Studio Control Room Ireland, help needed with soundproofing

Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 5:53 pm

Thanks Rod,
I am a musician and visual artist making the very difficult transition to audio engineer and studio owner. I mostly use the other side of my brain and I find alot of this stuff very confusing and difficult to understand, I am doing my best here so please be gentle with me, i will be forever greatful.
Now back to the topic, do you think I have covered all the necessary questions for the engineer
thanks hally

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 7:30 am

hally wrote:

I am doing my best here so please be gentle with me

I would never be anything but gentle........

Quote:

Now back to the topic, do you think I have covered all the necessary questions for the engineer

Hally,

I was not being snippy in my response to you in this regard. Seriously, without being there I cannot possibly think of all of the right questions to ask.

There could be something there that would make me go "AHA !!!!!!!!!" if I were to see it - but I cannot possible imagine what of the thousands of things that might do that could exist at your space.

All you should have to do is tell the engineer exactly what it is you want to do with the space - and it is he (as the professional person trained for these things) who should be seeing everything that will or could be impacted by what you propose.

Sincerely,

Rod

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 11:38 am

Thanks Rod, don't mind me it was late last night when i responded and after a long day at work. I spoke with the engineer today again and he has reschedualed for monday, i have emailed him some drawings in the mean time.
Either way, i have ordered a pallet of 5/8" plasterboard, I managed to find a supplier of backer rod here in ireland which is great and i am mulling over a few different options for acoustic sealent...
I will post the engineers recommendations

regards
hally

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 2:09 pm

Hally,

no problems - I don't mind you a bit.........

I look forward to reviewing his comments

Sincerely,

Rod

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 6:18 pm

Hi Rod,
I had my meeting with the structural engineer on tuesday, i will list his suggestions below... He requested that before he submits his final spec of what needs doing that I settle on a definitive soundproofing plan.

His recommendations

1. The floor joists forming the floor of the Control Room/ Attic Space will need to be reinforced with added structural beams below so as to accomadate the added mass which I propose to add between the joists, on top of the joists and on resilient channels below the joists forming the ceiling of the room below which in time will be a drum booth.
http://www.jamesmmedia.com/controlroom/joist-detail-1.jpg
http://www.jamesmmedia.com/controlroom/joist-detail-2.jpg

Three other structural beams need to be installed in different parts of the building to accomadate the added mass going in, these relate to other rooms which I will be dealing with after the CR is completed.

2. The partition wall,
http://www.jamesmmedia.com/controlroom/cr-entrance-machine-room.jpg
as it stands would not pass the building regs. now in Ireland as it is insufficient as a structural stud wall, however by adding the second wall behind as proposed in my soundproffing plan this issue will be settled and the roof/ rafters will be properly suported.
http://www.jamesmmedia.com/controlroom/wall-partition-detail.jpg
(I am sure it is in ur book but what is the suggested distance between these 2 stud walls).

3. A firewindow needs to replace the existing window or else the fire officer will shut me down.
http://www.jamesmmedia.com/controlroom/controlroom-entrance-view.jpg

4. Depending on my decision on how to treat the ceiling of the attic space which I am still very confused about, another beam might need to be installed along the apex of the ceiling (spanning the lenght of the room 24f) to support the added mass going onto and in between the rafters.
http://www.jamesmmedia.com/controlroom/cr-rafter-detail.jpg
My proposed treatment of the ceiling...
http://www.jamesmmedia.com/controlroom/roof-soundproofing-cross.jpg

A thought struck me with regard to the ceiling, my only aim with the ceiling is to restrict external noise from entering the room, unlike the floor where i will be trying to attenuate the sound of drums from below. For this reason maybe I will need less treatment on the ceiling... just a thought

The estimated cost for this additional work will be €5000 - €7000 including his fees...

SO, thats alot of extra cash but so be it, it needs to be done and done properly.

My questions relating to the ceiling, am I approaching this correctly or am i way of the beam (i like it). Will less mass work here?

After the fire window is installed, i will need to construct a hinged window plug, can u direct me to plans for such a plug...

On the existing blockwalls,
http://www.jamesmmedia.com/controlroom/controlroom-entrance-view.jpg
will it be ok to slab directly onto them or should i use studs connected to the block wall...

Thanks in advance and any other observations very welcome
warm regards

hally

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