How to Build a Small Budget Recording Studio from Scratch 4/E, 4th Edition

How to Build a Small Budget Recording Studio from Scratch 4/E, 4th Edition

by Mike Shea
Released March 2012
Publisher(s): McGraw-Hill Education TAB
ISBN: 9780071782722

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Book description

Build a cutting-edge sound studio--at a price that's music to your ears

How to Build a Small Budget Recording Studio from Scratch, Fourth Edition gives you detailed plans (including 12 studio designs with 23 constructed, tested, and acoustically tuned rooms from renowned acoustician, F. Alton Everest), and other resources for making your own professional-grade recording studio.

Start from scratch with techniques, practical advice, and scientific know-how that guide you on how to construct everything from floor to ceiling and wall to wall. You'll get expert recommendations on materials and equipment, how to test and adjust the finished facility for frequency response and reverberation time; mathematical formulas and simple explanations of key scientific principles; and everything else a musician, sound engineer, producer, filmmaker, or hobbyist could possibly want.

Coverage includes:

  • Plans for purpose-specific studios (residential, commercial, instructional)
  • How each music instrument creates sound -- and how to best record acoustical instruments
  • Testing, measurement, and how to read acoustic specifications
  • Premanufactured acoustic remedies
  • Noise control (from HVAC equipment and other sources)
  • Comes with exclusive bonus online content, including mathematical equations for acoustics, reverberation, music tempo, and pitch; listings of manufacturers of acoustic materials and test equipment; directions for how to read blueprints; and much more!
  • Go to: www.mhprofessional.com/Shea4

