Recording - April 2017 - 29

walls is called rigid insulation, an excellent sound damping
material, easily cut, but quite toxic if inhaled-you must use a
mask and cut with a sharp knife to prevent creating airborne
shreds. As before, all layers were attached using subfloor
adhesive or some type of caulk to prevent vibration and screwed
in with drywall screws. We went through probably 25 cases of
DAP caulk, and twice as many large tubes of subfloor adhesive.
Once the inner walls were framed and laid on the floor, 1/2"
drywall was added on the inside side, they were then put into
place and wiring was run for outlets as well as phone, cable, etc.
All outlets are on the same circuit to prevent ground loops. Rigid
insulation was installed; a layer of drywall screwed in and then
soundboard installed on top of that. Lighting wiring was installed
before closing up the ceiling, of course, along with smoke
detectors. All lighting is on a separate designated circuit. All
cracks and seams were filled with expanding foam or caulk-if
air can leak through, so can sound. See Figure 2 for an example
of the inner and outer walls, seen at a window frame.

Heating and cooling

At the same time we were building the outer/inner walls, we
were also consulting with a heating company to work out heating
and cooling needs. We settled on a dual thermostat system to
keep the studio at a constant temperature separate from the
upstairs. The furnace was moved into the garage and new ducting
built that was rectangular to give maximum ceiling height.
Large commercial vents were used to encourage the heat to
"drop" out of the vent rather than be forced. This helps to keep
down the noise of rushing air. Fresh air intakes into the iso
booth and control room were also installed to take advantage
of the clean ocean air. All ducting was wrapped with insulation,
both to retain heat and to damp down noise.

The rooms

Next, the inside walls were framed in to close up the main
room and control room as well as the iso booth (Figure 3). The
main room wall starts at a parallel to the facing outer wall and
then turns into a 6º angled wall all the way to the back of the drum
riser. This is the main difference between the original model/plan
and the finished design. It was a lot easier to make one wall that
had one angle rather to attempt four different walls, each with a
different angle to figure out and build. Thus the door to the vocal/
iso booth was moved to open from the control room rather than
the main room. A window is now where the door was supposed
to be, looking into the main room and out to the ocean view.

A round wall for the back of the iso booth was constructed
using 3/4" plywood (doubled) for the top and bottom plates,
and 2x6s for the studs (Figure 4). All inside walls (not part of
the double walls) were constructed with 2x6s. This made the
walls heavier and more soundproof, but not too thick,
preserving needed space. The walls were a sandwich of
soundboard (the cheapest kind), drywall, rigid insulation, drywall,
and soundboard. The round wall is also a sandwich but 1/4"
drywall was used to make it easier to bend. Figure 5 shows a
wall in mid-build, with the insulation visible.

The floor and drum riser

Once all the walls were in, the next project was to decide how
to fix the concrete floor, which had settled about 2" into the
corner. Since that area was going to become the drum riser,
instead of pouring and floating concrete to make it level, we built
the drum riser to level it out. It's about a 1" step up and was
beautifully built by some very handy Irish carpenters. The frame
is screwed into the concrete and glued with subfloor adhesive (of
course) and the plywood is also screwed into the frame using subfloor adhesive. Finally, the whole thing is filled with sand to deaden
it. It works great. Figure 6 gives you a quick look at the riser in use.
We decided on a floating engineered floor for the rest of
the studio, made from hardwood using a plywood construction
method. It brought the floor up only about 3/4", which saves
headroom, and since it floats, it further damps vibration. It's
beautiful, functional, and easy to install for do-it-yourselfers. And
you can install it right on a concrete pad, unlike solid hardwood
planks. See Figure 6, again, for a look at the finished result.
Deciding on doors was the next step. I had a salvaged
double-pane outer door that was narrow enough for the iso
booth, so that fitted nicely (Figure 7a). A used double-pane
wood door made from Douglas fir is between the main room
and control room. For the doors to the backyard, we used a
double door combination-both are 6-panel Doug fir exterior
doors and look nice (Figure 7b).
While shopping at Urban Ore in Berkeley, CA, for the main
door into the control room from the house, I came across a
very sorry-looking wood door that was almost 4" thick. It
looked like it might have been made for a sauna, the outer
layers being redwood and inside some sort of solid-core door.
It had never had holes cut for handles, so it looked like it had
been abandoned at conception and was rotting away in the
rain. I decided to save it and offered $100. They took it-why
wouldn't they?-and I had a new big honkin' studio door.

RECORDING April 2017

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