Exposed Ceiling: Soffit or Drop Ceiling?

I run a small music school and we just leased a new space. We'd like to build out the back area into a recording studio for our students. We have a very modest budget, but we have lots of time to do things ourselves, so we want to get it right the first time out, even if it takes 8 months to a year. We have been reading rod gervais' book and studying the forums for insight. Our goal is to get a solid plan before beginning construction. The studio space is completely demolished office space. It used to have 10 cubicles, but now it's exposed brick walls and exposed ceilings. All the duct work, electrical, and cat5 is hanging down. One nice thing is that the HVAC is separate from the rest of the school, so that is already taken care of. With the exposed ceiling, our ceiling height is about 12'. We could build soffits around all of the duct work and then do a double layer of drywall as a new ceiling, but then our ceiling wouldn't be symmetrical in the control room. We could also do a drop ceiling, it would reduce our ceiling height to about 8.5' which starts to feel kind of tight, but would cover up all the hvac. Is it better to keep it open but lose out on symmetry in the control room, or have a lower ceiling but get it symmetrical? I can post a floor plan if that would help. I really appreciate some guidance from those in the know!

Please post your location in your profile, as per the forum rules. Also, post what you are tryimg to accomplish: sound isolation for loud instruments, including acoustic drums??? how close are your neighbors? will you make loud noises? will you record acousic instruments? Do you have pictures of the existing room? what does the existing construction consist of? does someone live above you? I don't think in Rod's book or this forum you will find anyone using acoustic ceiling tiles to isolate sound. If you want to do that, you'll probably need a sealed drywall ceiling... Preferrably with more than one layer, and maybe even green glue in between the layers. You can even build the structure that holds the drywall so it won't pass sound vibrations to the room above. Most folks work hard for symmetry in their control rooms, especially in the front of the room.

Photos and an accurate SketchUp model would help to understand what you have and what you plan to do, so folks here can offer you advice on "how to get there from here". - Stuart -