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I am planning to build a small building/studio in my backyard, and was wondering if anyone knows where I can get some plans? Is it cheaper to build your building with weird angles to help with the sound or just buy acoustic tiles or something. Also, can you trust Auralex when they tell you to send in a drawing of your space, and they tell you what you need?

Have you been to this site yet?

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/index.php

If not, make your way there. They know a truckload about things like this.

BTW, your subject line led me to think this was a topic about a recent Low album. "Building a backyard studio" might have attracted more studio designers...

Thanks for the link! That forum is very helpful. What would you think about me using some old wood, from the walls in the house I am restoring, for the floors in my studio?

Yellow Bird wrote:Thanks for the link! That forum is very helpful. What would you think about me using some old wood from the walls in the house I am restoring for the floors in my studio?

What kind of wood is it? Do you have enough, and what kind of condition is it in?

I believe it is cedar, but it may be pine. I'm not quite sure at this point. I have plenty, and it is all in good condition.

Hmm, I can't really recommend either Pine or Cedar for a studio floor. You can make flooring out of certain kinds of Pine and Cedar, but they are both softwoods, and even when sealed under a hard laquer or polyurethane coating tend to damage easily, especially under weight, which is where you can see the problem.

If you roll an Ampeg SVT with an 8x10 coffin cabinet across a pine floor, you're going to leave little permanent wheel marks in the flooring itself as the wood will compress a bit under the weight. Then you'll have to be careful when wheeling another amp across that same area, because it's wheels could get stuck in the rut, and the whole thing could tip over, etc. etc. Cedar is generally fairly hard, but is still technically a softwood. It's usually used for decks and such, but certain types of Cedar can probably be used for flooring.

For a studio floor, I would suggest hardwood. However, if you have a large amount of Cedar or Pine available, and it's free, then I'm sure you can find a way of making it work. I would get advice from a local person who installs/restores wood flooring about the specific wood you have and then I would go and ask on the Sayers site how appropriate it would be for studio construction.

Best of luck!

I see your point, but seeing as how the price of wood is continually rising and I have alot of wood for free, I wouldn't mind the nicks and dings. I really am going for that "old shack" look anyway. Thanks for the advice. I think I'll post it over on that other forum like you said. Thanks!

Yellow Bird wrote:I see your point, but seeing as how the price of wood is continually rising and I have alot of wood for free, I wouldn't mind the nicks and dings. I really am going for that "old shack" look anyway. Thanks for the advice. I think I'll post it over on that other forum like you said. Thanks!

I'm not just talking about nicks and dings, I'm talking about some good ruts, depending on the wood. However, like I said before, you should be able to make it work. If you're careful it won't be too bad. (and I understand good looking floors isn't what you're after, just good sounding ones)

If this is just a studio for yourself, and you don't expect to move the equipment around much, take the wheels off, put it on a rug (which helps anyway) and if there's a good finish on the floor, you can slide speaker cabinets, etc. around with no real problem.

Sounds like an interesting project. Post some pictures when you're done.

Good luck.

Again, I see your point. I found out the wood is cedar. My plan is to outfit my studio with all needed guitars, amps, etc. so that anyone I bring in doesn't need to bring their stuff. I hope to buy some really sweet gear, and cover all the bases so that any player would feel comfortable on what I have. I know this won't always happen, but I suppose I could take the necessary precautions for those caes. What do you think?

Hey -

I spent three and a half years doing what you're planning to do. The main advice I'd have is that you buy and read F. Alton Everest's "Master Handbook of Acoustics". I found it more helpful than any resource I found on the web.

The TapeOp board also has a "Building a Space" forum that's helpful. Ethan Winer has been very generous with his advice there and other places.

There's information about my project here.

Best of luck. I'll answer any specific questions that I can either here or through a PM.

= Justin