Help requested with Home Studio Design

Hello, I have been looking at many posts of this forum, and was hoping to get some input on designing a home studio in my basement. The house is a single family ranch with a full basement in Genoa, IL. The basement is totally unfinished, just bare concrete walls. The ceiling is 9ft, 8'7" from the bottom of the rafters to floor. I play in a loud band (by ear I would say our jams are at max in the low 100dB range.) and I want to be able to record up to a 4 piece band at the same time, as well as single track in separate semi-isolation booths if space is sufficient. I would also like a separated control room that might also have to double as the basement living room/AV room. My budget is ideally in the 5-10k range to finish the entire basement. I would like to keep this as low cost as possible because my other option is to just finish the basement normally and save the extra money toward my next house when I can hopefully design the studio into the house from the beginning. This could be 5 years from now though, so I want something for the mean time. Details, Location: Genoa, IL Room Details: Unfinished basement, concrete walls and floor. 8' 7" useable ceiling space. Room Issues: There are 3 window wells in the basement, 2 of which are in the area that I currently want to setup the studio in. The 3rd is in the area that I am thinking of putting the control/living room, and it is the "emergency escape" for the basement. I was planning to seal up the 2 that are not "emergency escape" for better isolation for the neighbors, I know this is against code most likely, but I can change when I sell the house. Also, there is a support pole and pool table, and basement entrance right where I really want the studio to go, but maybe some one here has a better idea. Sketchup drawings: Attached, could not upload .skb files so I changed the extension to .doc but it still opens in Sketchup. Questions: 1. How many "rooms" should I make out of this space? I was thinking that just one larger jam room that would double as the drum booth, and large recording room. With a small isolation room for guitar cabs and vocals. And a control room doubling as a AV room for the basement. The other option that I see is as it is laid out in the attachment with 2 isolation booths and a smaller control/AV room, or less isolation between a large room and control room. Or I could just finish it off normally with the most open layout possible or maybe 1 room division from a little isolation between the recording space and monitoring space and use movable dividers to get the isolation that I am trying to get for the particular situation. 2. What type of construction would you recommend if I am trying to get the best isolation for the money? I was thinking just wooden studs with resilient channel construction and appropriate air gaps of maybe some other sound control material. I don't know too much about this besides the common threads that are out there so all advice is welcome. 3. Floors, should I float the recording room floors? What about the loss of room height. I have concrete so I could do it but is it worth it? This would be a possible issue when I sell. Should I use carpet? Or faux hardwood with throw rugs when needed. 4. How about other acoustic treatments to get the best sound out of the space? Thanks for your help and I am sure that I will have many questions while working on this project, thanks for all your help in advance.

definitely get Rod's book... one option is to polish the concrete - you can stain it and polish to get a hard durable finish and then add rugs as needed. depends on your temperatures - concrete might be too cold. as far as float - it depends and it could be expensive and less effective than not floating. it may just make sense to add a finished wood floor over a subfloor - probably about a 1 1/2" loss of height.

Thanks for the advice and layout. I actulayy ordered Rod's book based on advice from this forum already, so I am waiting for that to arrive. I like the 2nd layout that you posted, bit need a room that 4 guys can jam in. I am going to work on some new ideas and post them once I have had a chance to review Rod's book and do some more research on this forum. I will be back with some new layouts based on the feedback I have gotten so far and my needs as a studio/basement. thanks again!

foryorent - next time just post the .skp file. not a doc file. The .skb is a backup file. cheers john

OK, I have been working on a layout and would like you comments and ideas. My goal is to have the ability to record my full band of 4 to 5 people in a large room which will double as a drum room and large ISO room, and 2 small ISO booths for recording guitar, vocals, bass. There are times that we want to record multiple guitar cabs at the same time with no bleed through, this is why I wanted the 2 smaller rooms. And also a control / mastering room. Please advise if you think that this is a good use of space or if I should eliminate a room or 2 to make fewer larger rooms? Also, I am not sure about how to do the doors. My first thought was sliding glass doors, but especially if I build 4 rooms that will be quite expensive and you cannot tailor the mass of the assembly to the wall. So if I have to use doors that is also going to be alot of doors since I would need 2 door assemblies for each door way, one for each isolated wall between the rooms. Also, the sliding doors gave me a built in window so I don't have to install any. If I went with doors I would have no windows as they create more expense and labor (unless they are cheaper and easier to install than I am realizing). I could use a video system if this became an issue. I have not included any doors and would like advise on where to put them. Advice on alternate layouts would also be appreciated. Thanks! Dan

Aloha, Here's the 2D of your layout :wink: Aloha 8)

Any one with comments on where to place doors? What door type to use? And room size and placement?