What type of flooring to use??

So we are in the drywall stage of our studio and I am almost ready to lay down some floor. What is exsisting now is about 16" of concrete as there is no lower level. I wanted to put down a nice short shag carpet on a thick underlay in the live room and ISO booths.. Is this acceptable? I see laminate, hard wood etc. I like the carpet as it's comfy for the feet as well. Thanks for any Advice!! Dezi Gebel Layin Trax Recording Studios

Layin Trax, Proper acoustics for a CR is arguably 50/50 reflective and absorbing surfaces. Goal is kind of so that when sitting in CR sound travels past your ears and nothing (to negative) bounces back of ceiling, side, and rear walls... similar to as if you were outside listening to speakers however.... Outside and no matter where you are you still have a floor. Our ears are accustom to sounds reflecting off a floor and give us a sense of how high off a floor we are. So we mostly choose to keep the floor reflective, wood is usually the preference although most will say it don't matter the material, just stay reflective. If you install carpet (which only knocks high frequencies out of a space, not mid or lows) then you no longer have the choice of a reflective floor. If you choose wood or other reflective surface you can put a rug down and then have a choice. I've studied much more about CR then live room but the deal is the same. Choose a reflective surface and the room can be more live sounding, you can always through a rug down if you want. Hope that helps, there is a bundle of info on this topic if you search around the forum, Johns recording manual (SAE site) and don't forget Rod's book. Marc

Are you on, above, or below grade? For below grade, engineered hardwood is probably your best bet from a cosmetics/stability perspective. Expect to pay at least $5/ft^2. Wood acts as a bit of an abosrber, but is pretty balanced throughout the frequency range. I've noticed that engineered hardwood seems to be more reflective at high frequencies than solid hardwood, but that could be the aluminum oxide coating that they put on it. Stained concrete is a viable option too...but feels a little colder and more fatiguing than wood on the feet. Cheers Kris