Looking to build a studio for gospel choir music

Hello. I have visited this forum for many years and have gained from the collective knowledge the exists here. I have finally decided to make my first post. I want to setup a studio for the purpose of recording live gospel music with all components recording simultaneously. The singers (30-50), hammond organ (customized to go direct to board), bass guitar, lead guitar and drums. I would also like a separate booth for the lead vocal. What size warehouse space do I need and could anyone suggest a layout to accomplish this goal. Thanks, Russ (New Member) :lol:

Welcome Russ to the forum! Ouch! is all I can initially say. 30 singers using a stereo main mic setup implies (1,500 ft^3/person) a 45,000 cubic foot studio! Even that is on the low side with 3,000 ft^3 used in larger recording spaces. Hollywood scoring stages, AIR Lyndhurst come ot mind as examples. Have you/are you considered/ing a church or chapel and working from that? What locatios have you looked at, liked. and what is your initial budget? Have a read through http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3231 to get a flavour for what helps this along. Good luck! Andre

Russ, While not a moderator, I too welcome you to our little corner of the studio build family of crazies! I can't actually address your acoutic questions, but I do want to address your idea/concept of sending the Hammond direct. WHY!?!? The WHOLE premis of what makes that Hammond sound IS the Leslie! Without the actual doppler effect of the rotors, you loose, IMO, about 75 percent of what the sound of a Hammond is. It's obviously your studio and you can do what you darned well please, but in your design/build I would seriously consider either an isolation booth for a Leslie or scaling back and making an isolation booth for something like a Motion Sound. (In my case I plan on being able to use the larger iso if I track a performance.) Either way, welcome and the best of luck in securing a facility big enough to build your project in! Max

Thanks for the welcome, your help will be much appreciated. Now, I have considered a chapel style configuration but I want to build in the type of isolation to keep the signals separated. As far as the hammond going direct, I am working with a gentleman who has worked for hammond for many years through the many fiascos of B3000, and othe derivitives. He is the current designer of the Diversi (hammond clone) that is being used for GMWA and the Bobby Jones Show. He is doing a custom job for me on my hammond D to incorporate the Voce SpinII circuitry (he designed) which is regarded as the best real leslie sim out there. It is also a part of the Diversi organ. This config was tested in about 10 rooms at the gospel convention and artist and others did not realize that the leslie was unplugged and it fooled everybody, it's great! I will be able to use this config to keep most of the instruments in the same room and close to each other to preserve the vibe experience. :idea:

byrdr i"d be looking at a two room studio - one for the band - one for the choir and I'd use a speaker foldback system for the choir to hear the band. the band would have a deader room with close miking whilst the choir room would be more live and loose miked with the mikes backed up to the foldback system. cheers john

Hi Russ, First, please update your profile to include your location - it really helps to know where you are in terms of recomendations. I had never heard of 1500 cubic feet per person for a choir - that sound like overkill for this situation. I totally agree with John about having two rooms, if not three (put drums in the third for even more seperation). More seperation means more options later while mixing. I actually would consider using a ganged headphone system instead of speakers (sorry, John!) Again, I LOVE getting more seperation. If you say 50 people - figure 3x3 for each one, that's 9 square feet per person - 450 square feet -- allow double that for a space around the choir -- about 1,000 square floor feet. You'd want HIGH ceilings if at all possible - 20' sounds about right.... that would be 20,000 cubic feet. Is this being built for a particular group? You're talking a pretty major facility here -- it might be a LOT cheaper to rent a studio, or even just use a good church and remote recording equipment. -or- You might want to have a smaller studio for the band, and just rent time in a big studio to overdub the choir in. Just some thoughts. Studio building costs are expensive, and bigger is more expensive. -lee-

I actually would consider using a ganged headphone system instead of speakers (sorry, John!)

yeas - that would be better for the recording engineer but worse for the choir :) cheers john

I had never heard of 1500 cubic feet per person for a choir - that sound like overkill for this situation.

From a couple of books by some old geezers: L. Beranek and M. Rettinger. With old tongue in cheek; Andre

Thanks for the suggestion. I am planning to use headphones for the choirs and musicians to monitor with. I am not totally apposed to the 2 room idea because all of the other instruments will be going direct. The space that I am currently considering is 1440 sq ft. (60 x 24) with very high ceilings. I am looking to lease this space for recording and related purposes. Russ :roll: