Bought a Building with Old Studio - Need Help Fixing It Up

I bought a building with an old recording studio in it. It hasn't been used in a while, it probably wasn't even that great when it was new, but it had water problems and everything was gutted. I could move the studio to a different part of the building, if I have to, but I would like to try and use what's there. I have attached a basic sketch of the floor plan. There is a bigger room that is labeled the control room on the door. I was thinking about making that the live room, or separating it into two smaller live rooms. There is a room right next to that which I planned on making the control room. On the other side of that room, it goes under the main steps. It's pretty high to start, but then it gets too low to stand up. I thought about making the high part the vocal booth and the rest storage or something. The steps come down at an angle, making the entire room not square. There is another room next the studio area that I planned on using for a conference room for something else. Because that room is square and the recording studio part isn't, there is a triangle shaped section between the two. There is another section that isn't blocked off. I was thinking about building a wall and making it a drum room or something. It would be possible to knock out the live room walls, but the other walls are load-bearing brick walls that really need to stay there. If this space isn't usable, I will make a floor plan of the rest of the building to see if anything else works better. There is another part that is pretty open, which might give me more to work with, but I would like to try to use this space.

Can't give you much from what you posted, no dimensions etc. Can you get pics of the place with some accurate dimensions? cheers john

I realized that when I posted the image, so I went back to the building to get dimensions. While I was there, I thought taking pictures might be easier, but I didn't bring a camera. The ceiling is 7 feet, 9 inches high, except in the vocal booth area. It is 15 feet high for 4 feet, and then it comes down until it's 6 feet high. The area that goes from 6 feet down to 0 is what I am calling the storage area.

what are your options for removing the existing walls and building something new within the space as a whole?

The storage area/vocal room is under the stairs. The wall between that and the control room has to stay. For the live room, I am almost positive the 12 foot end wall and the 17' 5" wall can be removed. For some reason, I think the wall between the control room and the live room is concrete, but I am not positive. If it is, it might be a load bearing wall. I can't remember if the control room walls can be removed or not. I will go there tomorrow to make sure, unless what can be done isn't what you had in mind.

maybe something like this? obviously dependent on load bearing walls, fixtures, etc... as well as budget

THAT LOOKS SWEET! There are a few issues, though. Actually, just one issue and a couple questions. The issue is with the walls that are currently there. None of them look like they are load-bearing, but there is a pillar in the middle of the room. It would be in the room that shares a window with the control room. It would actually be right in the corner. If you were in that room looking through the window to the control room, but would be on that wall to the right sticking out to about the beginning of the sliding doors. Should I put corner traps around the pillar or something? The next question is about the vocal room under the steps. The door that's there now is the size of a regular door. It doesn't look like I can make it any bigger. That's not going to be a problem, is it? Finally, the ceiling is that drop/hanging ceiling (the kind with the panels). Is there anything I should do with that? I can make it higher, arc it, or whatever needs to be done.

you could put a trap around the pillar, leave the vox room door the same size but i'd use a glass door there for visibility. i'd remove the drop ceiling and replace it with something more isolating/acoustically nice. maybe it will give you better ceiling height as well.