Studio Layout Help Please!

Recently, I was offered a low price on leasing commercial space in a major downtown city. The owner(who've I've know for a number of years) will be opening a record store on the main floor, while I'm free to use the basement for recording purposes and even as a band rehearsal space. This is also fine with the landlord btw. I've operated a small home studio for awhile now in my house, but having a proper space where I no longer have to worry about noise complaints, limited recording time, and not to mention expossing myself to new clients by being downtown seems like a hard offer to pass up. Anyways, to sum up, I need some help in laying out the new space. I took a number of photos and measurements of the basement and I have drawn a rough sketch of the room and have even color coded the photos. The way the basement is currently setup is not bad seeing how there are even a couple of small areas that I could use as isolation rooms(including the bathroom), and the main floor area is relatively large enough to record ambient live drums that I love so much. My priorites however are having a good live room and a proper control room to mix in. The control room doesn't have to be anything fancy though. I would like to have just my equipment, my monitors, and perhaps a couch to chill on. I'm free to move any walls I want, with the exception of the bathroom since it is tied to the plumming in the building and can't be easliy moved. I would like to create some non parallel walls to remove any chance of flutter echo, and I'm even thinking of angling the ceiling slightly since it looks like it needs to be replaced and insulated(Roxul Safe'n'Sound). I will most likely build bass traps(StudioTips) in all corners and even along the ceiling corners. A couple of great tools that I have is that being part Italian my dads side of the family are house builders(So stereotypical, but so true) and are willing to help. My girlfriends dad also works at a Homedepot so he gets a 15% or so discount. This is not to say that I can go too crazy on construction materials. My estatmate is about $5000 - $6000. Floating the main floor may be a possiblity, but I'm starting to worry about losing ceiling clearance. My only real concern about the basement is all the electrical systems on the eastern wall. They are kinda in the way and I'm a little worried about what kind of interfernce they my draw into my recordings. There is one unit that buzzes quite loudly so I'm thinking of building a box around it so long as its not a safety issue. Has anyone had any experience building around something like this? I know this seems like a lot, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Theres seems to be soo many new little studios popping up all the time, and normally I would never jump into something like this, but it seems like an offer I can't refuse. I hope someone take the time to at least look at my layout Thanks in advance. Jay

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

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! :wink: Looking forward to your build! Aloha 8)

Updated my profile. Thanks

thanks - any chance of a floorplan?? cheers john

Sorry John, I thought I had uploaded this plan already but only now did I realise I never did. This would certainly help. Floorpan.gif is the way the basement is currently setup, and Floorplan2 is an idea that I came up with recently. Tell me what you think. Thanks Jay

What's behind the walls of the 7x7 room. You show it as being closed off in the current config but open and smack dab in the middle of your control room in the modified version. Are you sure there is nothing that would have to be rerouted? Like plumbing?

As far as I can tell there is nothing behind the 7 x 7 wall. All the plumbing it located on the far north wall of the building. When I inspected it, it was hollow, besides an outlet or two. thanks

You might want to demo one of those walls and take a look around inside. It seems awfully strange that they would block off all that useable space for no reason.

I guess my mockup doesn't show exact scale in this area. If you look at the 2nd and 3rd pics in my post you can actuall get a pretty good idea of how the 7x7 room, bathroom, and open areas are tied together. I can assure you that there is nothing important there.

I see now. Can you indicate which box is buzzing loudly? Is it the large one along the floor?

Yes it is the one along the floor. The big sucker. It really won't be a problem so long as it is behind a wall(which it is now). My original idea was to maybe have the control room in this part of the room, but with the new layout, the buzzing won't be an issue.

I was afraid of that. It looked like a transformer but i wasnt sure. The rest of the electrical shouldnt be an issue but a transformer that big will cause EMI if cables are run to closely to it. Keep any audio AND power cables as far away from that behemoth as possible. As far as the noise goes, I'm glad it wont be an issue because most building codes state a min clear distance in front of any electrical box (including transformers), usually not less than 30", whichh would preclude building a box around it (unless it was a really BIG box..lol). Someone more experienced may be able to give a definitive answer to this but in the meantime at least its going to be behind a wall. Now that I think about it...that 30" may just be for public buildings. Hopefully someone who knows for sure can help you out.

How far away do you think I should keep them?

Depends on what type of cable. Balanced cables will be less susceptible. The noise caused in power cables will be dependent on which circuit leg of the transformer it is plugged into....One side is usually louder than the other. In general i would try to keep them a few feet from the wall...YMMV. You can do some experimenting beforehand...you might find that there is no interference at all. The wall might be enough shielding.

Mr. Sayers, I know you're a busy man, but do you have any input to provide to all of this. If theres more information you need just tell me. I'm new to posting here. Thanks