New Basement Studio Design. Please Help.

First let me say that I’ve been reading this forum for a few months, and I’m completely blown away! Hats off to John and everyone who participates. I’m currently in the process of planning a Control Room and Overdub Booth in the unfinished basement of my house. I’ve already installed the new HVAC, and new isolated ground electrical service, and those expenses have already been paid for. My current left-over budget is $15,000 (I will be doing all of the work myself), which will also not include the bathroom construction (I will be finishing that at a later date). I would like to avoid moving the current windows and outside entrance, but so far I see no other way but to relocate them. My primary function for this room is Mixing 1st, Mastering 2nd, and Overdubs (vocals, guitars, etc) 3rd. As you look at the picture, the left wall is concrete block, the bottom wall is concrete block, the right side of the picture butts up to the 2 car garage, which is surrounded by concrete block, and finally, the top wall is open to the back yard, however it is a 2x4” studded wall with an air gap, then a brick wall outside of that (a total of 12" thick), with no house behind. Only the top wall has exposure to the outside world. Another tricky element is that there are mechanicals running along one side of the long room at ceiling height, and I’ll have to box around them. I’ve determined that the box will need to be 24” W x 16” H (16” down from the bottom of the above ceiling (floor) joists). I’m wondering if I should duplicate that box on the other side of the room to match acoustically? The current ceiling height is 8’ 8”, floor to joists above. I plan on sloping the ceiling from front to back (excluding the actual box(s) I’ll have to build to isolate the mechanicals). The floor is a poured concrete slab. I’m not looking to float the floor, nor cut the slab to isolate either. I just want a great sounding control room, that won’t interfere with the upstairs living. My reasons for creating my initial design are as follows: 1- By facing to the right side of the drawing, I can eliminate all possible glass in the nearfield, and I can focus on the best possible wall treatment. 2- This configuration provides a direct path from the outside doors to the overdub doors, creating little interference when cartage guys come pushing racks into my studio. 3- With the overdub booth being where it is located in the drawing, I can crank it up to 11 and not disturb a sole. However, I wonder if the control room should be flipped right side for left side (180 degrees). I’d like any possible ideas John, and anyone else may have for my situation. Any advice would be wonderful.

Well done Rooster - just what I would have done :D except I would have reversed the control room :wink: and used angled glass doors either side of the mixer so you can see the booth, and look outside onto the patio. I won't draw it as you are obviously capable of doing it yourself. Be careful of using square mechanical ducts as you create two 16" parallel walls. Check BlueBear on the construction forum. cheers john

John, That was exactly the information I was looking for. I assume by what you are telling me, that the angled glass doors would not make a significant difference in my listening field, because of the angles? Also, if I reversed the control room, could I leave the windows where they are, match that on the booth side with double sliders, and leave the entrance where it is?.......The only problem I see there, is that I wouldn't be able to use the rear corner (where the current entrance is) for trapping. That would mean (assuming I didn't move the current door), that I would need to build a hallway entrance along the right wall, probably with the door somewhere in the middle of the room, so that I could add traps in the corners. Thoughts? Thankyou so much!