First Post Studio Design

Hi guys This is my first post so i use this to say thanks for everyone who operates the site it is an amazing reference for building(or attempting to build) a studio. I cant get my head round sketch up so i have used a different program i hope this is ok. Basically the studio will be a room within a room the outer room is part of an old sports hall and the solid brick walls are about 45cm thick. I hope to recorde drums, electric guitars the works and would welcome any comments or suggestion on my planned desgn. I am leaving 60cm between the exsisting walls and my new room. The height from floor to ceiling will be 9ft. As i mentioned before any coment or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. My only question a this point is would the walls joining onto the live room be ok for mounting my nearfield's? Any thanks in advance for any help you may offer

I forgot to mention have managed to do a deal with a local builders merchant & a plasterboard company to get the majority of the stuff i need to build the studio for free so i havnt bothered with a budget thanks

Hi, I think you're going to need space behind your 'soffit walls' for your monitors. How much, depends on the size (depth) of your nearfields And I'm certainly no expert, but I would make the CR longer (than wider) You almost have a square CR in your design. As far as I know this is not done. Are the windows/doors you've drawn existing? How about you ceiling/roof? Just curious: why are you planning to leave a 60cm airgap between inner and outer room? regards, phybeau

Thanks very much i will try and come up with a better shape for the control room. The reason i leaving the gap is i've been told i can do anything i want inside the space as long as i don't mess with the exsisting walls and 60cm means i can squeeze round the outside should the need ever arise.

The Corner Control Room might be a good starting point in your case. SAE, index, studioplans: http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html regards, phybeau

Aloha and welcome to the forum. Congrats on your studio build.

My only question a this point is would the walls joining onto the live room be ok for mounting my nearfield's?

A few questions for you - - What kind of monitors will you be using? - Are the interior walls already up or are do you have a clear area to work with? Looking forward to your build. Aloha 8)

Hi, I have a clear space to work with my original drawing only shows the room i plan to build not the outer room so i can do anything within that space up to a total max of 786cm by 681cm. I am happy to build either a control room, vocal booth and live room or control room ,vocal booth, smaller live room & a dedicated drum room just whatever will make best use of the space. At the moment i am using tannot reveal monitors because they were the first monitors i ever bought and my ears are accostemed to them thanks very much

Aloha, Is it possible to post the measurements of where your doors & windows are? Aloha 8)

I've attached another diagram i hope this is what you meant, I planned to make the window 120cm wide, 150cm high and have it start 100cm off the ground but everything is changable basically the doors can go anywher on the right hand wall or the bottom wall. This is my first try at design and i have since draw up several more but any suggestions you have will be greatly appreciated thanks

Aloha, In Rod Gervais’ book “Build it Like the Pros,” http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5670 he points out both L.W.Sepmeyer’s & M.M. Louden’s formulas most widely used in professional studios worldwide. He also notes that the orders listed are (top to bottom) the first to third best ratios in both cases. M.M. Louden Height Width Length 1.00 1.40 1.90 As such, with a 9' ceiling, M.M. Loudens ratios would give you a 9’ x 12’6” x 17’1” (H x W x L). This would take up a good portion of your overall room available, but will give a good place to start for your control room. - How many people do normally record at one time? - How many people do you find in the control room at any given time? - What is your preference in regard to how much room you need in the control room? Here's a quick skp of the floor layout for a control room using Louden's rations for starters. If you find this acceptable, we can then flesh out the rest of the room. Aloha 8)

Aloha, L.W. Sepmeyer's ratios on the other hand, give you a smaller control room to start with, but more live/iso room. L.W. Sepmeyer Height Width Length 1.00 1.14 1.39 9’0” x 10’3” x 12’5” Aloha 8)

Hi, Thanks for the suggestions, I prefer the second drawing with the smaller control room. I have taken your idea and planned a new layout to see what you think. Thanks very much.

