Studio design advice

Long time lurker, first time posting. This site has been a huge help in learning everything I never knew and I want thank all the people here for their input on everything. I have finally gotten to the stage where I am ready to start building my own home studio. I have a garage full of 2x4's and the rooms are all cleaned out. I have toyed around with a couple of different designs but was looking for any advice or suggestions. I'm a novice with the Sketchup program, downloading it for the first time yesterday. I made a model of what the basement looks like now as well as the design I like best. The total available space is an area of 44' x 12' x 92" and is already divided into two rooms one of 23' x 12' and one 21' x 12'. The walls and ceiling are wood stud framed, insulated with R13, sheetrocked, and painted (all of which I did when we bought the house). Each room has six 6" recessed can lights. The floor is concrete now that I have the carpet pulled up. I have already framed, insultated and sheetrocked over the window in the room. The soffit conceals plumbing from an upstairs bathroom. I'd like to have at least 3 tracking rooms and a control/mixing room. My current design gives me 4 tracking rooms, 3 of which are in the smaller of the two rooms, which in turn makes them all relatively small. Every room will be framed inside the existing framing. I'm still unsure about raising the floor. There are a lot of arguments on either side which assist with my indecision. I've been considering switching my design for the control room to be at the furthest end with the window. The door in the same room goes to a bedroom with a 1/2 bath. The bedroom could be converted to a living space/lounge area. The other room leads in from a living area in which the stairwell is in. It has a very low ceiling clearance (about 76") that makes it impossible to put sliding doors in the large opening. The other small door goes to a small area under the front porch with a sump pump in the floor and houses the water shut off and gas/water meters. One of my concerns is the 45 degree angles that I have in a few of the rooms. If anyone can give me advice I would really appreciate it. P.S. I am on a budget of $4000-$5000 for all construction materials (including cabling), so go easy on me. Thanks, Gary

I forgot to add that behind every wall is concrete cinder block. Thanks again.

that seems like a workable design. you could also consider turning the CR on its side and making it wider to minimize reflections at the mix position and making the back wall dead...

I thought about doing that too, but almost everyone I talk to says that I should have length to the mixing room. What do you think?

Aloha, Took a look at the Sketchup drawing, but ran into a couple of questions. How tall are your ceilings? Your posts mentions the total available space is an area of 44' x 12' x 92", but the drawing shows 8' walls with an 8" pad. Aloha 8)

Aloha, Perhaps something like this? Control Room L.W. Sepmeyer Height Width Length 1.00 1.14 1.39 7’6” x 8’7” x 10’6” Aloha 8)

Oh, I like that one. I tried to make the measurements accurate but I am still new at the program. I wish it had a way to enter exact measurements. Question: Do you see any issues with my current design? Anything that would cause problems with reflection or 'ease of use'? The one thing that I can see would be the control room angles on the front wall. Or is it?

Aloha,

I tried to make the measurements accurate but I am still new at the program. I wish it had a way to enter exact measurements.

Except for the difference in measurements, your drawing was pretty good. Keep practicing. Once you get the hang of it, it gets better. :wink:

Question: Do you see any issues with my current design? Anything that would cause problems with reflection or 'ease of use'? The one thing that I can see would be the control room angles on the front wall. Or is it?

Establishing a room size that has the least amount of modal issues is good place to start. Next, try to establish proper wall angles, room symmetry, and strategic acoustic treatments in your layout so that the sound and reflections generated are managed and absorbed to produce a clear and defined soundstage at the mix position. For lots more great info be sure to check out: SAE Institute Reference Material Center – John Sayers http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html Be sure to click on the “acoustics”, “absorbers”, and “construction” tabs at left, and then tabs that show up at the top. Home Recording Studio: Build it Like the Pros (Paperback) by Rod Gervais http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5670 Reference Area – Useful Links – Steve Knightfly http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2125 Hope this helps, Aloha 8)

Well, I started construction Monday with my current design although I think I am going to incorporate your twist of the control room into it. It'll make my 4th tracking room a little bigger, plus I like the idea of being able to see into both areas without having to turn completely around. I will start posting weekly pics of my progress. Thanks for your suggestions.

gdubs wrote:

I thought about doing that too, but almost everyone I talk to says that I should have length to the mixing room. What do you think?

if you have the room to put in a long control room then that can help with dealing with possible reflections from the back wall that confuse the mixer. however, side wall reflections can be problematic as well and in a long CR you might not have the right angles to make that happen - which means probably adding absorption at key reflection points (which you might have to do regardless depending on materials etc...) and you may end up with more combing interference effects still because of the narrow space. in the sideways CR, you're making the back wall much more dead than in a long room but you're getting better side wall angles. its really about time domain and resulting combing effects that dictate one way or another. check out Barefoot's side wall reflection Excel workbook.

Well, I started my build a while back but have hit that time of the year when laziness is all that I can manage to blame my progress on. The project is framed except for the speaker soffits in the control room. I am building everything internally to the existing finished basement so to get as much "soundproofing" as possible. Here are some pics of the project so far. My camera sucks, so I don't have many shots to choose from.

I haven't been here in quite a while. Just needed to get back to where it all started. It took me 3 years, 4 jobs, a whole lot of rearranging, a small loan, a lot of hard work, and some help from some great people, BUT IT'S DONE! Here's some pics of the final project. I will update with some more details, but I figured I would show it off a little. I ended up scratching the two seperate rooms and only going for a single iso booth. I used the composite floating hardwood flooring. Double walled and each wall is stuffed with Roxul. I got a killer deal on it through a company in town called Allied Insulation. $25 for a package of 10 - 16"x48"x3". Plus the guy gave me a bunch of R38 scrap for free to fill in the gaps I had between the existing construction. I also got a sweet deal on my doors. They ended up being custom chops by the door company because my ceilings were only 79" high. $225 a piece!!! Props to that guy. I did go with the control room turned. Its kinda tight in there with a few people but it just means I wont have too many people during the mix yapping away, making my job more difficult. I custom built my desk. I'm not too entirely sure that I like it and am considering removing it and buying a new console. It only houses 14 single space rack units. Overall, I am pleased. I am getting really good results from the tracking room. It's a lively room (thankfully not dead) and I haven't come across any weird reflection problems. The control room is giving me accurate mixes FINALLY! Thanks to everyone here and all the input that I read over the years. I would have never have gotten such a sweet setup if it weren't for this place.

very nice!