Southwestern College Music Bldgs. 800 850

The construction of the studio was a coordination challenge, as the space had to be architecturally appealing as well as function acoustically.

Along with state of the art equipment came a high end design for the recording studio. All walls surrounding the studio, drum room, and control room are constructed of either two or three separate metal stud walls which included special details to install the top and bottom wall track on a buffer of 1/2" neoprene. Each sound wall contains 3 layers of laminated of gypsum board on both sides of the wall and a one inch air gap separating each wall to prevent sound and motion transfer between walls. The ceiling structures consist of a floating Armstrong Acoustical Grid System which is supported with rubber isolator wires and installed with an overall saw tooth profile to provide the sharp angles needed for acoustical design. The viewing glass between the studio and the control room is assembled in three pieces which vary in thicknesses of 3/8”, 1/2”, 5/8” all of which have to be set at different angles to reflect sound. The specialty sound doors with an STC rating of 49 on this project also play an integral part to keep the acoustical integrity of the building in all of the openings. The doors achieve this by special neoprene sound seals that surround the jamb, the lead filled door and the frame stuffed with sound deadening insulation. To keep all of the sound from transferring from room to room all penetrations were caulked with special acoustical caulking.

The studio acoustical finishes play a large part in tuning the areas of the building for their specific purpose. Final finishes on this project consist of quarter sliced maple veneer wall and ceiling panels (ISEC), Hardwood Maple Trim (ISEC) acoustical fabric backed with micro-lite insulation installed on both the walls and ceilings (Whisper Wall), acoustically transparent fabric ceilings (Whisper Wall), maple wall grilles (TP Acoustics), sound baffles in ceiling areas and in sound traps in corners of rooms (TP Acoustics), and hardwood floors (Custom Craft).

Building 800 followed much of the same construction and finishes to complete out the rehearsal/ performance rooms. The design intent for these rooms is for the band a chorus to practice and perform. The two rooms include the same typical sound wall construction as the studio; including finishes such as maple veneer wall panels as well as fabric wrapped acoustical wall covering, maple wood wall grilles, aluminum stage risers and also have the ability to be recorded in the studio in the next building via audio connections which run from building to building. The ceilings are the most impressive part of the rehearsal rooms which includes curved maple ceiling canopies which are angled to direct sound and prevent feedback. Another room to compliment the technology being used in this building is the interactive piano lab. The piano lab was constructed with an in slab walker duct system with allow multiple practice piano’s to be configured throughout the room and be hooked up to teaching equipment. The final key elements to this building are the personal practice rooms. These practice rooms allow the students to practice their instruments in a pure environment, such as a studio, as well as keeping interruptions from other students and teachers.

Soltek team members included:

Matt Caronna - Project Manager
Dave Harris - Superintendent
Susan Mineo - Project Coordinator
Ivan Rosas - Foreman

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