SRS Labs Studio

Hello again everyone. It has been a little over 4 years since I have posted about my previous studio build. I had some tough times and had to sell that house and get through the past 3 years but now I am in the process of getting a new house with a 1510 sq foot walk out basement. During those 3 years I've on and off read Rod's book (and still reading) as I want to plan, design and lay this out correctly from day one. I have about 42x42x9 to work with. There is a water heater and furnace on the sliding glass door side of the stairs (in the stairway picture). The flooring is 8x8ft concrete sections that are rated at 4500psi which is a 5x5 slab layout for reference. The two box looking items in the sketch on the side of the stairs is where the rough in bathroom hookups are. These pictures are not exact as this is a very rough layout at this time. The window positions are far from being exact as I have not have not measured the exact positions. The 4 metal structure support poles are there for reference as they exist but not in those "exact" positions. Rather than post a layout with where I want to put each room I am posting empty layout pictures for input as to what would work for what I want. I am looking to have a control room, large live room for a 4-5 people, vocal isolation and maybe a drum isolation or other use isolation room. Depending on the design I may or may not use windows as I was thinking of using web video cameras to see people in each room as the stairway tends to make this more difficult. I will also need to properly plan for an AC unit dedicated for the basement and heat as the Colorado winters can get a bit cold. From previous experience...air flow is "required" in the plan. I plan on recording a full band live so I will plan on getting outside measurements for sound levels once I move in. One thing I have learned from this site is to plan plan plan. ;-) and I really prefer not to need to tear something apart and redo it. All comments will be well appreciated. Thanks James SRS Labs Soon to be Aurora, Colorado

Hi, I was looking at your space and my wife (looking over my shoulder) said `` If this was our space we`d rip that staircase right out`` Now this might seem radical, but it would open up your studio options. I`ve got a good wife. Regards, Steve

Honestly I thought the same of completely removing them or moving the stairs off to the one side so that I could have a bigger area where I'm thinking the live room should go on that wall as there are no windows. The stairs would have been great on that far wall and would open up the whole basement. Maybe I should just put in a firepole from the upstairs? I will need to do that "after" the inspections ;-) I will work on the layout more this weekend. -= James =-

The closing is scheduled for next week. Then I will have the dimensions updated. For a live room what would make for the best flooring for a live room on the concrete slabs? James

For a live room what would make for the best flooring for a live room on the concrete slabs?

How about .... :shot: .... concrete slabs! Seriously, concrete is pretty good flooring, acoustically. Hard, reflective, takes a beating, no big deal if your band spills beer and ketchup all over it... several other advantages, too. Take a look around the forum to see some of the great things people here have done by creatively staining their concrete floors. Concrete also gives you the flexibility of being able to spread around some throw rugs if needed, or set up a drum riser, or whatever. Or if you don't like concrete, then simple laminate flooring is a good alternative. So is proper wood flooring, provided that it is laid well in contact with the concrete (no air gaps underneath). As long as you don't carpet it, wall to wall, .... :) - Stuart -

Thanks Stuart. I was thinking about that exactly as it would also save a lot of $$$ and time. I need to do some comparisons of a wood floor vs concrete for advantages/disadvantages. Would using a sealer on the concrete be a good or bad idea? James