Basement Redo In Stages

First off, great place here. I've peeked in and read for a while over the years, and thought I was registered but I guess not, since this is the first post with my name on it. (Hopefully I'm following the rules) In greater Cincinnati area, (Villa Hills - Northern KY) Here's what I'm after, largely suggestions that I may be able to apply in several stages. Budget-wise, I'm probably like a lot of others in the Sky Is The Limit, but only a few bucks at a time. What I have now is a basement with a drop ceiling. (approx 26x26x7.5) For the past few years, it's doubled as a live space for practice, as well as a recording space. The 'live' side of it has recently become more of a non-issue, other than still realizing the value of tracking a group while they're playing together, then doing o-dubs later. I've probably scribbled out 10-15 floorplans over the last 5 years, and usually nixed the ideas because I'd like to keep the option of getting a 'band' going in the same space. I do find myself doing more 'solo' work, which includes mixing other people's projects or recording my own, so I'm looking for suggestions to do the following: - First and foremost, create a more accurate mixing / listening space. Either by re-positioning, treatment, partitioning, whatever might be optimal from a technical standpoint. - Secondly I'd like to have some type of mult-function iso booth, probably just big enough for 2 people, or 1 sitting with a guitar. Pretty much just a giant vocal booth. I'm usually able to schedule around the family activities, and they're cooperative, but it would be nice to relax the 'sshhh!' rules, and/or keep retrack when I stumble across a keeper I wasn't expecting. - Last would be (potentially) a drum room. I kinda like the sound of the large room but some iso for the people upstairs, would be nice. Drums don't move much, if at all, and I'm usually pretty happy with the sound I get there. (corner, low ceilings, and everything) I currently have convenient access to my keys, guitar, bass, mixer, PC, all pretty much within reach of the same position I mix in. I've only had it set up this way for a short while, but it has been helpful on the creative side not having to run across the room (or through a couple doors) after hitting record. If there's any chance I'll personally be playing the drums on a tune, I just leave enough space on the track to give myself time to get over there. I've attached a top-down photo from sketchup that should be accurate within an inch or two, and the concrete floor to drop ceiling is exactly 7'4" - and there is a maximum of 1.5" extra inches if I was to tear out the drop ceiling and replace it with drywall. I probably wouldn't mind doing it for a 'section' but I do like the convenience of the drop ceiling in general. There is also the 'pink stuff' between the floor joists above the drop ceiling, with the paper side down/out. Walls are the rough plywood / siding, and I believe on standard framing (2x4" deep, not 'flat') but no idea if there is any insulation behind them. Basically, the room is semi-finished, and multi-purpose music. IF it were a blank check, what would you do? IF it were to get treatment leaving the room "As-Is" where would you put what? IF I wanted to keep the mix position in the same general area, what would you do? I've been thinking about this stuff for about 5 years, sitting, staring, drawing, trashing, starting over... Cornfused, undecided... So I'm de-cloaking for some input from you guys, at your leisure. Oh, I'll put the sketchup file on my server instead of using up your bandwidth. http://www.leesters.com/basement-box-empty.skp Thanks, Lee Roberson / aka leester

Oh yeah, oddly, after I deleted all my 'furniture' and other crap from the 1st sketchup file, the filesize didn't go down at all. Seems large by comparison to the others I've downloaded here. Approximately 2.49 MB. It's my first attempt with Sketchup, and I do like the simplicity of it. (former 3DS Max guy since the pre-Max DOS days) It's quick, but old work habits seem to get in the way. :shock: lees

leester - when you delete an object like your furniture in the sketchup file it is still held in the file. go to : Window/Model info/Statistics/Purge Unused. It will clear the file of all unused items and the file size will change accordingly. cheers john

