garage studio - help please

Hi! putting my home studio together and depsite having lurked on various forums and read various articles I'm still pretty clueless [structurally challenged you could say] on the subject of how to make the room work. My garage is 21 x 17 x 8. one room. not planning on any construction, room dividing etc. The walls are parallel and ceiling is flat. It's built out of cement block on 2 sides and sheet rock on the other two. the floor is cement covered with berber carpet and a thick pad. the ceiling is sheet rock. the garage is about 150 feet from the road. neighbor 20 feet behind but never hear any noise [its a culdesac]. left and right neighbors are 150 feet or more away. I'm planning on the console desk facing the block wall to the east, with another block wall to north [left], sheet rock walls to right and behind me. I know that the distance between speakers and myself at console should create an equilateral triangle. 1. Does that triangle need to extend out to the front corners of the room [I was told this and I'm not sure it is correct]. If I do that then the console will need to be placed back around the midpoint of the room or even further. I can do this without a problem. Should I? Is it OK if I do? 2. How far apart should the monitors be from each other and from me[they are nearfields - Mackie HR824s]. four feet, five feet? more? 3. I have a wall of filing cabinets that will have to stay in the room [home office stuff - nowhere else to put it. I was planning on lining that up on the back wall, and when needed I'd cover it with cloth or packing blankets or some such. Does this sound OK? 4. I realize I will need to treat the room. I'm looking at Realtraps. [I am definitely not up to making my own traps - you should see how badly I flunked wood work class!!] Are these a good solution? 5. I'm figuring based on what I've read that I'll need to put one bass trap diagonally across each corner. Correct? 6. I should also put some other treatment in the room for absorption or not? I get quite confused at this point especially with all the potential products out there. 7. I have 3 panels made of about 1/4" ply about 4 x 2 feet each. two of them have Auralex pyramid foam and the other one has foam that is about 6 inches long in thin triangles also Auralex. I had this last one hung above my console and monitors in another room I was using for studio and the other two pieces to the side of that and angled towards me at about 30 degree angle [that was the slope of the wall in that room] Should I use these panels the same way in the new space, one above the console and the others to the side angled? 8. Should I get pieces of wood [2 x 2 or bigger] to put under acoustic instruments, amps, drums etc when recording? in order to give better ambience? 9. Any other suggestions that will give me good quality acoustics and be able to record and mix quality recordings? Despite my ignorance in this area, I do write and play well and I think my equipment and hopefully engineering skills will be up to the task. I will be mainly tracking one thing at a time, but may track the whole band together at times for that live vibe. If console goes in middle of room I would place the band around that almost in a circle. Band is acoustic/electric violin, acoustic/electric guitar, fretless bass, keys/synths, drums/percussion. www.violindave.com if anyone is interested in the style of music. Thanks in advance for any help, it is very much appreciated! _________________ thanks, Dave