Studio Re-design (+ Office?)

Started by destinybrandon on 7 August 2009. 1 reply, 2009–2010.

Originally posted at johnlsayers.com, topic 13462.

Hello All! I am located in seattle, wa. I run a small studio/production/merchandising company and we are in the initial planning stages of upgrading our current space. We currently have a warehouse that houses our merch/screen printing company, a recording studio, and offices for our staff - all in different locations. My goal is to streamline and come up with a design to incorporate all spaces into one centralized location. If we end up NOT moving everything in to one central location, we would still love to explore the option of re-designing and re-modeling our current studio space, due to several problem areas we are running in to. Here is a little background on our current facility, and our plans for growth. Currently, there is a standard sized 2 car garage on the property with a bonus room above it. The bonus room is about 250 sq ft and is currently used as the control room. This is upstairs. We built a room in to half of the garage that's about 200 sq ft and houses the live room. The other half of the garage is open and is just used for storage. The current space has the approximate following dimensions (see pics for more detail): garage (downstairs), total = approx 22x19x9 (room=19x11); upstairs total = approx 19x12x8 with a weird jog out on one side just large enough to fit a couch in it (approx 7x3). The ceiling in the control room is only 8 feet high, however, since it's upstairs there is an attic that could potentially be removed and turned in to a slanted ceiling for additional height. heck, that might even be kinda cool looking. Don't know if it's better for acoustics or not, but I would assume so. (*see attached file for a mock up of the layout of the control room. it's something i drew up to send in to auralex back in the day for their acoustic analysis - they sent it back, disregard the auralex treatment suggestions and just use it for the layout and measurements) Our current problem areas: first and foremost, there is too much bleed to the outside world. We need some more isoloation. The rooms were not built to sound proofing spec and the neighbors have begun to complain. The studio facility is set back on the property a little ways, and there is probably a 50-75 ft buffer to the neighbor. Second, the rooms are not acoustically accurate, at all. I have developed my tricks to get good sounds out of the live room, but would really love more accurate rooms. Third, we'd like an additional room(s)/booth(s) for different sounds, guitar amps, vocal isolation, etc. And fourth, since the control room is upstairs, when we track loud guitars or drums, there is a lot of bleed through the floor. We would like to eliminate or minimize this. Whether that means we re-position the control room to downstairs, or figure out how to isolate it from the floor below - I'd be fine with either. If we end up getting permits for an addition to the current facility, our other goals for this project would be to add a section for office space, and an open/unfinished area to use for our merchandising division which houses screen printing equipment and storage. I'd also like to add a lounge/bunk area for bands to stay, and bathroom(s). As for budget - I've been doing only initial research on cost of materials and construction, so I'm a little unfamiliar with what is possible. I've also been in contact with a few designers to get quotes on full designs from some design firms. I'd love to see if we can come up with a great design on here and get all the info I'd need to do it without the help of a design firm.. they're quite expensive! What I do know is that I am tired of having rooms that aren't accurate. And the isolation from the neighbors is a must. Whatever it takes to do those two things and do them right, I can make happen. If we keep the studio in the current space (and don't add-on), I would love to keep the budget at $5-10,000 if possible to do it right (and have it look GREAT). If we add-on, I'd like the constuction budget to be around $50k. I'm a newbie, and would love to get some dialogue going about this project from all of you brilliant people! Thank you in advance to everyone who will contribute. Control Room Mock:
Image not preserved: Brandon Metcalf Control Room Layout1 (1).jpg
Garage Mock:
Image not preserved: garage 700px.jpg
It is really nice to have such a design that perfectly suits the requirements and looks sophisticated and attractive. It would make completely perfect.