Basement Studio

[marc777]

Hey all,
I am finally building my studio. I will post some pics later. I was a member of Johns site years ago and of course Stuart was a big influence on my design. Control room size is 16'3"x13'6"x7'10". Live room will be 14x17x7'10". I am in the process of doing inside out construction in control room. I have the walls up, ceiling frame done and in the process of sealing all of the cracks and holes, which may be finished today. I will start the ceiling sections next. I have a decent plan for HVAC but I have a few question.
1. When I put in my HVAC drops into the room, can they be in the same area or does return need to be pulled from the front and the inlet be in the back of the room, or can they both be in front by the mix position.
2. Does anyone have a design for bringing in the electrical into the rooms. ex, like some sort of silencer for the wiring. I have an Idea but it requires a few drops and then sealed.
I will post pics later tonight. Its about to get real.
Marc

[Starlight]

Hello Marc.

1. You will want the duct openings far apart so that the extracting duct doesn't simply suck out the fresh air. In my studio, the duct nearest the camera has a partner hole further along the same duct and the other duct, carrying the fresh air, is routed to a plenum (not in the photo) which has its opening above the AC.



2. Sound likes to travel in straight paths. If you can bring the electrics through the inner wall away from being a straight line from where they came through the outer wall, that will help. My electrics all came through the outer wall at the ceiling. All apart from the lighting cable dropped to the floor inbetween the walls and the lighting cable came through the inner wall a little way further along the ceiling. I caulked the cables together where they came through the walls to ensure that there was not even a hair sized gap open.

I am sure that Glenn will be along shortly to suggest an even better method.

[gullfo]

nope. in general, these are the correct approaches to air and wiring. i prefer to surface or soffit route things once i've penetrated the mass boundaries and thus avoid more openings.

definitely create a cross-room flow for air - you need to move it to keep it fresh and remove CO2. using flex duct in a wall-ceiling soffit provides a lot of absorption in otherwise unused space and keeps things neat.

on any opening. it's got to be sealed. you can use some short PVC sections in the wall to enable passing wiring through and then seal that pipe. later, if you need to route some more wiring, clear the sealant, run the wiring, and re-seal it. keeps the wall from getting damaged, and if you're using decoupled piping between rooms, it's there anyways...

[marc777]

Thanks for the responses.
I definitely agree with the flow of air. Would you consider pulling the heat/air above the desk/gear area? If that would be the approach, would it benefit to spread them apart? 2 exhaust in front, 2 returns in rear for even airflow
When I put the silencer in, lets say I only have 3ft in length to work with, would that suffice or be a waste of money? If they were very rigid/sturdy, would it help? In theory I feel like it would, but I haven't completed all of my calculations. (36"x13"x11")
I know that some people only like to make 1 hole for wiring, but if it they were sealed correctly, could 2 or 3 penetrations work? ex. running wires to light in cloud up top, wires to front of room, wires to back of room. Smaller holes compared to larger?
Marc

[gullfo]

typically i spread out the vents so it's symmetrical over the listening position. and depending on the console/desk i may have the cool air drop (mixing with warm air to get a good balance) or the returns if i'm drawing from across the room (preventing too cool on a lower power setup at the desk). if i have really hot equipment (like an older SSL console - say a 4000) then i'll often add dedicated venting to provide cool air directly to the equipment as well as the room vent drop.

you can have many penetrations - wiring, lights, vents, non-moveable posts, pipes, etc. and each one needs to be (and remain) sealed. just depends on what you have to work with and needs, as well as precision in the build.

[marc777]

Here are a few pics.

[gullfo]

nicely done.

[marc777]

On the walls I did 2x5/8 drywall type X with green glue. in the Ceiling modules it will be 5/8 OSB and 5/8 drywall with green glue. I am undecided about a few things.
1.) Do I put in a window or use CCtv?
2.) I have a solid core door I plan on hanging and adding 1 5/8 sheet of MDF with GG, What would yall do?
3.) Should I concrete level the floor for cosmetics or stain as is? From this point, What would be your next steps? HVAC, wiring, ceiling modules.... yall know the drill.
I will be off for the next month and plan on knocking this out!!!
Marc

[gullfo]

i'm a fan of TV in lieu of windows. but you can always build in a frame for a window, add some cripples and blocking, then cover. later if you decide you must have a window, you can remove the layers on the framed opening, clean out the extra lumber, and put in your window.