Gotcha. It's at work, but I'll get it fixed and replace the file. Thanks, Lee

Much better. 293k file now at above link. Thanks, Lee

By the way, I don't think it was stated clearly above - but I'm still in pencil on napkin stage here, so PLEASE hit me with a PM before anyone spends a bunch of time trying to come up with a precise design, layout, or files. I'm basically thinking / sketching out loud, and any simple written feedback will suffice. I've grabbed as many of the existing .skp files that John has put together (THANKS!) and am trying to use them as building blocks, really just to get some ideas visualized. You'll notice in the attached updated images, that's the control room from the small studio file provided. The only scaling was done top to bottom, and my biggest concern is with that ductwork that drops even further below the 7'4" drop ceiling. I had a peek up in there today at lunch, and could probably "shave" off about a foot of it's width (on the glass door side) and get the ceiling up to the same height as the rest of the room with only a bit of an overhang as opposed to the full blown shown in the picture. My question at this point, if I can't get 'most' of that lowered area out of the framed control room area, does that make it a bad place to put it? Would making the entire ceiling shorter, or building out symmetrical 'lowered areas' on the other side be goofy? Secondly, if I were to 'rotate' the control room so that the front of the console (sitting with back to glass door) would that make more sense? That would allow me to put a window there to look into what I imagine will be the live room, however it would put the glass door to outside directly behind me. The lowered ceiling area would be parallel to the length of the console, and I could possibly angle the ceiling overhead. Basically, this is where I mix from now, though just in the corner area of the large room. Daylight is nice every couple weeks, and I can at least crack the blinds when I feel like it. 8) Sheesh... this is why I'm drawing pictures with sketchup. It's so friggin' hard to put into words when I'm better at just making a picture. lee

Lee - your link doesn't work, plus you've posted the backup file .skb not the actual sketchup .skp file. cheers john

Sorry, I posted the skp but typed skb in the link. Link fixed above. I have figured out a bit more in using sketchup after examining your files, and I'd like to go back and 'clean up' things into proper layers and groups. I've not figured out yet how to move something from one layer to another besides just deleting them and re-importing or re-creating on the right layer. Still one nifty little program for the money. :D I was also talking to the wife last night and trying to give her an idea of what I'm up to in general. One thing she reminded me was that in order to get to the laundry room (usually while I'm recording / mixing on Saturdays) she's got to be able to get from the bottom of the stairs over to that area without interrupting me. That, and she couldn't envision the whole basement being 'dark' after I swallow up the glass door to the outside by surrounding it with a control room. I've also mirrored your "MikeM.skp" file putting the control room in the same area, then overlaid it on my basement. The bigger area almost fits within my current 'live' area. That gave me a few ideas as well, and the small 'arrow shaped' vocal booth could even be a bit larger in my space, and would still leave the walkway mostly unaffected. Still just scratching my head and thinking out loud. I've got another idea in mind I'll try to get roughly laid out and just post the overhead pictures to see if I'm heading in the right direction. I want to learn the 'why' behind the different layouts as well, and I figured this to be the best place on the 'net for learning it. Thanks again. Lee

Yes, it's imporant that you group everything you make. then you can move it around, rotate it etc. Plus you can put each group on a layer. Layers are all accessed through Window/Entity Info - just assign a group to a layer. You can also open the Window/Layers and select a layer as being current and all objects you add will be on that layer. Sketchup has a whole series of tutorial videos on their site - they are worth checking out.

Heading way OT... What I still find odd is not having to manage vertices and faces. That seems to be continuously re-calculated by the engine. I used to map stuff out on paper first (like a human face) before I'd even bother trying to build in 3D, as each triangular face is 'built' through one process or another. Of course that kind of detail isn't needed for this type of modelling, so it's strongest point is the rapid development style, and simple to use tools to make it happen. Grouping evaded me for the first few hours even after going through the included tutorials. In other 3D programs I've used, you make a box (or object) and it's a box. You move the box, rotate, etc. and select it as a whole, unless you intentionally move to sub-level (face / vertex) editing. It's virtually the same thing as an 'object' after you've grouped it, but it's a really substantial change to the workflow I got used to for several years. I've got no clue where the files are from my 'whole house in 3D' I'd done a while back, but I know I could do the same thing in a fraction of the time with Sketchup. Of course I wouldn't try using Sketchup for something like this either: From a contest I entered a few years back - and the only thing I could find online real quick. Everything else from 'those days' is backed up... somewhere... I think. :oops: Anyhoo - headin' back on topic - I'd never even heard of Sketchup until I saw you using it here, and I can't think of a better use for it just yet. Okay, back to work. I miss my old job. lee

some of the work I've seen done in Sketchup is equal to that train you posted. It's just a skills problem ;) cheers john

John Sayers wrote:

some of the work I've seen done in Sketchup is equal to that train you posted. It's just a skills problem ;) cheers john

Got a link? I'd like to see some of that. (I'm 3D nut too hehe) lees