suggestions for an odd shaped studio space?

Hello! My wife and I are currently building a new home. I have a very odd shaped space in the basement designated as the location for my future home recording studio. The problem is, I am not sure how to layout the studio design in space for both a control/mixing room and a live room. The attached pdf shows the odd design and dimensions. It does not indicate that the door into the studio will be on the 10'11" wall near the junction with the 18'8" wall. Nor does it indicate that all the wall are exterior concrete wall except the 10'11" and 18'8" wall. Any suggestions, ideas, help would be greatly appreciated! Kevin

Kevin - where are you? you could be in Russia, China or the US - we need to know. Please fill in your location. viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7572 Are there any doors into the space? are there any windows? are there any poles? etc.

Sorry, did not see the profile section before I had to rush into work! I updated it, but I am located in Indianapolis, IN. The space has NOTHING right now. No windows. No polls. No doors (at this point) ... there are two non-exterior concrete walls that I can place the door into the studio on. Kevin

Hi Kevin. Welcome!

I have a very odd shaped space in the basement designated as the location for my future home recording studio.

I reckon the logical layout would be to put the CR facing the " 7' 1 3/4" "wall, then use the rest for the live room. That does mean that you'd probably want to use CCTV instead of glass between the rooms, since you'd be facing the wrong way, nut apart from that the shape is ideal! You already have your splaying done for you. You'd only need to figure out where to build the wall dividing the two rooms. You didn't mention if you need any isolation or not, but assuming that you do then you'd just build your entire inner leaf pretty much following the same lines as the outer leaf, for both rooms. The angles look pretty good already. You'd only need to angle your front CR wall a bit different, by the looks of it, but everything else seems fine. - Stuart -

Stuart, Thanks! Luckily, the home construction is only about a month old at this point, so I have great flexibility in wall placement and can build the two walls that connect to the house (not the exterior concrete wall) in a manner to get the best sound isolation possible. I do like the odd angles and room shape for the studio. The most common things that I will use the 'live room' to record will be vocals and drums (although, I would love to have live room big enough for drums and 3 other people). I will likely record most guitars, bass and keyboards in the 'control room' since I play them more than 90% of the time on the recording projects. I thought about having the CR facing the 7'1.75" wall ... I just was having troubles visualizing how to layout the room so the speakers do not focus the sound too close to the 7' wall or force the CR to become a narrow 7' wide room. I guess I just am having troubles with the speaker angles. As far as CCTV, that is not as issue as I currently record in 2 separate bedrooms and cannot see the other players (we use a talkback mic system). Thanks any for your help and suggestions .... since the contruction is just underway, I want to do this the right way, the first time!

I thought about having the CR facing the 7'1.75" wall ... I just was having troubles visualizing how to layout the room so the speakers do not focus the sound too close to the 7' wall

I'm not sure I understand: If that wall is the front of your room, the speakers will be pointing the OTHER way, AWAY from that wall, towards the left of your drawing (the wall labeled "10'11 1/16"). So there's no reason why the speakers would be "focusing sound" on the front wall.

I guess I just am having troubles with the speaker angles.

If you set them up correctly, they'll be angled as normal, with the acoustic axes intersecting at an angle of 60° a few inches behind your mix position (the place where your head will be), and your mix position will be set up so that your ears are roughly 38% of the room depth (front to back). Looking at your rough sketch, I don't see that there will be a problem with doing that.

or force the CR to become a narrow 7' wide room

Well, it will have to start that narrow at the front (a lot narrower, actually, to allow for the isolation), but it will widen out the further back you go, getting to maybe 10 feet or so (depending on how long you want the room to be, what ratio you choose, how high the ceiling is, etc.) You didn't mark the angle of that front wall, but assuming it is the same as the other tiny wall, at 105°, that's fine. That gives you 7.5° splay on each side wall, which is fine for a normal control room. Probably not enough to get a really good RFZ, but a good start! I'd suggest that your next step should be to put some numbers on The Big Question: how loud you are, and how quite you need to be. Measure those levels with a sound level meter, and check your local noise ordinance with your municipality, then based on those figure out the amount of isolation that you need, in terms of decibels of transmission loss. Based on that number, you can then choose a construction method that will give you that number while also matching your budget and construction skills. That brings up another question: Your budget. What do you have in mind for this? It would help us if we had a number, since different isolation methods come in at different price points. It's no use us suggesting exotic materials if you are on a show-string budget, and equally pointless suggesting cheap but bulky materials if you have the money to save space by using thinner, more dense but more expensive materials. So a real-world dollar estimate would be useful. (If you have no idea and need a ball-park figure, call a couple of local contractors and ask them for their flat rate per square foot to convert an unfinished basement into a luxury guest bedroom with on-suite bathroom. (You won't have a bathroom in your studio, of course, but add that in to get a more realistic quote).

