designing a studio and would appreciate wisdom :-)

okay, heres the deal, we're building this inside of a larger shop area, and we figure the biggest it can be is 20x20x8 because there needs to be walking room around it... and then construct whatever we need inside of that. what do you think the best use of our space would be for recording rock bands? Vocals, Drums, guitars, bass, acoustic guitars... not nessecarilly all at once. what do you think? any suggestions and/or ideas would be much appreciated.

Why does there need to be walking room around it? Is there anything else in the shop, or is it just that you think you need to get to both sides of a wall to build it? (Not being smart-ass here, just trying to find out what you have/need/want/can build... Steve

because its not our shop, but we can build our rooms in it. there's boxes stored in there, so that stuff needs to be able to be taken out if nessecary. so thats why we cant fill up the entire space.

Cool, just didn't want to help you waste 4 feet of space if it wasn't necessary - Now, we need some guidelines in several areas - Budget - How much can you spend (roughly) Abilities - What's your combined construction experience What tools are available How loud do you play How sensitive are your neighbors, and how close How much time do you have Anything else you think might be important to the project - That should get things going for now... Steve

Budget - More in the hundreds then the many thousands, but we already have some materials, insulation, sheetrock, wood. Abilities - not to high, if theres anything that we cant handle or construction related questions(which im sure there will be) one of our dad's owns a construction company and has offered to help us. What tools are available: not sure. probably the construction company thing should make it not to hard for us to get what we need. How loud do you play: not terribly. How sensitive are your neighbors, and how close: none of any concern. How much time do you have: as much as we need. Anything else you think might be important to the project - we intend to eventually use this to record other bands, once our skills are up to the level of our room, of course. so we'd like it to be good sounding and reasonably comfortable.

http://www.saecollege.de/reference_mate ... /Plans.htm Maybe something similar to the Corner Control Room, but scaled down a bit?

yeah, that's sort of what i'd like it to be, just.. more to scale with my room size. do you think that'll give me a large enough room to record drums well though?

Might be a little snug - John's come up with some pretty clever ways of getting a bunch of stuff in a small area though - maybe we can get him to pull one of his bunnies out of the hat... Steve

thanks alot. i really appreciate you taking the time to bother.

Actually 20x20 is not that small when you think about it. My Space is 20x22. I am converting a house into a studio. Had I not decided to keep the kitchen which is on the same floor and sizes out to be 10 x 12, I'd have a much larger area for my live room and could have made my CR larger. Can't get rid of the front hallway because of entrance issues and the stairs upstairs, but I am going to reinforce the floor and treat the hallway to have an alternative optional cutting room. Keep in mind that in this home, I have walls I cannot get rid of or move which also restrict my efforts. Bryan Giles So 20 x 20 is relatively decent. and you can still have decent sized rooms that are not too cramped.

Looks like you are heading for a corner control room design for that space - have you checked out Cloud Studios which is based on that design http://johnlsayers.com/Pages/Cloud.htm cheers john

yeah, except that studio is like... big.

yeah, except that studio is like... big.

no it's not : it's based around a 20x 20 studio design like yours could be :) cheers John

ooo thanks. maybe it just looks bigger in the picture :)

hmm. im thinking of doing more like the "garage studio two", like, following that as my design and making it 16x24 instead of 20x20... {removed dumb question} also, can pegboard be used as an effective slot resonator, or is more just like a quick and dirty one and doing it with the wood slats is way preferable? yeah, im a newbie, but i really appreciate all the help!

Pegboard can be used for a Helmholz trap, but the holes are so many it makes the percentage of perforation too large, and you get only a fairly high frequency resonance (depending on the pegboard, around 400-500 hZ. ) I didn't follow your question about absorbers and windows and sliders, could you re-phrase it? Thanks... Steve

im basing this off of the garage studio 2, does this look okay?

That's heading in the right direction - I'd turn the control room around 90 degrees so the speakers are firing down the long wall and the studio is accessed by sliding glass doors on the control room side wall. cheers john

where's a good place to buy sliding glass doors inexpensively, and where cani order OC 703 or whatever it is? we dont really have ALOT of money and sliding glass doors just seemed pretty expensive.

oh, before someone says "if you dont have alot of money how were you gonna pay for any of the things it takes to build the rest of the room"... we're getting alot of materials for free. so... more like one of these?

Your 1st Drawing is the more ideal situation for you sliding doors. Bryan Giles Reltively inexpensive Patio Doors can be found at Home Depot starting at $199.00

oh i should have said, the second one is just regular windows.

That's fine too. Bryan Giles

Like this mate - that's Bryan's control room in your space with sliders added :) Better visual into the studio. cheers john

It is larger, Actually quite a bit larger.. "It was built in a double garage in a space approx 10m x 8m (33' x 26')" My garage is 19x22 Similar to yours.