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. How to Build a Small Budget Recording Studio from Scratch
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Contents
  5. Preface
  6. Preface to the Third Edition
  7. Introduction
  8. Part I Acoustic Huggies
    1. 1 Theoretical Acoustics
      1. Wave Theory
      2. Time for Some Reflection!
      3. Molecular Level
    2. 2 Practical Acoustics
      1. Sound Absorptive Materials
      2. Foams
      3. Functional Baffles and Shaped Absorbers
      4. Curtains and Fabrics
      5. The Selection of Materials
      6. Mounting Methods
      7. Working with Fiberglass
      8. Here’s Mr. Everest’s Cheapest Wideband Absorber
      9. Fiberglass and Mineral Wool
      10. Spray-Ons
      11. Sound Absorption per Frequency
      12. Combining Materials
      13. Polycylindrical Diffusers
      14. Diaphragmatic Absorbers
      15. A Jig for Designing Resonant Plywood Absorbers
      16. Helmholtz Resonators
      17. Reverberation
      18. Noise Control
      19. Critical Frequency
      20. Coincidence Effect
      21. Sound Isolation and Dual Panel Wall Partitions
      22. TL and STC
      23. Barrier Materials
      24. Standards
      25. Transmission Loss (TL)
      26. Sound Transmission Class (STC)
      27. Noise Reduction Ratings
      28. Mounting
      29. Facings
      30. Measuring Acoustics
      31. Evaluating Audio (A/B Comparisons)
      32. Sequential Frequency Analysis
    3. 3 Real Time Analysis
      1. Noise Generators
      2. Measuring Reverberation Time
      3. Acoustilog IMPulser
      4. Equipment Rental
      5. Acoustic Measurement with a Laptop
      6. FFT, TDS, and TEF Measurement
    4. 4 Vibration
      1. Resonant Frequency Vibrations
      2. Vibration Isolation
      3. How the Pros Do It
      4. More Help
    5. 5 The Control Room Monitor System
      1. Setting the Monitor System Gain
      2. Monitoring Systems Part II
      3. Testing the Control Room/Monitor System
      4. Control Room Speakers
      5. Control Room Acoustics and Monitoring
      6. Live End Dead End (LEDE)/Dead End Live End (DELE)
      7. The Studio Side of the Glass
      8. Want a Look into the Future?
  9. Part II Brick and Mortar (Drywall and Stud) Studios
    1. 6 My Studio—How Big and What Shape?
      1. How Big Should a Studio Be?
      2. Distribution of Modes
      3. Deciding on Best Studio Proportions
      4. Studio Size and Low Frequency Response
      5. Room Cutoff Frequency
      6. Summary of Room Mode Effects
    2. 7 Elements Common to All Studios
      1. Sound Lock Acoustical Treatment
      2. Acoustical Doors
      3. Weatherstripping Doors
      4. HVAC Noise
      5. Wall Construction
      6. Resilient Mounting
      7. Staggered Stud Construction
      8. Double Walls
      9. Concrete and Masonry Walls
      10. Floor-Ceiling Construction
      11. Electrical Wiring
      12. Lighting
      13. Observation Window
      14. Absorber Mountings
      15. Reverberation Time
      16. Foams
      17. Corner Absorbers
      18. Construction Permit
    3. 8 Audiovisual Budget Recording Studio
      1. Studio
      2. Control Room
      3. Sound Lock
      4. Work Table
      5. Studio Contracarpet
      6. Studio Wideband Wall Units
      7. Studio Drywall
      8. Studio Computations
      9. Control Room Treatment
      10. Control Room Ceiling Treatment
      11. Control Room Drywall
      12. Control Room Acoustical Tile
      13. Control Room Wideband Modules
      14. Noise Factors
    4. 9 Studio Built in a Residence
      1. Floor Plan
      2. Studio Treatment
      3. Ceiling
      4. Walls
      5. Studio Reverberation Time
      6. Observation Window
      7. Air Conditioning
    5. 10 A Small Studio for Instruction and Campus Radio
      1. Studio Plan
      2. Studio Ceiling Treatment
      3. Semicylindrical Unit
      4. Reversible Wall Panels
      5. Studio Calculations
      6. Control Room
      7. Measurements
    6. 11 Small Ad Agency Studio for AVs and Radio Jingles
      1. Floor Plan
      2. Room Proportions
      3. Wall Construction
      4. Audiovisual Recording Studio Treatment
      5. Low Frequency Units
      6. Midband Units
      7. Wideband Units
      8. Control Work Room Treatment
    7. 12 Multitrack in a Two-Car Garage
      1. Floor Plan
      2. Wall and Ceiling Construction
      3. Studio Treatment
      4. Walls
      5. Drum Booth
      6. Computations
      7. Control Room Treatment
    8. 13 Building a Studio from Scratch for Radio Program Production
      1. Distribution of Modal Resonances
      2. Noise Considerations
      3. Wall Construction
      4. Sound Lock
      5. Studio Floor
      6. Studio Walls
      7. Studio Ceiling
      8. Control Room Treatment
      9. Studio Computations
      10. Control Room Reverberation
    9. 14 Studios for a Commercial Radio Station
      1. Construction
      2. Acoustical Treatment
      3. General Measurements
      4. Reverberation Time
      5. Theory vs. Practice
      6. Master Control Trimming
      7. Production Control Trimming
      8. Talk Booth Trimming
      9. Summary
    10. 15 One Control Room for Two Studios
      1. Studio Suite Layout
      2. Acoustical Treatment
      3. Music Studio Treatment
      4. Speech Studio Treatment
      5. Control Room Treatment
      6. Air Conditioning
    11. 16 A Video Mini-Studio
      1. Louvered Absorbers
      2. Cyclorama Curtain
      3. Floor Covering
      4. Ceiling Treatment
      5. Louver Absorbers
      6. Computations
      7. Television Facilities
    12. 17 A Video and Multitrack Studio
      1. Studio Plans
      2. Conduits
      3. Power Facilities
      4. Studio Treatment
      5. Control Room Treatment
    13. 18 A Screening Facility for Film and Video
      1. Floor Plan
      2. Door Arrangement
      3. Screen
      4. Projection Booth
      5. Theater Treatment
      6. Reverberation Time
    14. 19 Multiple Studios
      1. Typical Recording Suite
      2. Splaying Plan
      3. Room Proportions
      4. Floor Plan
      5. Traffic Noise
      6. External Walls
      7. Internal Walls
      8. Floating Floor
      9. Treatment of Studio A
      10. Reverberation Time of Studio A
      11. Acoustical Treatment of Control Room A
      12. Music Studio Treatment
      13. A/C Duct Routing
    15. 20 Diffusion Confusion
      1. Sound Decay Irregularity
      2. Variation of T60 with Position
      3. Directional Microphone Method
      4. Frequency Irregularity
      5. Size and Proportions of Room
      6. Distribution of Absorbing Materials
      7. Splayed Walls
      8. Resonator Diffusion
      9. Geometrical Diffusers
      10. Diffraction Grating Diffusers
      11. Grating Diffuser Application
  10. Part III New Remedies to Common Acoustic Problems
    1. 21 An Introduction to Today’s Premanufactured Acoustic Panels and Systems
      1. Time for a Little Perspective
      2. Let’s Take a Look at Some of These “Treatments”
      3. RPG Products
      4. Acoustic Sciences
      5. Acoustics First
      6. Acoustical Surfaces
      7. GIK Acoustics
      8. Auralex Acoustics
      9. Further Information
  11. Part IV Music Instruments
    1. 22 How Music Instruments Produce and Propagate Sound
      1. Some Basic Facts about Sound Production by Music Instruments
      2. Sound Transmission
      3. Some Specific Sound Producing Mechanisms
      4. Sound Transmission of Acoustic Guitars
      5. Making Use of Physicists’ Research Experiments
      6. Tubes and Pipes
      7. The Brass and Woodwind Instrument Family
      8. Pipe Organs
      9. Reeds and Brass
      10. The Human Voice
      11. Vibrating Strings
      12. Bows
      13. Hollow Bodied Instruments
      14. Violins
      15. Bowing
      16. Bridges
      17. Some Guitar Manufacturing Theories
      18. The Harp
      19. Mechanically Plucked Strings
      20. Percussion Instruments
      21. Sound Actuators
      22. Membrane Radiators
      23. Some Drummer Stories
      24. What It All Boils Down To
      25. Microphone Placement
      26. Multimicing Instruments
      27. Examples of Microphone Placement
      28. Acoustic Guitar
      29. Acoustic Grand Piano
      30. Where Do You Go from Here?
  12. A Sound Absorption Coefficients for General Building Materials and Furnishings
  13. B Sound Absorption Coefficients of Owens-Corning Products
  14. C Sound Absorption Coefficients for Tectum
  15. References
  16. Index
  17. Footnotes
    1. Preface2
      1. Fn01
    2. Ch06
      1. Fn01
    3. Ch07
      1. Fn01
    4. Appendix C
      1. Fn01

Product information

  • Title: How to Build a Small Budget Recording Studio from Scratch 4/E, 4th Edition
  • Author(s): Mike Shea
  • Release date: March 2012
  • Publisher(s): McGraw-Hill Education TAB
  • ISBN: 9780071782722