TV are very good for several reasons - one - the wall has no openings so generally better isolation. two - i can set the position and size of the TV and even have multiple TV around the CR and iso rooms etc so with PIP, everyone can see everyone... three - additional information can be presented - so imagine having the lyrics and vocal coaching in one screen vs a screen or paper and a window... four - i can alter the viewing on the TV so everyone can be in their own space - rehearsal in the live and iso rooms have their TV set to work with each other, CR has their own ability to monitor but be doing something else. five - TV will generally offer more "transparency" vs a window w/ glare or obstructions (like a big mix console).

still - windows do have a coolness factor when they're built correctly to reduce glare and there's nothing in the way of them communicating effectively.

[marc777]

Alright, I got the control room sealed (cracks, corners, knots) and modules are almost finished. I am making sure they fit as I go but I can't go much further until I get the silencers in place. I have 11"x23"x8' available for silencer.
I am about to start the calculations for HVAC. I could use some guidance on the silencers and some clarity on unit size. And how can I set it up to control temp in at least 2 different rooms. Easy, lol. I will try and get a decent sketchups done to give you guys an idea of where I am headed to. I lost all data when my computer got wiped (HVAC calculations and Sketchup)!!
I am starting the electrical this week. New panel for outside and inside house. And then a 200a panel just for studio. I wanted to keep all of the house needs on its on panel.
1.) How many outlets would you put in control room? I'm thinking 6 on front wall (1 on each side for soffit speakers, Focal Be6), 4 on each side, 2 in the back.
2.) How much separation for the lights? I'm thinking 3, 1 for cloud, 1 for room and 1 for LEDs around the room with remote.
I am building the control room first. I feel like it is the most complicated and I have some mixes to finish!!
Control room will be 13'6" x 16'3" x7'10".
Live room will be 14'6" x 17'5" x 7'10".
Marc

[marc777]

Just a thought on the "live" room. Should I build a normal room and treat it or would it be better/easier to stay with the inside out build and bring some life back to it. I feel like if I do the inside out approach, I can treat a couple areas differently to be able to record, say, drums and vocals and get great results.
Thoughts?
Thanks
Marc

[gullfo]

on the hvac - to get separate temps - you either need VaV to alter flows (multizone) or separate mini-splits.
on the live room - maybe stick with the inside-out and create panels to shift response as needed. think of the "barn door" type of suspended panels you can slide around easily.

[marc777]

Met with the HVAC guy today and we are coming up with a plan. Need total BTUs for the control room and one for the live room which should be a little less. What is the best way to come up with the number? Calculation from gear? I need to start designing the silencers. This has to be in before I can finish the modules.
I had to make an adjustment on my ceiling frame to work. I will add a pic. But I left about 2in on each end (front and rear wall) and I could think of how to set it up on the side ledge and the end, so I added a piece of plywood strip in each module that needed it (4) and added a 2x4 and will seal them all. Now each module can be put up much easier.
Also, I have 4 of the 8 modules started.
I have my 12/2 wiring in hand and my 200a box. Because I added the piece of plywood in between, it gave me a place to cut out to let my wiring feed through. I will just cut out where I need and feed the wire and seal it up.

[gullfo]

each person - 500W, gear - raw power use. my guess - 2.5 tons - 3 tons (30K - 36K BTU) should be enough given the size. if you're wheeling in an older SSL 4000, add another ton of cooling

you're going to be in a hyper-insulated sealed space, so to some degree it will be more efficient on the HVAC - but also trap more heat, moisture, farts, etc. a good rule of thumb for fresh air = 35% of total room volumes x 6 changes/hour. example: 100m3 x 6 = 600m3/hour x 0.35 = 210m3/hour fresh air / 60 min = 3.5m3 / min air flow (120cfm)

[marc777]

Thanks for the feedback. I sure wish I could afford an SSL. LOL.
Is there a post about how to determine heat/BTUs per piece of analog gear. I have about 30-32 different items in all, that's all electronics added except for bodies, which the most would probably 5. and maybe a lamp or 2. I believe i am doing all LED lighting.
I know drummers and singers exert the most heat when they perform/record, usually, but would my calculations for the live room be about the same because of that? if 3 people were recording live could it be more?
Marc