New here - Question about pre-fab studios

Hello everyone. I found this forum and it looks like a great resource! I'm currently considering renting a space in New York City and building a commercial post-production studio. The space is 800 square feet, and I'm thinking that a 400 square foot studio, with a 160 sq, foot foley stage would fit nicely, leaving about 250 sq. feet for an editing suite. I read on these boards that builiding a studio can run 75-100 dollars per square foot. I was wondering if anyone here knew how much a pre-fab studio would cost. I took a look at some studios at www.mecart.com. Anyone familiar with this company? Anyone know how much such a studio would cost? Do they rent pre-fab studios? Also, if I decide to purchase/rent a pre-fab studio, is there a specific company that I should buy from? In other words, is there a pre-fab company that is better than the rest, or is known for their quality of work? Conversely, what companies should I stay away from? Thank you all in advance for your helpful input. Best of luck on all of your projects! NGN

Aloha and welcome to the forum! :D Congrats on your studio build! Any chance you could:

Edit your profile to include your location. This is very important, because this is a worldwide resource, and as such, material costs and availability vary widely. For example, masonry is cheaper than gypsum in some parts of the globe, whereas it's the exact opposite in other regions.

This will really come in handy two or three posts down the road. It's also part of the forum guidelines: http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3231 Thanks! Looking forward to your build! Aloha 8)

No problem. I'm from New York City, USA.

Welcome to RSD! An embarassing reply, but you are in NYC and one of the world's leading builders of modular studios is IAC, located in Bronx. :D You could call them and pricing estimates right off the bat correct for your city! Here is a link to their US main page.http://www.iacl.co.uk/us/index.htm Let us know prices you get so that we can learn from your experience! Andre

Thanks Avari! I will look into that and get back to you guys. Any other suggestions?

Hi NGN, I started out down this path and was looking at a couple of companies - Soundscukers was one of them and VocalBooth was the other I think. I had not seen or talked to these Mecart guys, and their product does look far more spiffy and dashing as we say in England. I would hope however that their specs be better. From my research and multiple conversations with these companies it would seem that they would only just about soundproof a fart in the performance room. All of them told me that they would not deliver significant isolation - even if I added an extra partition wall between it and my control room. Cost was running around $20k for my sized room (see my thread for room dimensions. Cost also depended upon door size and # of windows / vents etc. Hope this helps. Would be interested to here back about your findings. It would of course be great to find a shortcut to making music without having to learn to become a builder first, but I fear this may be the only way to have a) Decent Isolation b) Enough Money (or should I say lack of debt) to buy guitar strings and drum sticks =) Good luck and look forward to hearing your findings. Andy

I contacted IAC and a real ballpark estimate that they could give me (I didn't give them any real dimensions or ideas except to say that it would be around 20' X 20') was mid $30,000 USD for the whole thing from conception through installation. Installation would take about 4 days. This was a real vague estimate at this point and shouldn't be taken as a specific pricing. Is IAC a good company? Does anyone know anything about the quality of their product? They told me that they did some work for a couple of big studios in NYC and I was impressed by some of the names they listed. I would think that for Music production, super isolation is key to success especially because the instruments can get very loud. However, I'm interested in Post-production film and media work. I'm looking for a good space to record foley, VO, and a good mixing/dub stage. Do you think going the pre-fab route is a good way to go? Can IAC provide me with an adequate product? Also, is there a market out there for pre-fab studios? Do you think I will be able to sell the studio used to anyone if/when I want to upgrade and/or leave the business? Thanks for your help. As I get more information, I will certainly continue to consult with this board. Reading through the posts is such a tremendous help. Best of luck on all of your studio projects!!!

Yeah that sounds about right. I put a call in to mecart to ask some general questions and get a ballpark figure from them. They're product looks far superior to anything else I had seen, but is unable to work in anything less than 8'6" height which makes it impossible for most people using a basement as their starting point - maybe okay for you though on a commercial building. On a side note; I did think it interesting that some of their designs seem to disobey the multiple leaf rule. :twisted: I gave them rough dimensions of 12x20 and they quoted $40k for their highest rated isolation (52db), and about $35k for the 45db model. I'm not sure that either would be offering enough isolation for most peoples application here, but again; interesting information. Good Luck and keep us all posted on your project. Andy

Thanks for the quote! Long and short of it, IAC is a world leader in whatever market they are in. :) Andre

That seems like a lot of money to spend especially for your needs. I've just about finished my studio (1200 sq ft or so) and I'm approaching $30K INCLUDING THE BUILDING AND HVAC system. We can help with the construction if that's what worries you. If you do your research, plan, and execute the plan carefully, you should be able to get what you need for far less money. len

If you do your research, plan, and execute the plan carefully, you should be able to get what you need for far less money.

What an amzingly accurate summary of what can get obtain with the knowledge and help here! Great sentence! :) Andre