This could be fun...

After years of renting studio space, I'm finally in a position to build a small studio in my house. I live in the left half. On the right hand side there is a barn with a 22x15ft (6.8 x 4.7m) room which I plan to build into a control room and small vocal/drum/recording area. I've already ripped out the insides, and I'm ready to start from scratch. However.... I haven't settled on a design yet. SO, I thought we could throw around some ideas, take a vote, and the winning design gets built! I'll post pics step by step and we'll all be able to watch the studio grow until completion :) Whatcha think? Dingo ;)

We're gonna need more than a pic of the OUTSIDE :wink: You could start here http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3231 The more of the bold points you can answer, the better... Steve

Sorry, I was just getting started ;) Here's a pic of the room...

...and from the other side:

The old wood cladding has been ripped down. The small window will be bricked up shortly. Regarding design constraints, there are 2 main things to consider: * the room has a steel support beam running the entire length of the ceiling * the ceiling height is only around 2.20m (7 1/4 ft) Soundproofing for the control room is not necesarry, as high volumes are seldom used there - however, the recording area will occasionally be used to record live drums, so a decent measure of soundproofing is desired here (I sometimes record quite late at night ;) ). Fortunately, I have been able to source some extremely cheap wood for frames, plasterboard and insulation. It's all waiting there for me to order in the quantities I need. Now we "simply" ;) need to decide on a plan/layout. I personally prefer designs that have the console facing the studio glass, as opposed to having the glass sideways to the console. The walls are 1ft (30cm) thick stone. There is a barn/loft above it. I'll try to sketch a floor plan of the building too. Dingo :D

Here's a sketch of the floor plan. The "small studio" sketchup design that John posted is nice, but like I said, I personally prefer designs that have the console facing the studio glass, as opposed to having the glass sideways to the console. I'm hoping to order the timber yesterday ;) so PLEASE, submit your designs, suggestions as soon as you can. I am budgeting a 6 week time frame to get it all done...maybe I should put a big smiley after that last comment :D Thanks for your input! Dingo

Unless John has some brilliant trick to pull out of his hat, I don't see a practical way to do a "head on" plan - it would make acoustics in each room (especially the CR) very difficult to get right. This would be even more true if you need to use any of the available floor area to improve sound proofing... Steve

I know it would be tight, but I was sort of hoping something along these lines would be workable. I know the recording area would be a lot smaller/shorter, but I only really need it for single person recording (vox/occasional drums). Are you thinking the acoustics will tremendously suffer if a plan similar to this was used? Thanks, Dingo

Hi. It looks like the dimensions of your studio space would fit to this design by John's: http://johnlsayers.com/Stuff/Small_Studio.skp the thread of this could be found on the sticky: Small studio in 3D. Hope this helps.

I agree with Steve - a head on layout would mean a control room 11' in depth and 15' wide which is not cool. The small studio .skp should fit in that space perfectly - see attached. cheers john

Thanks very much for the input. It seems the head on approach is not going to work then :( Would it be possible then to replace the double glass doors - with a long glass window and a single solid door - similar to this pic (I understand the console would not be placed there :) ) ? I'm not sure if this will affect the acoustic environmet in a negative way. Cheers, Dingo

No problem - sliding glass doors and window/door are interchangeable. cheers john

Thanks John, you guys are champions! I'm doing the timber takeoff and ordering the timber today. I'll make sure to keep you updated with pics as things get moving. Cheers, Dingo