Home studio 2 bedroom conversion

[edit] I originally said that my current setup is in Bdrm 2. It is actually in Bdrm 1. [edit] The AC ducting is currently shared between Bdrm1, 2, the bathroom, & the 1st level living area. One duct in each Bdrm, one in the bathroom, and two about 10' up on the wall shown facing the living area. Attached is a roughly accurate sketchup of two bedrooms that I need to convert into a studio. I’m having trouble getting HouseBuilder to work so for starters I just used the base sketchup tools. Currently, I have my setup in Bdrm 1 and use a Vocalbooth iso box for my cabs. Even with the iso box I still have problems with bass coupling out into the rest of the house and I can’t drive my amps to good levels in the evenings w/o disturbing others at all points of the house. My goal is to have a setup where I can crank a 100W head to very high levels for power tube distortion and not bother anyone at any point in the house or in neighboring houses. I’d rather not use an iso box (I have pro ear plugs @ 20dB & 40dB) because you lose the feedback & all that wonderful stuff, but I’m willing to keep the iso box if that’s what it takes. I work alone so I need to play & access the PC recording gear at the same time, so I’m not really sure how a typical two-room setup will work for me. It may be possible to have the recording gear in a control room & have remote keyboard/mouse in the tracking room, with the PC display projected onto a control room wall & visible from the tracking room. Or even projected onto a tracking room wall. Iunno. Misc notes: 1. I have a set of v-drums not currently used, and hopefully I can have room for them in the studio conversion. 2. I’d like to setup for 5.1 speakers. I’ve got the speakers but I currently can’t use them – I’m using headphones exclusively. 3. I currently use the Bdrm 1 closet space and I'll still need some storage space somewhere. Those closets are the only storage in that area of the house. Not shown in sketchup: 1. The front of the house faces north. 2. The living area opens up to two more levels going south. The 2nd level is elevated 4.5’ from the 1st level and consists of a dining area, kitchen, breakfast, & 2nd living area, all going back south by the deck. The garage is off the 2nd living area, sunken from the 2nd level about 2’. The 1st level, 2nd level, and garage for a ‘C’ shape around the wooden deck where. The 3rd level is a bedroom and sits over the kitchen & garage. 3. The neighboring house on the west side is 7’11” from the living area wall. 4. Bdrm 1 has no attic over the sloped roof, from there, over the closet & Bdrm 2 is an inaccessible attic space which houses the AC ducting. 5. The roof is concrete tile 6. There's an external water heater closet that takes up some of the Bdrm 1 closet space. You can see it from the photos below. My ideal preference is to move from this house to one that has a detached apartment for conversion, or lot space to build something from scratch, but I need to seriously explore the options for this house. Housing in this area will increase in value significantly in the next 10 years. And if we convert these bedrooms then decide to move we’ll need to convert them back to bedrooms – nobody but another musician would by a 1 bedroom, 1 studio home :) That all needs to be figured into the cost when making the decision to convert here or move. Another option is converting the garage. However, it has a big load bearing pole in the middle of it so I’m not sure how that would work out. Building a room within the garage would be a lot less intrusive on the house in general, so it may be better. I’ll work on a sketchup of that area, too. Here are some pix, and yes, I need to sweep up the leaves :) Inside view down hall to door of Bdrm 1. You can see the sloping roof of Bdrm 1 thru the window. Note the steps going up to the 2nd level http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/oobsniper2000/studio/th_bdrm_1_08_inside_from_living_area.jpg Outside view from corner of Bdrm 1 looking north. The door is a hot water heater (not shown in sketchup) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/oobsniper2000/studio/th_bdrm_1_07_east_outside_wall_and_nei.jpg Outside from corner of Bdrm 1, looking up the deck. The windows on the right look into the dining area, windows on the left look into the breakfast area & 2nd living. The door faces stairs going up to level 3. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/oobsniper2000/studio/th_bdrm_1_06_deck_and_2nd_level_dining.jpg Another view from Bdrm 1 show vaulted ceiling from 1st level living area up to 2nd level http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/oobsniper2000/studio/th_bdrm_1_05_vaulted_living_and_2nd_le.jpg View from Bdrm 1 corner across deck to spa & inside wall of garage http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/oobsniper2000/studio/th_bdrm_1_04_spa_garage_wall.jpg View down to hall & Bdrm 1 from top of deck http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/oobsniper2000/studio/th_bdrm_1_03.jpg Another view from top of deck down to Bdrm 1. You can see the roof of the neighboring house. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/oobsniper2000/studio/th_bdrm_1_02.jpg

Here's a simple and free solution to your remote control challenge... TightVNC As for the rest, I'll yield to the "real" experts here... :lol: That's one really cool house! 8) I love it when homes have a "meandering footprint." It makes for some very interesting lines. --Keith :mrgreen:

sharward wrote:

Here's a simple and free solution to your remote control challenge... TightVNC As for the rest, I'll yield to the "real" experts here... :lol: --Keith :mrgreen:

Ah, but that runs on a computer, right? My goal is to not have a computer in the room with the amps/mics yet be able to sit in that room and remotely drive the control room PC. Iunno, maybe that's just ridiculous :)

Maybe... Or two monitors running the same image, with a BlueTooth keyboard and mouse combo. That can be done pretty cheaply -- much less than a projector. --Keith :mrgreen:

Hmm... maybe so. I was thinking that I should keep the monitor itself out of the tracking room but maybe it's enough to isolate the PC. Monitors tend to intefere with pups so I'm guessing it would be best to keep the monitor out.