Trouble getting started and understanding...new construction

stuntbutt wrote:

I think you have way too much area as hallways. I don't have any suggestions on how to arrange your rooms more efficiently, just an observation. Now is the time to play with all the possibilities!

It's hard, it really is. I want to keep the control room in the center so I can see into the live room. The hallways are only about 5 1/2' wide. And that's not considering the space between the double walls. So it's actually less.

Myriad_Rocker wrote:

It's hard, it really is.

I hear ya. I played with the layout of my second story addition for months before committing.

Have you looked at any of johns's designs? with no windows but glass doors to the left and right of the control.

lilith_envy wrote:

Have you looked at any of johns's designs? with no windows but glass doors to the left and right of the control.

That would probably require that I splay the walls, which means more cost. Something that I found out recently (got the estimate back) is not a luxury I have at all.

If i were you I would eliminate the hallways and just have one set of doors from the control room to the live room, the rooms would gain considerable volume and I'm sure you could find a ratio that would work. heres a post i have in my fav. folder about ratios. http://forum.studiotips.com/viewtopic.php?p=5570 also even if you couldnt follow a perfect ratio, without the hallways the added volume of the room will make up the difference sonically (plus some probably). as for splayed walls, they aren't that much harder to install especially for a skilled contractor they also dont take significantly more materials. so i suggest: - no hallways - bigger rooms - less sets of doors - non parallel walls

petrovinksy wrote:

If i were you I would eliminate the hallways and just have one set of doors from the control room to the live room, the rooms would gain considerable volume and I'm sure you could find a ratio that would work. heres a post i have in my fav. folder about ratios. http://forum.studiotips.com/viewtopic.php?p=5570 also even if you couldnt follow a perfect ratio, without the hallways the added volume of the room will make up the difference sonically (plus some probably). as for splayed walls, they aren't that much harder to install especially for a skilled contractor they also dont take significantly more materials. so i suggest: - no hallways - bigger rooms - less sets of doors - non parallel walls

Thanks for the suggestions, but I have to have a restroom in the building, a refrigerator and a microwave. Wife's orders. The place I want to put those things is in the hallway. And I tried taking out the hallway at the top of the picture but someone told me my live room ratio was wrong because it made it nearly square without that wall. As for splaying walls, you'd be surprised how much in labor that adds.

After some work in SketchUp, I came up with this. HOWEVER, it's nearly 1300 sq ft. I HIGHLY doubt I can afford this...is there anything I could do and still keep what I have? Mainly the office area with the bump out, restroom, control room, live room, and iso booth. Here's the JPG and my SketchUp file...

Since you have the advantage of building rooms from stratch, check out some john's designed studios and re-design those room with splayed walls. So far, they all have parallel walls. To give you an starting point, start rotating walls 6 or 12 degrees, and come up with new shapes

The idea is not to completely fill a cavity between panels. Never is and never was.

That's wrong: You seem to be confused. It is always desirable to completely fill the cavity between panels. Always has been, always will be. It is the best way to improve isolation.

I got the room down to about 1100 sq ft. But I have a question on the exterior. Brick work is going to be pretty expensive. So what about cement board siding instead of brick? 5/8" OSB (I think that's what goes between the cement boad and the stud wall) between the cement board and the stud wall. Then do a 2x6 plate with staggered studs for the interior wall with two layers of 5/8" drywall.

Thoughts on that?