Doors
&
Windows
Brief
Some of the hardest things to get right in a professional recording studio constructions are the doors and windows.
One mistake here can spell disaster. Doors need to open, but they also need to seal effectively. Windows need to be constructed in a special way to keep the 'room within a room' design' so the 2 sides of the double glazed window frames do not touch. Below we describe the Doors and Windows of our Studios.
Window
Shown here is Studio A's window between the control room and the Live room. It is a special design from the meticulous mind of our owner Scott and is one of the most effective windows of any Studio, Normally the glass is less effective than the walls around it, but our window has the same level of isolation if not greater than the walls!
It all starts with the frame. The window frame is built in 3 seperate sections. 1 for each of the sound proof room walls and one for the middle original building wall. The resulting 3 sections are completely not touching with a waterproof tar coated foam seal between each frame layer. To dampen any resonance the edges of the frames are covered in Acoustic Pin board in Black ( To Match the frames). Sitting freely at the bottom is 3kg of Silica Gel to control the moisture between glass panes. The glass is angled on both sides slightly, this is to allow visuals to be improved reducing reflections.
The glass its self is laminated glass with 2 panes of different thicknesses. The control room side is 13.38mm thick and the live room side is 8.2mm thick. The control room side is pressure fitted and sealed with aquarium grade sealant. The live room side is pressure fitted onto 5mm thick glazing foam on both sides. This Glazing foam is Acoustic rated and extremely hard to find special order. This is pressure fitted so the panel can be removed if the inside of the glass needs to be cleaned in the future. In the images below you can see the 3 seperate frames and also how tick the walls are in the Studios as well as the finished windows.
Doors
The doors in the facility are all built to the same standards, But let's take a look at Studio A as the doors are more complex with the need for wider Double doors. The door system utilises 2 doors with one skinny door, (which can be opened and closed independently) and one wide main door on each side. But why the wider double doors? Well simple. THE SSL is HUGE. The secret to why the doors are wider in Studio A is quite simply to allow the SSL to get through the frames during construction. It's also handy during setups in the live room because we can open up both sections of the doors to allow for an easier load in.
Door system.
The doors are dual double doors, meaning the same construction is repeated on both sides, in the mirror image. Each frame is completely isolated from the other. This is achieved by seperate sections of floating floor they are resting on. the floating floors under each side of the frames are not connected to each other. The frames of both the internal and external doors are not connected and sealed with the same waterproof tar covered foam as the windows.
the frames and doors are made to have dual seals around every edge and the Doors are Solid core construction. They also have an extra layer of wood attached with green glue between on all doors. The result is a functional and effective soundproof door system. The doors have auto closers.
The other type of door is the Glass acoustic sliding doors in the Iso booth. There are 2 of these glass sliding doors to open to get through. Once closed like the Windows they trap air in the cavity creating a sound lock.