Greetings and some...

Hello eveyone, I figured i've been looking around this place for a few weeks now and that i'm going to be asking a lot of questions, so i should go ahead and say hello and introduce myself. I'm moving into a new place and have a 1200 square foot finished basement to transform into a rehearsalspace/live room along with a control room, iso booth, and hopefully room for a small bedroom in the end. I'm quite excited about all of this, after working in other studios for a few years and using my bands rehearsal space for a place for overdubs and and such, i'm stoked on making something of my own and willing to take the time to do it as right as i can. I'm not construction savy at all so be prepared for some stupid questions..... First off though, i'm having some difficulty navigating around the site. I cannot find the link for some basic plans that i've seen here before. Basic garage and basement ideas.j I know that page is around here somewhere but i cannot find it. second, where can i go to download some nifty software that will allow me to draw up my floor plan and interact with all of you in sharing ideas? I don't have photoshop on my day job computer where i'll be spending most of my time online. This is going to be an ongoing project. The first main game plan is creating a large enough room where we can practice and not bother the new neighbors. This room will also double as my main live room for the project studio as well. I'll be slowly adding on as i can financially, with a control room being second... and on down the line. Thanks, Brandon

Hello Brandon, here's the link for the Smart Draw program that everyone here is using: http://www.smartdraw.com/downloads/download.asp

THANKS! for the smart draw!

ALright, smart draw, guess i'm not smart enough to use it correctly, but i do have a rudimentary "drawing" of what my floor plan is and projected idea.... How do i post it here on the forum? thanks! Brandon

oh comeon troddon, You cant be thaaaat bad :D] idk, i dont use that program, save it as a jpeg if u can or take a screen shot with the printscreen button on your keyboard, open any jpeg/bmp editor and hit cntrl+v or past cheers-=

Cool, i think i'm doing this kinda right... kinda at least... this is the rough idea i have for the basement of the house my bandmate just bought and we're all moving in. After years of paying rent for a house AND rent for a separate project studio and rehearsal space, this is a dream come true. I'm horrible at construction so I'll be hiring out some of my buddies who do this for a living to help out in exchange for beer and some small monetary pay maybe.... I just need some (alot) of advice on design and construction techniques... The basement is already finished. I can't tell if that is good or bad. Probably a little bit of both. The two longest walls are part of the foundation along with the rear wall (the 9' 8'' wall) I'm choosing the the upper right hand part of the basement for a the live area because those walls (the 28' 9'' wall and the 23'' 8' wall) are just about completely underground compared to the other walls. I figure have the right hand corner area surrounded with earth would help out on not letting some sound out. Worried about the neighbors and really would like to NOT build additional walls in front of the concrete poured walls if we can. I figured i'd put the control room where it is due to being able to access it via the stairs in the house leading to the basement or the stairs leading right to the basement from outside. The rest of the walls are finished sheet rock walls working around the garage and a small bed room/office thats in the back by the water heater, washer/dryer etc. This is all new to me... but pretty much looking to build something that my band can rehearse in (loud doom metal, two basses, keys, synths, drums, percussion, bunch screamin' and hollerin') and a place where i can continue doing demo work for smaller bands as well as over dubs with bands whose budget doesn't allow them to spend a week in a huge "real" studio, but using those studios for basics... Thanks!

Oh, I should state, that the thicker grey lines/walls are already there while the thin lines were an idea of somewhat of an approximation on splitting up the existing room.

hey brandon, good to see you over here from the tapeop board. i added you to my ultra-hipdom friendster list a week or two ago. anyway, there is so much info here i'm losing my mine. i too just bought a house and have a space that i'm going to build out. it's exciting as hell, but i'm a little overwhelmed right now at all of the info. take care and good luck man, tate

Any suggestions on Control Room layout.... With the floor plan in my post above, how can i make it more symetrical, but not TOOO small.... thanks!

Well, the owner of the house will not let me take out the closet located in the bottom right of the design, where i wan't to place the control room to make it more symetrical.... Am i pretty much screwed with anything remotely close to the original idea?