Movable Walls

Hello, first post. Glad to find this BBS. I read the rules of the forum and did some searching but haven't found any answers to this question. I rent a house outside of NYC and the basement is acting as tracking, mixing, everything room. It's basically a rectangle roughly L:20' X W:30' X H:7' with a recessed niche (for lack of a better description) about L:11' X W:7' X H:7'. The floor is painted concrete, the walls are plastered and heavily painted cinderblock and the ceiling is unfinished wood rafters. It's got a washer & dryer, a couch, a bunch of file cabinets but otherwise it's a big empty, low ceiling space. As horrible as that sounds, I've already done a few ghetto recordings sinse moving in that actually sound demo decent. But I need to take things to the next level and realize it starts with the room. I know it ain't gonna be ladyland but I gotta do what I can. I can't fundmentally change the room and I don't want to sink anything into the walls or floor though I have no problem hanging stuff from the ceiling rafters. So... I'm planning on building five moveable baffle walls on wheels. I got the idea from doing a record in room D at Westlake studio in L.A. where they had a bunch of 7' walls on wheels ....absorbant on one side, reflective on the other. I realize lots of studios have them and have seen som you can buy online. In my case they'd be W:5' X H:6' which is almost the heighth of the room (and just small enough to get up the stairs when I move). They'd have two layers of 2' Knauf plain rigid insulation inside a basic rectangular frame with a sheet of 3/4" plywood (or sheet rock?) on one side. I also plan on two 6' corner traps for behind my computer setup and three of four H:3' X W:4' well placed wall traps. But the meat of my efforts is going to be in building the walls on wheels. I figure with them I can create more acoustic variations, particularly for drums. I could kinda fashion a vocal booth or array them for a mix room when the time comes for that. I wouldn't be married to any configuration and could experiment. My questions are these... am I wasting my time? Or rather, is there a more productive way to spend energy/money. Am I overestimating how much these 'walls on wheels' could change the fundamental sound of the room in recordings? I know you can't say with out hearing the room whether it's worth a sot to record in without spending thousands of dollars but should I focus energy/ money on making the basic, static room sound it's best and not worry about the 'walls on wheels' idea? Another way ...am I basically trying to trick out a Ford Pinto with leather upholstery and chrome mags? My budget is around (preferably well under) $1000. Sorry for the novellete and any input much appreciated. - Philip

O, > I figure with them I can create more acoustic variations, particularly for drums. < I'd say a better approach is the treat the entire space so it sounds good, and be done with it. If you want a dead sounding area to record vocals, pile up a little more absorption in a corner and have the singer face that corner while recording. The main reason for moveable panels is as gobos for isolation around drums or a guitar amp. As opposed to changing the acoustic qualities in the room. --Ethan