Seizing an opportunity in Santa Cruz, CA - YOUR HELP NEEDED!

Greetings all! I have recently fallen into an opportunity to expand my studio while forming an informal collaboration with a company that does a great deal of audio/video/DVD/web work. They have some very high-profile clients in the musical instrument and pro audio retail sector, including Steinberg, SSL, Universal Audio, Apple, and Yamaha Pro Audio. They have grown quite a bit over the last few years, and have been kicking themselves for not having an in-house audio engineer. Enter me: audio engineer, producer, studio owner/manager with equipment, experience, client base. It really sounds like an ideal collaboration for both parties. They have acquired a 1667 sq ft light industrial warehouse space next to their offices, and their initial plan was to construct a simple 5.1/6.1 surround sound mixing room. After some conversations, I am exploring the option on relocating my studio to this warehouse, under the context of sharing the control room with this company, and utilizing the remainder of the space to construct a commercial studio which would occasionally house 10-15 people attending instructional seminars and software training workshops. The building is in Santa Cruz, California, which is a coastal, central California city with a mild, consistent climate, just about 80 miles south of San Francisco. Details about the room can be viewed on the enclosed pdf, 'generallayout.jpg', but I'll go into some detail here: Dimensions of the room are 29 1/4' wide by 57 feet long. Ceilings seem to have a very slight pitch to them, perhaps 15 feet high on one end and 17 feet on the other (over 57 feet). Walls are currently sheetrocked, and the floor is a concrete slab which have been newly tiled. There are no windows in the room, and there are two entrances: a standard door and an 11 ft roll-up door, which I don't see much need in keeping access to for our applications. On the 'north' end, there is a 6 ft open arch that leads into a 29 1/4' wide by 20 ft long video studio, which also currently houses the on-site restroom. I have currently been recording in this area for over seven years, and have gained a fair amount of exposure as both an engineer and a producer. My hope is that this expansion will afford me the opportunity to draw more 'regional' Bay Area acts of a higher caliber, or at least allow me to focus on advertising to that sector and give more of the 'bread and butter' work to my assistants and interns. I record mainly music (90%), with occasional spoken-word/voice-over work. Although my niche is definitely been in acoustic music (bluegrass, Celtic, 'world' music, acoustic-rock, songwriters, chamber, folk), I quite often find myself recording drum sets and higher volume music like rock, punk, and metal. I definitely want to emphasize a creative and inspiring environment over a staunchly neutral environment. My experiences with commercial spaces in the past shows me that artists react to the visual aesthetics of a room, and being an appreciator of those qualities myself, would love to come up with something unique and outstanding to step above the competition. One idea I have wondered about is the construction of a large 'castle' style wall, assembled stone by stone by a mason. A good friend of mine from Scotland has built several 'castle' style dwellings and living spaces, and would be able to (bless his heart) commit to assembling such a colossal work along the 29 1/4' dimension, if this surface were to be accommodating to the acoustics of the main live room. Budget is fairly tight for this size facility, but I'm also open-minded to everyone's input. Ultimately, $50K is what I am trying to shoot for as an absolute ceiling. I have enclosed some pictures of the site, and the outlying surroundings. Hopefully these will make up for my lack of knowledge on materials and construction! Believe me, I accept my role as artist in this equation and have assembled a good team of contractors, as well as an architect who is a musician and is willing to go the distance to plan out some elaborate ideas (yet ones that don't rock the budget too hard...) Finally, I have included a first-draft plan that is a general layout of what I think I'd like, including the necessary 'shared' space that would exist. This file is called 'new design v1.jpg'. Questions: 1. Please offer feedback on the current idea and offer feedback on any points we may have missed. I am not easily offended and am still totally open-minded, as we are still very much in the research phase. We would however like to be completely up and running by year's end. 2. Being that this space is part of a large complex, with offices in the front of the building, I am interested in everyone's thoughts on sound traveling from above, and from the concrete slab below. With the budget as is, we are putting less focus on building ceilings and considering keeping the 16 ft (avg) height in the live room, constructing 'pillows' to help diffuse sound as opposed to dropping ceilings. Thoughts? 3. Anyone have experience with a castle-style stone wall, assembled boulder by boulder (I imagine most of the rocks will be about the size of an American football)? Acoustic properties compared to sheet rock? Benefits/drawbacks? Finally, happy summer to everyone. I am delighted to have found this forum and thank everyone in advance for their knowledge, experience, and time. Best, Andy Zenczak Gadgetbox Studio www.gadgetbox.net

Aloha and welcome to the forum. Congrats on your opportunity and a great space to work with! If I were in your shoes, I'd definitely consider giving John a call. :wink: Looking forward to your build and best of success to you. Aloha 8)

Thanks, Kendale, and aloha. My years working at a local acoustic music shop brought me close to Led Kaapana's playing on many occasions.... he and his friends would come in to test drive some of the great guitars in the shop (including Kailua-Kona's own James Goodall's masterpieces), while I'd stand by and listen and simultaneously develop my love for slack-key playing. I'm envious of you and all the great players you've got out there. I imagine that more than a few phone calls will start to occur once things pick up speed.... for now, I truly admire and respect the generosity and camaraderie of this forum and am hoping to get as much advice and different people's feedback as possible before committing to any one direction. I'm a big fan of 'the power of WE is bigger than the power of ME...' Thanks for the reply!

very nice space. any idea on how much of it you will be using for studio/mix versus training? ideas on subleting mix rooms? how large a live room that you might need? for example, are you considering splitting the costs of development - you putting in the studio portion and the other group putting in the training etc. rooms?