Aloha, Okay. Smaller control room it is. :wink: You will want to revise your control room geometry, though. - soffit walls @ 30 degrees - extend your side walls to about 195 cm Here are a few points to ponder: - The overall dimensions changed a little. Was that intentional? - How many people do you record at one time? - Were you planning for any windows/glass doors for line of sight between rooms? - With the smaller control room, you could do a larger live/drum room and a vocal booth, perhaps? Aloha 8)

Hi, - Yeah i went back an remasured the space and realised i coul squeeze a little bit more out of the room. - In the main the recording tends to be (for rock bands) Drums and bass traked then guitars vocals etc added seperatly. - originally i had planned for windows but no i am thinking of camera's and monitors - Yeah i think three room's would be a push i does make more sense to have 1 large live room and a vocal booth, i just get carried away when i start to plan! Thanks for you help so far.

am also unsure what you meant when you said extend your side wall to about 195cm thankls :D

Aloha, So something like this perhaps? (rough idea - treatments to follow) Q - Are you planning to build all of the interior walls out of brick? Aloha 8)

Something like that would be amazing. I am going to build the room using 2 metal acoustic frames with 2 layers of 15mm db check plasterboard on both sides and 2 150mm glass mineral quilts density 10kg/m3 inside which according to the manufacturer should give me sound insulation of about 69db its the same system used in a large movie theatre recently built over here and they acheived 73db but they added a special acoustic brace which is way out of my budget!

Hi, I think i may be closer to the layout, the software i am using isnt good for angles but i will make sure the speakers are mounted properly and the wall slope correctly when we build it. I tried sketch up again but i'm still no good! The sliding doors look good but i am unsure if i could get a decent quality door over here so i thought i could use fire doors filled with sand. Thanks

Aloha, Oops! I'm sorry! I had to resize your pics and looks like I've lost one of them. Could you repost that one? (BTW, it works really well to keep your pics down to about 700 pixels wide to eliminate having to scroll back & forth in order to read the posts. Thanks!) Aloha 8)

Aloha, You can get Sketchup free. http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=6109 Okay...your designs are getting closer. :D In regard to your live room, what you want to do is eliminate the parallel walls, say, something like this: - long wall - slat absorbers - side walls - cloth covered absorbers - wall by door - cloth covered absorbers In regard to your doors, there is a thread here somewhere about beefing up studio doors that might be helpful. A search may prove fruitful. Aloha 8)

Thanks for the sketches they look great. I'm gonna spend tonight getting my head round sketchup as it looks so much better and gives a better idea of what the finished product should look like.

Hi, I managed to work out sketch up :idea: (kind of) I have taken all your suggestions and come up with this. The angles for the speakers still arnt perfect but it was my first sketch up. Let me know what you think :D

Hi, I managed to work out sketch up :idea: (kind of) I have taken all your suggestions and come up with this. The angles for the speakers still arnt perfect but it was my first sketch up. Let me know what you think :D

Aloha, Hey! That's pretty good for your first one. Again, I had to resize your pic to eliminate scrolling (forum guidelines). If you could keep your pics down to about 700 pixels wide, that would be great. Thanks! Okay, I think you've got the idea now. What you want to remember is to try and keep your room ratios as close to optimum as you can to avoid modal problems and since most of the critical listening and adjustment decisions are done in the control room, you may want to keep the control room ratios at optimum and reduce the live room measurements to fit it all in. L.W. Sepmeyer Height Width Length 1.00 1.14 1.39 9’0” x 10’3” x 12’5” (9’ = 108 Inch(s)] = 274.32 Centimetre(s) x 10’3” = 123 Inch(s)] = 312.42 Centimetre(s) x 12’5” = 149 Inch(s)] = 378.46 Centimetre(s) Aloha 8)

Hi, I was back at the space where the studio will be and it turns out we can only have the ceiling 8 feet high :oops: so i used the formula you supplied and adjusted everything to optimum size and wondered if you could take a look. Only problem is i can't find a way of reducing the image. Would uploading the sketch up file be ok or will i still need to reduce the image? Thanks very Much :D