John Sayers’ Recording Studio Design ForumAn archive of johnlsayers.com, 2003–2022

Voiceover booth design requested to be crane lifted intact!

Started by soundgun on 10 November 2009. 3 replies.

Originally posted at johnlsayers.com, topic 13763.

soundgun
Recently a client asked me to design a voiceover booth to assemble and use in a garage. Sounds simple enough, right? Here's what he wants: George -- I'm 1 mile away from a small prop plane airport in Agua Dulce (Southern California)-- no jets and it seems like take off and landings are less than 20 a day, max. Dogs barking, the occasional horse whinny -- coyotes howling in the distance late at night -- pretty dang rural and very quiet. Also -- before you start on the plans -- here's my diabolical long term goal... I'd like this studio, other than HVAC and electrical connections, to be totally movable at a later date. Because someday I would like to build a 'granny unit' next door (but on my property) with a step down that will double as a living area for infrequent guests, and a 'soundproof' rehearsal space. I'm thinking it will have a bed, a sofa , a few chairs and also a bunch of guitar amps, a piano, maybe a B-3, etc...Kind of a 'man cave'.... This will be a major addition and will probably have at least a 12' ceiling and be 25' foot wide by 40' long. A big expensive deal done with building permits, etc.... Thinking ahead, I would then move the studio you are designing into that space, and it will become a control room, or a drum room, or just a vocal booth. So -- when designing this think about this self contained unit having the structural strength so it could be moved a few dozen feel at some later time, without falling apart. I'm thinking it could be moved out of the garage on rollers or casters -- then I could hire a crane to drop it into the prepared foundation for my future addition -- before the roof goes up. He'd like it to be as large as we can fit into the space he has available now, which would be about 10x17 feet. I could see this happening if it were small, but this seems incredibly unrealistic. What do you guys feel about how to best approach this design? Should I tell him to forget about moving it? He wants me to generate designs that he could give his contractor and build off my plans. Keep in mind I am NOT an architect, so is this a recipe for disaster? Thanks, gentlemen! PS: He bought 4 books on studio design, including Mr Gervais'. I told him to read that one FIRST.
soundgun
Oh yea, I remember this one! I showed it to him but it's not what he would want. I will work on a design that has the structural integrity to move.