help me with basement studio design please!

so i got sketchup (demo not full) and measured my basement TO THE TEE :mrgreen: and did this design. i was having a little trouble figuring out how to resize the framing so i just painted textures on the walls. the door are pretty obvious, the grey walls are concrete with 24" studs, window in the mix room, and the wooden texture on the opposite walls is 16" studs open to the otherside of the basement. this space is completely unfinished. i divided the rooms to where i thought would be good. not sure where the mix positoin should be ? i was thinking it would seem like i had more space if i FACED the window while mixing, and then have sliding glass doors into the tracking room. and to the right of my mix postionf i could have rackmount gear or build a computer box in that alcove. what do you guys think? is this a good plan? i seen Johns design of "Scotts Studio" and i have alot more space than he does! p.s. i imported some of johns components file just for design purposes and the program is running slower than grandma with a broken hip, im not even bothering with it.(2 gb ram and dual core 3ghz????) could one of you guys download it and gimmie a hand please. i just need the little mix room components rotated so he faces the window. thanks a million shaun mclellan

crap, to big to download! okay heres just my basement. i dont know if its because im using the demo but sketchup is running so f*****g slow. i cant even put up a couple frame walls without it grinding to a halt! some help would be appreciated thanks

nevermind. i uploaded it to mediafire! DUHH! heres the link, components and all http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=245e ... f6e8ebb871

I'd swap where you have each room. It's easier to start with a rectangle for the control room.

i see. i was also thinking about that. the natural light being in the tracking room opposed to the mix room might be more pleasing. i guess the odd angles would be better for drums, and the symmetry would help for the mix room too. but i was hoping to take more advantage of the extra space. perhaps i will swap rooms and make (the now control room) smaller and the track room bigger (push the wall) im tired, ill redo the sketch tomorow and post it thanks lilith!

I agree - definitely use the symmetrical rectangular area as the 'control room' and the quirky-shaped area as the 'tracking room'. The odd-shaped walls can be advantageous for a tracking room (asymmetrical walls are good, plus you would have different shaped 'zones' to experiment with placing instruments and mics to get a variety of sounds) and you want the 'control room' 100% symmetrical. What are the actual dimensions of the space (including elevations)? I'd decide where to add the 'fourth wall' of your control room based on possible room ratios dictated by the existing walls and ceiling height, then creatively make some surfaces in the tracking room side even less symmetrical than they are now, with things like angled slat-resonator panels, or making one or more of the longer walls at an angle (as it's still a complex 'rectilinear polygon' aside from the small 45-degree angle wall section as-is) if you're adding another leaf.

right. i was trying to figure out how to display all the measurements in sketch up. here ill repost it and just write them in with paint. thanks for all the help so far guys

You can do text measurments in Sketch-up :D

ya i couldnt figure it out im reading through the help index right now

heres a 3D model i just did with angled walls. the mix room is "coffin" shaped, i put my seating position 38% back from the entrance to the tracking room. i kind of eyeballed the wall angles. do the angles have to be 100% precise? (angles calculated based on reverb time and room size etc.) also (hopefully john will chime in on this) in your designs some walls or sections of wall are covered in black cloth and then spaced wood slats, im assuming they are acting as absorption/diffusion areas. which wall would i treat as such. or would i be better off hanging broadband traps? my budget for the construction is MAX $2000 Canadian thanks

heres an alternate angle

theshizon wrote:

heres an alternate angle

what you can do is extend the window between the control room and the studio over the full width... if you use a glass sliding door, just add a little window on the right.. then I would make a wall between the main studio and the little corner (as seen above on the right) to create a small iso booth... you have then from the control room visual contact with the iso booth and the studio...

Is there a reason why you decided to angle the control room walls that way? How are you going to get into and out of the room? I don't see any doors - where they're located will be important in planning acoustic treatment.

the doors are in the square alcove off to the side of the tracking room. its the "yellow" area on the wall shaped like a door leading upstairs, which i am not worried about isolating (sound coming from the basement to upstairs is not an issue) like i said above, i just eyeballed the wall angles, and guessed what would work based on some designs ive seen online everything ive been reading says to splay walls. also because no ones been giving me any advice yet, only asking questions and not replying to answers, no one with any knowledge has commented on the design thus far. i am now reading contradicting views in which the guys from RealTraps (ethan winer) are saying angling walls are pointless in small rooms unless you can angle them 35 degrees, which in turn will eat up too much space. its better to save space by not angling walls and treat all early reflection pointsreflection points yet many of johns designs use angled walls in small spaces ("Scotts studio" comes to mind) still waiting for a pro to chime in here :poke: http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5457

Your side walls are angled the wrong way. What your trying to do is force the sound waves to the back of your control room, where they will be absorbed

If space is an issue than build inside out, like John's designs. That way your creating a full room of RFZ (reflexion free) If, once your finished, the room is to "dead" Add slats....if then your start getting standing waves you will need to angle the slats. 12 degree's is all you need not 35. [edit-bad english]

Can you post your SKP file. Or show me where it is posted