since the contruction is just underway,

:shock: How much of that area is built already? Hopefully, none of it! ?!?! You can save a lot, and end up with a much better studio, if you start our right with the outer leaf, instead of having to adapt to a bad situation later! - Stuart -

Stuart, Thank for the input. The only thing built at this point is the concrete wall are poured and the 18' wall section is framed. Nothing else has been constructed ... nor will it be for a while. I think I am getting a vision now. The 60 degree acoustic axis is most important. But that does not mean both of the front speakers have to be on the 7' wall! Got it! I'll have to see if I can find a sound meter, but, in general the loudest we get is the drum kit. Budget is still up in the air a bit, I am willing to spend several thousand on the design and sound proofing. Part of the cost (ie, framing, electrical) is already built into the cost of building the home. I have most of the recording equipment in my current studio. Kevin

Stuart, As I am sketching things out with the CR facing the 7'1" wall, would it be better to have the back wall of the CR parallel to the front wall -or- what would end up being a 15 degree offset -or- does that not make a difference? Thanks again for all of your advice! Kevin

Question for CR design. If I have the CR facing the 7'1" wall ... what effect on the sound in the CR would placing a window on the back wall of the CR, so I could look into the live room? Kevin

Not a good idea! Your rear wall should be highly absorptive, to keep the reflections down to the level where they get back to your head later than 15ms and at least 15dB down. That's why I said your only choice will be CCTV. Some top studios have several feet of absorption in the rear wall... Have you ever seen a top studio with glass in the rear wall? There's a reason for that.... :) - Stuart -

That is what I assumed, but, wanted to confirm! Thanks Stuart. I'm going to see if I can figure out SketchUp to work on a mock-up of the space. Kevin

Stuart, I did a quick sketch based on your suggestions. Thoughts? I truly appreciate your help and input! Kevin P.S. Sorry it is just a jpg, I did this at work and had to take a picture of the sketch with my phone

That's the basic idea, yes, but you need to move the speakers much closer to the front wall: the soffits should be as close as you can get them (allowing reasonable space for the speakers, ventilation, etc.) to maximize room volume. You can adjust the speaker spacing and angle as necessary to accommodate. That will also help to get your mix position where it should be: roughly 38% of room length (front wall to back wall). Right now, it appears to be in the exact center of the room: not good! You also need to turn that entire setup slightly, to get symmetry. Right now it is parallel to the left wall, and it should not be: draw an axis centered between the two side walls, and use that to align your room. Symmetry is critical! I would also put the door in the center of the rear wall, not over to one side: the corners are good for bass trapping, so you don't want to lose that by putting the door where a bass trap could be. - Stuart -

Stuart, So, is this layout closer? Just having troubles trying to get the front wall of the CR to be balanced with speaker placement. Would this sort of layout work -or- does the front wall layout need to be more symmetrical? Kevin

Looking better! You could bring your speakers a bit closer together, and you can change the angle a bit if you have to. 60° intercept is ideal, but you can go as high as 90° if there is no other choice. Try to make your soffits as wide as possible for maximum effect: The purpose of soffits is to act as an infinite baffle, which improves bass response, and eliminates all of the nasty stuff associated with the front wall (reflections, phasing, comb filtering, etc.). To accomplish that, it needs to be as close to "infinite" in size as you can make it ("infinite" is obviously a very relative term here!!!) You also need to angle your rear wall, so it is parallel to the plane between the speakers (perpendicular to the center line of the room). - Stuart -

Stuart, After getting caught up with work for the 'day job,' I was able to get back to work on the studio design. I attached a drawing of just the control room (since that is the most challenging area!). I think I have incorporated your previous suggestions. Thoughts on this layout? Other suggestions? Thank you again so much for your help, input and suggestions! Kevin