Hello everyone, what do I need to make 3D drawings?

Hi, new to the forum. I was just wondering if there is a link to some free software or something to make these 3D drawings. I have a room that is 13 feet wide, 16 long and 8.6 high to the floor above. The ceiling is unfinished at this time. I am trying to figure out a good design for the room. I also have an a joining room with metal support beams between the two rooms. Thanks for your help. Craig Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Hi Craig - welcome to the forum. :) the 3D drawings you see are created by a program called sketchup. http://www.sketchup.com cheers john

Thanks for the info. What a great site, but confusing for a beginner. I am looking for some advice in building a basement studio. I am not sure if I should build one big room say 23 feet long by 15 feet wide. Or to split it up into two smaller rooms, a tracking room and a mixing room. The only problem is I have two metal support poles at around the 12 foot mark length wise. They are the standard circular support poles for homes. Will these cause problems with reflection if I use one large room? Hope this question is clear enough.

Like John said: Welcome to the forum! No, the poles will not cause a significant problem with reflections. If the small amount is a concern,t eh poels can treated to absorb sound. WRT one big or 2 small rooms, consider your way htat you intend to use the space. One big room has the advantage of versaitility and greater capacity. You could put a small amp closet in a corner for acoustic isoaltion real time. Two small rooms gives greater isolation and the ability to build each spcae for the specific purpose. Teh one big room in you 15' cx 23' space is almost large enogh to mee the NARAS etal criteria for room size. That is the recomemndation for professional control rooms! A consideration in you choice of which way to go. We are a friendly bunch and don't bite (hard :D ). Kep the quesiotns coming. the more clearer the questions the better we can answer and give direction for you research/design. Andre

Thanks this forum is great. Glad to know I am not the only one who want's a pro studio in their basement. I think it would be hard to track drums in the same room but maybe not. I have a finished basement being that all the outside walls are already drywall. If I knock out a wall in the middle, I could have one big room. I just measured it and it is 25.2 feet wall to wall length wise and about 16.8 feet wide with two poles in the center for support that could be covered with a sound absorber. I have a drop ceiling for now but it is about 8.5 feet to the bottom of the floor above. I also have a two-inch floor installed over a concrete slab for now as well. What is the recommended control room size? I could always make a small isolation booth for my Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier 4x12 and Vocals. What would be a good Vocal/Amp booth size be? I will try to figure out how to post a drawing soon. Craig http://www.risyn.com

Welcome back so soon.

What is the recommended control room size?

Aargh! What an incredibly vague question! Think about that. Very generally speaking, 1500 ft^3 is the minumum for a control room that can be made to "sound good". The biggest drawback is the very small listening area.

I could always make a small isolation booth for my Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier 4x12 and Vocals. What would be a good Vocal/Amp booth size be?

You have to define "good" better. I'm certain that is grammatically wrong somehow. :) For an amp boot figure roughly: the size of the biggest amp/speaker combo you want; plus room for a mic stand and mic; plus about 6" per surface for sound absorbent material. A vocal booth is more nebulous as they can be much smaller in acoustic terms than vocalists would be comfortable in.

I think it would be hard to track drums in the same room but maybe not.

Great that you posted your thoughts on drums. People can post and give you the benefit of their experiences both ways. Don't forget that a larger room you can use more/larger goboes to isolate instruments. Keep the thoughts coming! Andre

Well I never thought about using Gobos, newbie. My guess is that one larger room has some advantages and disadvantages. It would probably sound better but it could get loud at the monitoring desk for drums and raging amplifiers. Does anyone have a plan for a 25.2 feet long by 16.8 feet wide room? I just downloaded smart plan but it turns out I am not very smart. I will try to figure out one of these drawing programs. Craig

AVare wrote:

What would be a good Vocal/Amp booth size be?

You have to define "good" better. I'm certain that is grammatically wrong somehow. :)

How about: "You have to do a better job of defining 'good.'" 8)

Trust me it would be hard to track live drums in the same room. you could never truly hear what is going to tape (Hard Sdisk ?) 16.8 x 25.2 eh? Well I would make 2 rooms.... 16.8 x 13, 16.8 x 11. with a foot of space between rooms for good interoom ISO. a 13 x 16 CR is noce and a 16 x 11 Live room can handle a drummer, Bass and Keys (not piano mind you. LOL)

I agree with you. With loud amps and drums it would be a nightmare during tracking. I just have to come up with a plan now. For my control room I have 16.8 feet in length and 13 feet wide to work with. For my tracking room I have 16.8 in length and 12 feet wide. My basement is partially finished so I will have to do some demolition work to The tracking room which is now a bathroom and bedroom. I have an existing wall between the two rooms now that I will probably build new walls on both sides of, to increase isolation between the two. Thanks for the tips, keep them coming. Craig Halifax, Nova Scotia http://www.risyn.com

Just be awar of the tripple leaf phenom. I would only build one isolation wall. And that wall would be in the Control room. Just do treatment against that Live room side (if you were to take mysuggestion) Read up on double and triple leaf......