Old Post (was for the 1000th basement)

Hey I'm starting with an unfin. basement of aprox. 44.5 X 12.5 feet. The ceiling is a little over 9 feet high. Here's the layout. All the measurements are rough. Ideally, I would be able to track drums / guitar / bass (in control room DI) and scratch vocals all at once so I would like to have a couple of smaller trackting rooms one a bit larger and a large control room that is about 25-30 x 12.5 with some room to hang out in and write. Here are some other pics. There is a duct that runs the length. There is a little sloped space under the stairs where I may add a sink. The little space to the left of that would be for a toilet. This is where the hotwater heater is. This area could be used if needed and I guess the hotwater heater and vent stuff could be moved. However if not needed I would want to leave this alone and maybe put a little shower in there someday. So I could bunk down in the studio if I ever wanted to. I don't know jack at this point and all suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks...

Just a couple of additional bits of info that might be useful for advising... I discovered that the crawl space UNDER the basement slopes from about 4 feet deep in one corner to about 9 feet deep in the other. I don't know if that would make creating a separate (perhaps lower) flooring section possible or not. The building is in the Nashville, TN area. I have access to a very reasonably priced builder. I've read many of the post on the forum but haven't stumbled upon a basement design where the space was so long (44.5') but thin (12.5') so I really need help getting a starting idea. Anything is possible at this point as long as it is stucturally feasible, safe and not overly expensive. I really want to think creatively and make the best use of this space. Thanks again, Rock

Here's a little bit more precise drawing... and the attached smart draw file...

And here is my best guess at what to do. Am I missing anything? I could really use some advice. Thanks And the smartdraw attachment...

If it were me I would consider something more like seen in these plans: http://www.johnlsayers.com/Studio/Mainpage/MP-Sonar.htm Seems like an extra long control room when you could use some space in the other rooms. ~Space

Yeah - I'm with you Space - but the 12' width is the limiting factor - I'm still not sure of the HVAC area - I see a large beam but I'm not sure how far it spans - I'd like to tuck a control room in sideways backing up to the base of the stairs....is that feasible? maybe the HVAC needs moving - but that's no big deal - his duct work looks fine. cheers john

Thank you both for responding. There have been a few changes since I took those pictures of the HVAC area. I'll go today and get some new picts. I'm a little concerned about removing structural stuff, so I'll ask the current builder about it. As far as tucking the control room back to the steps my concerns would be the slope of the steps, the structural issue with the beam and not wanting to end up with a totally chopped up area (both because I want at least one large space to hangout in, although a large live room would be ok, and secondly for resale issues). I'll go do some research and come back with the results. Thanks again.

How about swapping the diagram above and putting the CR on the other side and using the long section as your tracking rooms? Rockum...I'm in the Nashville area. Drop me an email if like.

Yes, but that's what we are trying to do i.e. creat a control room in that area but if we turn it 90 degrees and venture into no-man's land, the HVAC AREA..whoooo.... we could have a wide control room plus the recording area you mentioned. That beam in the pic suggests it spans that area ;) cheers john

I still have to get the pictures, but I talked with the builder. The current beam is here: Now, here is the maximum extension recommended by the builder (this area is the sole support for the two floors above): This does not mean a different beam of roughly the same lenght could not be created near the current HVAC location. I am not sure I like this layout but maybe it could go something like this: (* note - I don't know how large to make the drum kit and console images in the plan) One problem with this design is that the studio entrance from outside now seems useless for bringing in gear. Also I've lost my smaller vocal booth. I will make it my priority to get good pictures today of the HVAC and beam elements. Thanks again

maybe something like this?? cheers john

It looks very cool, but I see a problem which was an offshoot of my flawed plan b design... the stairs are made useless. Unless people enter crouching down under the slope there is no way into the studio from upstairs. Maybe these new pictures will help. Here's a few clear pictures of the HVAC area Of course all the vents go up into the ceiling and into the rest of the house. There are also some pipes and hoses going outside to the central AC unit. There is a good bit of clear space as you enter the HVAC area. Here it is from an other angle. Seems like this drainage pipe could be moved and redirected easily. If you enter under the HVAC area there is a large sub basement crawlspace. At a very steep angle this goes down to about 10 or 12 feet. Portions of the floor could be dropped. Or a small room could even be added in the lowest corner. A look to the right from the center. A look to the left from the center. A look back up under the HVAC area. Here are the 3 existing partitions around the stairs. Here's the entrance. The small middle area. The sloped area under the stairs. Here is the beam which has a bit over 6 feet in clearance. Here is the wall oposite the HVAC area The wall joining the last wall to the HVAC area The other side of the wall with the HVAC area I think up to 8 of those post can be beamed if I remember correctly what the builder said. Thanks John

Would this be a good direction? Note the red x on one of the speakers... Couldn't get around that.

here's another try... I actually think this one would require very few structural changes (which is a financial plus).

My web server's down at least for the moment so my picts aren't being hosted :(

Rockum - this thread now takes nearly 10 mins to load as I'm on dialup :) can you start a new one where we can continue from there. also could you post the pics on this site as they load faster and are size limited. - posting a 250K pic externally only causes most people (myself included) to move on. cheers john Ah - cool it's stared a new page - that will help.