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Recording Studios & Podcast Rooms Acoustic Design Guide

Recording studios demand the most stringent acoustic control of any building type, with background noise as low as NR 15 and precisely controlled reverberation to achieve a neutral monitoring environm...

ISO 3382-2:2008IEC 60268-16:2020EBU Tech 3276ITU-R BS.1116-3

Key Challenge

Eliminating room modes and flutter echo while achieving NR 15 background noise through box-in-box co...

Typical Budget

£350–£700/m² (professional)

Primary Standard

ISO 3382-2:2008

Room-by-Room Requirements

Acoustic targets for each room type within recording studios & podcast rooms buildings.

RoomRT60 TargetKey Metric
Live Room0.3–0.5sNR 15–20Details →
Control Room0.2–0.3sNR 15Details →
Vocal Booth0.1–0.2sNR 10–15Details →
Machine RoomIsolatedSTC 65+Details →

Applicable Standards

The following standards govern acoustic performance for recording studios & podcast rooms buildings.

1.

ISO 3382-2:2008

2.

IEC 60268-16:2020

3.

EBU Tech 3276

4.

ITU-R BS.1116-3

Green Certifications

Voluntary certifications that include acoustic performance credits for recording studios & podcast rooms projects.

Dolby Atmos Certified

THX pm3 Certified

EBU Compliant

AES Recommended Practice

Frequently Asked Questions: Recording Studios & Podcast Rooms

What background noise level should a recording studio achieve?▾
Professional recording studios target NR 15 (approximately 20 dBA) in control rooms and NR 15–20 in live rooms. Vocal booths for critical recording may target NR 10–15. This requires box-in-box construction with floating floors, independent wall leaves, and HVAC systems designed with duct velocities below 3 m/s and oversized silencers.
How do you treat room modes in a recording studio?▾
Room modes are standing waves at low frequencies determined by room dimensions. Treatment involves non-parallel wall surfaces (splaying walls 5–7°), membrane (diaphragmatic) bass absorbers tuned to problematic frequencies, and corner-loaded porous absorbers. The room dimensions should follow a golden ratio (e.g., 1:1.28:1.54) to distribute modal frequencies evenly across the spectrum.
What is the difference between a live room and a dead room?▾
A live room (RT60 0.3–0.5s) retains some natural ambience for instruments and ensemble recording, while a dead room (RT60 < 0.2s) provides maximum isolation for close-mic vocal recording and narration. Many studios use variable acoustics with hinged absorptive/reflective panels or heavy curtains to adjust between live and dead conditions for different recording scenarios.

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