Basement design.

Hi All: I am new to studio design and to this forum. Reading through the forums has been an eye opening experience. I never realized the knowledge needed to build a proper studio. My friend and I are planning a studio in his basement. This is a new experience for both of us and we would like some advice on the design. Any help is appreciated. The floor isn't perfectly flat; it slopes down to a drain which would be inside the control room. I'll be building over the windows in the live room (they are not represented in the picture), if that presents any issues. Then there's the dampness issue; it's worst near the circuit breaker, but all the walls are affected somewhat. I'm not thrilled with the placement of the poles, but without drawing up design plan #2 with them situated inside a wall, I guess I'll live with it as long as it's an aesthetic problem and not an acoustic one. I've attached a picture with dimensions. Please let me know what you think and if you have any questions. I appreciate the help.

Hi "jheicklen". welcome Please check the forum rules for posting. You seem to be missing something!

Then there's the dampness issue; it's worst near the circuit breaker, but all the walls are affected somewhat.

Before you even think about building a studio in there, you MUST get that problem identified and fixed.

... the placement of the poles, but without drawing up design plan #2 with them situated inside a wall, I guess I'll live with it as long as it's an aesthetic problem and not an acoustic one.

If you want good isolation (you didn't say how much) then it is an acoustic problem. - Stuart -

My apologies and thanks for your reply. I will get the dampness issue figured out and get back to you with desired isolation figures. Thanks again!

Try searching the forum for terms related to moisture, dampness, and things like that, and you might find some ideas on how to deal with that. Brine is probably the best guy here to help you figure that out, but if you have moisture in your walls or floor, that that must be resolved first: A studio is a double-sealed, double-airtight box,so if you have dampness in the walls/floor before you start, it will have nowhere to go once the studio is in place, and you won't even realize that it is accumulating, until one day.... :shock: :cen: The reason your floor slopes is probably related to this, so you might want to consider that angle too: you most likely don't want water running under your studio! Regarding your layout: It's best to have the control room laid out symmetrically, with the speakers firing down the long axis of the room, not across it, and if the ceiling is going to be angled (tilted) then it needs to be lowest at the front, where the speakers are, and higher at the back. But with those HVAC ducts running down the middle, that will be hard to do. Also, those pillars will be an issue if you need good isolation, as you cannot have any penetrations through your isolation shell. Your idea of building them into the walls (between the two leaves) is a good one, and is the best way to go. So, considering all of the above, you might want to play around and try out a few other layouts, to see if there's one where the control room is better sized and oriented, and the pillars can go inside the walls. With a room that size, there should be several other ways of arranging it, I reckon. - Stuart -