very impressed newbie needing help

hi, i would first like to say how impressed i am of how much info is floating on this forum...NICE ONE!!! basically im studying sound engineering and we have been given a project of building a complete studio, with a budget of 4 million south african rands(i think thats US$ 600 000-00) weve been given a building of about 20 metres square and the roof is high enough to build a second story above, of what were thinking to have the control room in...in our budget we must pay for EVERYTHING...its an empty hall.we need a reception,lounge and what not else we want to have the latest techniques and most cost effective ideas(obviously...doesnt everyone!?) i have looked into the traditional hexagon/diamond shape control room but found this thing called "the attack wall" (www.acousticsciences.com)...looks a bit gimmicky but seems to do the job...was just wondering if anyone of you had some future crazy ideas that we could try or any comments at all on whatever you have on your mind... i know its a bleek question, but i have never dealt with this kinda stuff and my mind is feeling quite bleek the same... regards,Greg p.s. theres a Rode NT3 prize for us, for the best project handed in...

IMHO some experimentation would be good, but for the basics of the studio design, go with what is proven to work. There's some room to play with the treatment of the walls, and what you do with the ceiling, but moving walls around gets costly, so do that stuff right the first time. That's a pretty impressive budget. You shouldn't have any trouble building two tracking/control clusters into a 20m square building, either. As far as layout advice, I'd put almost everything on the ground floor except for the lounge/kitchen area. Putting control on a different floor than it's tracking room is going to make it tough for your clients to keep eye contact. And it'd make their lives a little easier if there's no need to haul a guitar cabinet up or down stairs. This is all general stuff. If you want more specifics, you'll need to give us more info on precisely what you want. It sounds like you're looking more for general guidance, not so much for us to design it for you. So the best thing to do is just read as much of this forum as you can. =) Almost every conceivable question on studio design has been asked by someone out there. Good luck!

Thanks allot bro, very friendly reply :) i will try to scan the plan and send it on here, with some time...oh, and did i say control room upstairs?? i meant post production :oops: i read on this forum of this idea of illiminating the windows and replacing them with screens...i think thats absolutely awesome! anybody have helpful links to buy really cheap gear...i heard of larking.com ..but its not exactly what were looking for(choice wise, at the moment) this is what were looking at: main studio/recording: -valve technology 32 channel(with an expander) console. -focusrite preamps and compressors/gates/expanders -stereo monitering system(any good suggestions?)-i heard about dynaudio's -MAC OSX G5 -with regards to a TDM system, would it be wrong to have a 64K protools TDM soundcard in the main and have a 192 in the post production, would they have to match to ensure quality? as a "digital" fan myself, i would have the tape machine synced to protools when recording, to have the "analog" sound and work from pro tools...which would then be transferred to the post production and juiced up with a 192TDM system(??) -a really cool, all in one,expensive reverb/effects module(??) -andromeda a6 synth -2 inch tape machine -Mics/u87,several sm57's/8's, Rode NTK, AKG drum kit mics(??),and hoping for a "blue" mic -we would also need some kind of a very flexible expensive drum kit, that can be used in case of emergencies, same goes with guitars and a nice valve amp -as close-to-silver as we can get, cabling -several headphones with regards to unique live-room design, i havent quite seen anything groundbreaking...will keep on reading around :) post prod: -5.1 surround monitering -TDM 192 system -G5 MAC OSX with dual screen system -Digital mixer.....digidesign range? i dont see why not ;) -a bad ass, leather sitting-machine(chair;) -DAT machine(???..are they really still neccesary these days?) -what about with regards to compressors and that? the same? or better? -maybe shifting that bad-ass effects module from main to Post Prod? or just getting another one? -waves plug-ins ...hmmm...what am i missing? lounge: -Playstation 2 one TV for clients, to watch cnn ;) and another for the musos to play-station on -nice couches -several phone chargers -coffee machine and vending machine -(small) library -computer for general internet use -fussball machine!!! -Hi-Fi system some kind of camera/TV system that links the PostProd room with lounge, so that while im slaving away in the postprod..and musos/clients are in the lounge, i can play them/feed a signal through to them so that they dont have to come in every 5 minutes.. and actually have time to finish Tom clancy's, splinter cell :) reception: -Genral PC -phone ....i think we all know what goes there all this while still having to build acoustics and buying furniture... noise free ventilation, security, general accessories(coffee cups and what have you) ...am i a dreamer? what do you think guys!!! respect. Greg

Im so blown away by this site...never have i ever seen any such community just helping others, drawing plans...and replying so quickly.for free! ..john sayers, you have aided me already so quickly with my daunting project.. your a legend :) regards, from the southern most tip of africa