New Studio, big budget, need plans

Well, I've been working out of my garage studio for about 2 years now. check me out at http://www.jdkaudio.com/ftf_120.html it's been fun but I think i've hit the jackpot....... One of my clients is very wealthy and he owns a fancy custom home building company. I pitched my new idea for a recording studio/publishing house/record label to him and he wants to invest / partner with me. I'm very excited. He said that his company will build the studio and that he just needs the plans. We're looking to rent a 2000+ sqft open floor plan warehouse in (Los Angeles) Culver City, CA, USA. At this point, I don't know the dimensions of the building because we haven't found it yet. I know that I want to build a 600+/- sqft live room, a 350-400+/- sqft control room, and an 50+/- sqft iso booth. I'm also considering building 1 or 2 separate control rooms to rent out to other composer/engineers. I think that I would like to use adobe brick in most of the live room. I really wanna create a room with a great vibe to record bands/groups mostly live. Our budget is open as of now. I'm thinking that we have roughly $15,000 - $30,000 USD to construct the studio. Are there prefabricated plans that anyone has access to? Any suggestions as i get this process started? Thanks so much, Drew I did read all of the guidelines for posting, i hope i did alright

Drew, That sounds exciting. Are you going to do all the building yourself? The budget is pretty low for what I understand that you are wanting. John Sayers has some good plans here.. do a search for em. - or hopefully he will see your post and comment. You'll probably need to check with codes as to what will be required as well. ;) Cheers, John

if the $30K is the designer fees then you're probably in the ballpark. if that is the expected total construction cost (not including equipment), you're probably off by a factor of 10...

+1 to what Glenn and John wrote.

drewallsbrook wrote:

I know that I want to build a 600+/- sqft live room, a 350-400+/- sqft control room, and an 50+/- sqft iso booth.

That size iso booth may have enough physical space for your talent, but with the significant amount of acoustic treatment required for such a small space, I recommend at least 100 ft², with 150 ft², assuming a 10 ft ceiling, a comfortable minimum. You have the space to do it right, which you are already with the other rooms' sizes. Good luck!

My investor builds custom homes and offered to absorb the construction costs. So i was thinking about $30k in materials. Please, give me the realistic numbers then. I don't think that it will cost $300k to build the studio that I'm looking for. I'm sure people build studios for that much, but that seems a bit steep. so you guys recommend at least a 100 sqft iso booth? i tried doing some searching but i didn't find any designs. any other thoughts? thanks, Drew

the 10x estimate is based on $250/ft2 cost to construct. if it's materials only, then it may be quarter or fifth of that. still, an 1100ft2 facility with HVAC etc etc even if the materials only are $50/ft2 is $50-60K. i agree with Andre, if you're building a good sized studio, do not short change yourself with a small isolation booth. depending on if the booth is part of an overall integrated studio plan or a separate unit, will determine the design. i'd recommend you have your designer work it into your plan.

Please, give me the realistic numbers then.

Good rule of thumb: What does it cost per square foot, in your area, to build a normal up-scale home? That's roughly what you'll be paying per square foot for your studio, as the absolute minimum, and probably quite a bit more. The construction methods for a studio are a bit more complex, and the finishing is very different: acoustic treatment is nothing at all like the normal finishing you'd use in an average home. Isolation is different. HVAC is different. Etc. It all adds up. Your wealthy constructor customer doubtless already knows what those figures are for your area. Since he is footing the bill, you can subtract his profit margin and figure in his discounts for materials in arriving at your "dollars per square foot" figure, so that should make it a bit cheaper per square foot. You say you want a studio of around 2000 sq.ft., so with a budget of 30k that means you are planning to spend just US$ 15 per square foot. That doesn't sound realistic to me. Can you really build a house for US$ 15 per square foot in your area? - Stuart -