetrock and insulation?

Thanks for clarifying the cast of characters, Jordy.

The acoustical engineer I hired for some consultation said that he sometimes acts as an expert witness at hearings involving noise complaints, often on the side of the defendant (noisemaker). He said he's only lost one case -- and it was one where someone built a drum room in a house and did an excellent job with his walls, but did virtually nothing with his ceiling... And I would classify the cheap-o suspended ceiling as "virtually nothing."

Hopefully you'll get a few points of view on this here, even if they agree with me. Then you can quote numerous sources.

Glad to help.

--Keith