Approaching my own home studio (Italy) - need your help!

Hey all! I haven't been a registered user here, but always lurk and find plenty of helpful and informative posts. Hope to be more present in the future though :) Anyway, I'm going to relocate soon, and planning on build my small home recording studio in the soon-to-be basement. This is how it will be (in metres): I know it's just a room, but will serve my purpose. I obviously need a desk with monitors, racks etc, my guitars, but also a Roland TD-20 kit, and maybe build a small vocal booth. I will not track acoustic drums in it, but I could use the vocal booth to record guitar cabs too. How would you place all that stuff, based on window and door position? I was thinking upper left corner for the booth, lower side for desk and guitars, and upper side for Roland drums. But even more important that that is, I need the room to be acoustically treated and soundproofed. I have close neighbours and my parents will have their room right above the basement studio! The room is already distanced 8-10cm from other rooms in the basement, plus the wall you see on the right is reinforced. I'm planning to put two layers of rockwool and then some drywall to cover it around the walls, do I need it on the ceiling too? This is what I'm talking about, as most of you already know: The floor will most probably be concrete, do I have to cover it with wood or anything else to make the room resonate better? Soundproofing: I guess I must build a door with no air or gaps underneath, correct? What about the window, does anyone of you have any experience about special glasses or something that can contain as much SPL as possible? Acoustic treatment: I've read lots of articles about traps and absorbers and planning on purchasing some stuff (from GIK Acoustics most probably), but in your opinion would I need diffusers? If yes, where would you place them? What to put on the ceiling, too? Vocal booth: given that it's a relatively small room and it will be decently treated, would it be THAT better to build a vocal booth? One option would be building a small one and isolate it from the rest like a "room in the room", the other option would be just using some stuff like RealTraps vocal booth or SE Reflexion Filter. Although in the last case bleed from my monitors would most probably be captured by the mic and I'd have to put headphones during tracking sessions...is there an alternative? If it can help, I will use this studio mainly for recording my project and band, but also for others. I'm currently using an iMac 27", KRK VXT6 monitors and Axe Fx II to track guitars and bass. Other stuff I'm willing to buy to help me "reach the next step" would be SM7B (plus maybe one other mic), API A2D, Event Opals, RME Fireface UFX, and of course a nice desk and chair :) Am I missing something else, something really important? Too much to think about, there must be something missing... Anyway, I think that's all, sorry for the long post and hope to receive some helpful answers, thanks in advance! Francesco

nobody? :(

did you mention the current ceiling height that is available to work with ?

As I mentioned to you on GS, your current plan will create a 3 leaf wall system together with the existing concrete walls. Check out http://johnlsayers.com/Recmanual/Titles/Acoustics3.htm

Soundproofing: I guess I must build a door with no air or gaps underneath, correct?

Not really: You need to build a door that has a gap underneath big enough to allow it to open easily, but you also need to add at least two sets of rubber seals around the entire door (not just hte bottom) so that it seals air-tight when closed. Also, use solid-core doors, not the common hollow-core or foam-core doors. And possibly add extra mass if you need high isolation. But you didn't say how much you need, to it's impossible to say what mass you need.

What about the window, does anyone of you have any experience about special glasses or something that can contain as much SPL as possible?

Yes. :) Use two panes of laminate glass, spaced as far apart as you need to get the level of isolation you need, and use glass that is the thickness you need to get the level of isolation you need. But since you didn't actually say how much isolation you need, we can't say how thick the glass needs to be, or what air gap you need between the two panes.

Acoustic treatment: I've read lots of articles about traps and absorbers and planning on purchasing some stuff (from GIK Acoustics most probably), but in your opinion would I need diffusers? If yes, where would you place them? What to put on the ceiling, too?

There are standard ways of treating rooms. Look around the forum and you'll find that explained, in may places. And you don't need to buy commercial treatment: save money, and make it yourself. On your vocal booth question: It's impossible to say, since you didn't give enough information on what you are trying to accomplish, how much isolation you need, or many other factors. Some people do record vocals in the control room, others need isolation booths. It depends...

Am I missing something else, something really important? Too much to think about, there must be something missing...

Planning! That's what you seem to be missing. Put together a detailed plan of your room, using SketchUp, showing all of the isolation, equipment, furniture and treatment. Only then is it possible to figure out if the solution will work or not. - Stuart -