Wood cabin studio, inside-out build, inital design phase

Hi everyone, I have been reading these forums for a few weeks now and I am very encouraged by the quality of the projects here. John is obviously an exceptional gent, both in terms of his acoustic abilities, and more importantly his drive to offer ideas and support to people around the world. As this is my first post I hope that I have read the FAQs correctly and that I am providing all the relevant information. What I am hoping for is some assistance in developing the plans as this is a once in a lifetime chance for me to get it right. In September 2010 I plan to start construction of my own production suite. I am in a very lucky position; the build is from the ground up on private rural land with a total budget of £35,000 for everything (£15k on gear, £10k to build the shell leaving a further £10k to fill the space). There is no physical limitation on the size of the site, and no significant external noise or people to bother with my noise. I have spent the last few years training & working in the audio industry, and also have had some success around the world producing and performing my own electronic works, in addition to credits on independent feature films, tv & advertising and some installations. I have recently taken a strong interest in mastering, and have already had some success with a few clients and would like to focus on mastering as a career in the future. I wish to build somewhere for me to work & be creative from, and also to offer at reasonable rates to others working on independent and community media projects. My basic idea is for an alpine style wooden building with a floor space of approx. 70m2 and a mezzanine/loft level. Its not going to be a main residence but it's likely that clients and myself will want to stay there on extended projects from time to time. Inside this I need the following things: Mix room: surround monitoring & central projector widescreen for film work soffit mounted stereo monitors & nearfields for music racks for my analog outboard instruments no large format console, instead opting for ProTools, apogee rosetta & euphonix control surface or similar (a typical control room basically but dual purpose with monitoring for both music & post) Master/live room: For recording baby grand piano & occassionaly drums so needs to be reasonably lively. Also for my mastering suite which at the moment consists of nothing more than 6u of hardware, a laptop with rme interface and some high end hifi speakers. i have found that mastering in heavily damped rooms is a little fatiguing and think that some adjustable acoustic treatment here could make for a nice dual-purpose room. It will have a double height ceiling and staircase up to the loft. If you think that this is a bad idea acoustically, speak now as it's the centrepiece of my design!! Office/crash pad: In the loft, above the mix room with space for a double bed, 2 desks and a sofa WC/Shower & a small kitchen/cloakroom: Shower to be tiled completely, creating a natural reverb room :) I also require somewhere quite heavily damped to record vocals and particularly ADR for film, ideally with a window through to the mix room & projector screen. I thought that a corridor along the mix room would be perfect for this. My main premise for this build is that it is sympathetic to it's environment (an orchard) and that it is as energy efficient as possible, almost to the point of self-sustainability - hence the wooden cabin idea - so there are additional technical challenges for me in terms of the power infrastructure and water/drainage etc. Luckily i have friends that can help with everything bar the pro-audio aspects. I have attached a basic sketch-up floor plan which illustrates my layout concept but i am hoping to gain some insight from the users of this forum so consider this a starting point. My questions: 1. Has anyone in the UK had experience of buying a flatpack alpine style cabin and installing a studio? 2. Is anyone out there willing to help me with acoustic specifications for these spaces? 3. Does anyone have anything to add :) Once I have a design that I think will work for me, I will lay a rectangular concrete base and begin the construction process!! best regards, Thom Powell (studio-owner wannabe)

I hope that I have read the FAQs correctly and that I am providing all the relevant information.

All except one item, it would seem. THE item...! viewtopic.php?t=3231 Paragraph 10 (or maybe 9, or 11, depending on how you count paragraphs.... :) )

apologies if I have misunderstood, but entering my location into my profile was the first thing i did after joining the forum. cheers, thom

For some reason, it wasn't showing up when I posted that yesterday! But it is now, which is good! :)