building home sound and film studios - advise needed.

Started by ericmartinjarvies on 21 June 2004. 1 reply.

Originally posted at johnlsayers.com, topic 1832.

hello everyone! ok, this post is an edited post, after noticing the original one did not get much play .... ur, any play :0 i have a 4 meter x 15 meter area with 2.5 meter tall ceilings with which i need to create small recording studio for my indie filmmaking. i would like to pay someone who can take this area and turn it into correctly outlined plans so that i may be able to finish building it out. the walls are cenderblock with cement plaster, and the floor is solid cement as is the ceiling. naturally, i will want to build out the inner rooms(control room, vocal room, instrument room, etc.) using 2x4 construction(plywood, sheetrock, insulation, and whatever else is required). i have purhcased some pre-cut foam that is applied to the finished walls ... i purchased 4 each of the following foam kits: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 3732419853 so, i will need plans that allow each room to be built so the sound is CORRECT, and so each is literally sound proofed from the next. also, i will need visuals from each of the rooms to the others, or from each one to the control room. i have access to pane glass that is 15mm thick. the primary purpose of this particular recording studio will be to conduct voice overs for my films, as well as composing my own music and have musicians come in so that i may record each instrument and put togehter the mix. i do not need to have a room in this sound recording studio area(4x15 meters) where all the musicians need to be together playing at once ... they can do that upstairs in my filming studio when rehearsals are required with all of them together at one time. the computer i will be using is a apple G5 dual 2ghz with 8gb of ram and a delta 1010lt card, as well as a decklink hd sdi card. both have s/pdif, which will allow me to take my field recordings from my tascam da-p1 and copy them onto the computer. i have sennheiser shotgun mics as well as high quality cabling. what i do not have is a mixing board, speakers/monitors, and whatever else it is i will be needing. i currently have as much as $10k to spend on this equipment, and would like to get the best bang for the buck, and do not mind used equipment. later on as i learn how to record and use my equipment and software, i will then understand what additional items i should purhcase, and why. but for now, i need the basics, but basics that will not immediatly leave me longing for something better. i currently have final cut pro HD software with LOGIC 6 audio software and soundtrack and dvd studio pro and shake and a handful of other software applications for non linear editing. i also have all of the LOGIC plug-ins. i will want to be able to record and monitor 5.1 surround sound. i will want stereo pair mics for vocals, as wel las mics for all the main instruments(drums, horns, strings, etc.). i will be using local yokals here in cabo san lucas, mostly mexican mariachi mucisians and vocalists. regarding my own field recoridng, currently i do not have a portable mixer for my tascam da-p1 and senheisser shotgun mics ... but i would like ot get one as i will need ot do stereo recordings, as well as multi-directional recordings of action scenes so that the surround sound can be mixed correctly(sound coming from all directions). regarding my building/construction budget ... i have about $10k for materials and labor, and will be doing alot of the work myself. so, any suggestions, consultation, ??? would be apreciated. i would like to purchase my equipment within the next couple of weeks, and taking the equipment into account, create the floor plans for the studio build-out ... i want everything built-in, this includes my 23" hd monitors, etc. oh, one final thing ... i would like to project my HD projector as well as my 8mm, 16mm, and 35mm film projectors so that while in the control room, i cna view footage and mix sound ... this would be for footage i need to view large, instead of small images on tv monitors. thanks, eric eric
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edit: ron, thanks for your personal message / reply and suggestion to shorten my post and get more specific and to the point :) i know that my budget is small compared to many/most, but it is all i can swing right now. but i beleive and have confidence that i will be able to get the right equipment to get me going for $10k or less, and that is really the objective at this point. remember, i cna grow with time and experience ... and offset the investments over time so that my finances are not so tight all the time. i forgot to mention some important facts regarding the space. the underground area, as you can see, is really 1/2 way underground on the front side, and to the one end/left side, there is a entrance door that has a few steps down. then, as you enter, the length of the room is to the right. so, it seems to me that it would be wise to have the design so that the control room is not in an area where people/artists/musicians/vocalists/whomever are entering and having to walk through in order to get to their designated area. i know this room having only 4 meters wide is not much to work with ... but it is long ur wide ... the 15 meters is actually the width, whereas the 4 meters is the depth, when looking or entering the space physically. i can cut openings anywhere if design warrants it. also, i have considered making one area of the ceiling opened so that i have directly access to the stage/set area directly above. what i thought would be REALLY cool would be to install the control room on a car lift, so that when i am working above in the filming studio, my entire control room is raised and voila! i am in the filming studio. when i need to be in the sound recording areas, lower the entire control room and voila ... there i am. although design wise, not certain how this would work, or could work. i suppose simple spiral stairs upward would work ... but i really like the idea of a control room that raises and lowers :) so, when the control rrom is downside, the film studio in effect is completely opened and unabstructed, because the roof of the control room is in effect floor of the film studio. i would like the interior design to be really warm and cozy ... veyr inviting and comfortable. i built my home using adobes, ladrillos, and hand cut stones ... and so i have alot of those materials to also work with. i can also work with metals like bronze, copper, aluminum, etc. i want to have all the lcd monitors, speaker monitors, controls, etc. built-in, instead of just sitting on top of a desk/work area. here are some photos of my home, and the first 4-plex i am also building on the property(i will build 42 units in 6 buildings, and these 2 and 3 bedroom units will be offered for sale btw). the entire look and fel here is very rustic, and aside from my studio, everything else i have built using hand cut stones, hand made adobe blocks, and hand made hand fired ladrillo bricks. so i would really like the design of the sound recording studio to fit into the scheme of things around here ... which is very earth-rustic-old mexico style.
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