Rehearsal/Recording Studio Build

[Lonnie]

Hi forum contributors. I am planning a rehearsal/recording studio new build at my house in the coming year and I have a lot of questions. The slab and outer shell of the room-in-a-room build will happen fairly soon, but the room within the shell will not be built for perhaps another year. So my goals with this thread are to clear up some of my general questions, and to make sure that my basic outer shell design is designed and built in a way that doesn't hinder my studio (inner room) designs in the near future. Eventually I’ll jump into the proper studio design. Let me also say that even if no one answers these questions, this forum has already helped a LOT!

PROJECT GOALS
--A space where multiple instrument setups can be out at all times for rehearsal (no more setup and knock down every time I want to practice pedal steel for 45 min). I have some bulky synths that I keep for recording, but if they’re not already out, the odds they’ll actually be used are slim.
--A space where my soundcraft board, rack gear, otari 16 track, and mics/stands can remain out and more or less ready to go. The tight footprint of this gear (without room to get around it for patching) is about 8’ by 7’)
--Enough isolation to be able to play a drum kit at midnight without disturbing neighbors in their houses (as close as 20’ away).
--Enough room to record a 6 piece rock band. I don’t need massive isolation between players, and I tend to like a fairly ‘live’ sounding room on a recording. Also, this size group would be fairly rare. 90% of the recording will likely be just me and one other person.
--The best design for mixing, considering all other constraints.


BACKGROUND
--The space will be used daily for solo practice, a couple times a week for band rehearsal. I will record my own ideas here and there. Probably at least a few hours a week, and at times much more.
--I have recorded quite a lot in my house. I use (when I can) three adjacent rooms, totaling about 550 sq ft, 9.5’ ceilings. I have recorded with sofas, books, dining table pushed back. I put up oc703 panels and usually hang a large oc703 cloud over the drum kit. I know it can sound better, but it isn’t horrible acoustically. The isolation from the street, however, is horrible.
--My mixing set up is a poorly treated, 12 by 13 square room. It’s bad. I constantly have to tweak and reprint mixes once I hear them out of the room, something that’s not always easy being a tape based studio.
--I have a 2 channel interface, so I can attempt to learn to use testing software. My recording and mixing setup is all analog, though.


GENERAL FOOTPRINT/INITIAL PLAN
--45’ by 20’ rectangular building footprint, slab on grade. This will be tucked into the corner of the allowable property offsets, so at least two of the sides have to be square.
--Simple front to back gable, 11’ or 12’ plate height, roughly 16’ or 17’ peak height. Working with engineer to keep the vault as tall and open as possible.
--Within the building footprint, the studio room(s) will take up about 30’-35’ by 20’ (well, the inner space remaining after framing). This will leave about 15’ by 20’ for a space that will have a toilet, slop sink, refrigerator, entrance into the building, and then otherwise serve as a sort of storage shed space for my business. This ‘shed’ space will not be conditioned, though.
--The inner music room doesn’t need windows and only needs the one entry door.
--I typically frame all exterior walls with 2x6 studs for greater R value. However, I can see using 2x4’s to preserve space since I’ll be building a second inner room anyway.
--I typically use polyurethane spray foam insulation filling the stud bays, and about 7” deep at the rafters. If other insulation products (pink fluffy, rockwool etc) are better for isolation, I’d love to know and I’ll be happy to use them instead.
--The building footprint could get slightly larger in either direction, but that will only be worth it if it allows for some huge improvement in isolation or acoustics.

I’ll post some general questions soon, but my first question is whether or not the outer shell plan makes sense. Are there any tweaks to the plan that you recommend? Any questions you have for me that may help develop the plan?

THANKS!