Hello, I was giving the task of providing a recording studio for a non-profit organization. The studio will give the chance to underprivileged kids to have a recording experience. I’m quite verse in PT, analog and Digital gear and my recording/live resume its vast but I have never design a recording studio, I have read a lot of post in this site and I have even place a couple of post, I acquired amazing knowledge from multiple post, but I really do need a lot of help to maximize the amount of money I have been given. here its the breakdown of the studio: its a room within a room the outside walls are made of concrete and the inside walls of sheetrock and wood frame, the room its located in a corner of a building 2 wall face the outside (the ones with windows) and the other 2 (where door, and desk are face towards the inside of the building) the owner has agreed to let me put a window from the "control room" to the "Live room" but I cant do any major construction or change to the rooms, the floor its hard concrete cover with hi traffic carpet, the ceilings are metal frame with ceiling tiles 24x48 porous material, I made a little sketch of the studio (I cant download the software that everyone its using). My question is: 1- I have a low budget for Acoustic treatment , I figure I can do "bass traps" and "DIY multi freq absorbers" for this room what configuration will yield the best results? (both live room and control room) , I’m planning to have the studio in the box, so no console, just a desk, monitors and maybe a audio rack. the studio will be used to record all from hip hop to rock so I need "a good for all live room". Thank you for all the help in advance
Please HELP with a NON PROFIT studio. Acoustic treatment?
Originally posted at johnlsayers.com, topic 9617.
my recommendation - work with some of the local construction supply companies including home depot, lowes, SPI, etc to donate the materials. find volunteer carpenters and electricians to help build it. move some of the "can't move" desks to extend the wall and make a vocal booth. inside the live room and the control room - add slat resonators. put in a window between the live room and control room. use glass windowed exterior grade doors between the rooms to allow visibility. visit guitar center and other large music supplies to get a snake or two, and some mics etc.
Wow your design was more that I was expecting, thank you very much! I have been in talks with the HD/Lowes and there both willing to donated materials, which its great! the bad news its that there is a whole side of the building that needs a lot of help, so most of there donations will be going to upset the cost of repairs, I will be doing a lot of labor and my dad a contractor will bring some workers as well, all together it going to be a huge makeover. Now I will love to say that your design will be something doable, but sad to say that it will take close to a miracle for the owner to let us do that much to the walls or actually put a wall, I don’t want to seem ungrateful if it was up to me I would finance the whole thing but that its just not possible (maybe if I kiss my kidney goodbye). I was able to get a company in Georgia to give us a huge break on Roxus AFB 48x24x3 I can easily frame those and place them on the walls, its there a "best configuration" for the frame panels? and for the LR to CR window will there be any disadvantage from using plexiglass in contrast to glass? Ps: I will try to push the idea with the owner the best of my ability, thank you and God blessmy recommendation - work with some of the local construction supply companies including home depot, lowes, SPI, etc to donate the materials. find volunteer carpenters and electricians to help build it. move some of the "can't move" desks to extend the wall and make a vocal booth. inside the live room and the control room - add slat resonators. put in a window between the live room and control room. use glass windowed exterior grade doors between the rooms to allow visibility. visit guitar center and other large music supplies to get a snake or two, and some mics etc.
Also, see if there is a Habitat for Humanity office near you. Many of these regional offices also have what they call a "re-store" which is cheap/used building materials. I was in one today, I saw solid-core doors for $35, double sliding glass doors for $100, stainless steel sinks for $25, etc etc.
Given the nature of your project you might be able to get some donations.
Hello everyone, I just got out of a hour and half meeting where the backbone of the non-prof organization was discus, the good news it’s that they approved a budget for the studio! The bad news it’s that the budget will be half the original plan cost. All the gear had to be rethink, restructure, refocus, now I’m face with the decision of cutting HUGE corners, and I feel just horrible about it. On top of that, a small, non official conversation with the owner reveal that he its not willing to let us do any type of remodeling to the building, using his words “you can paint, hang pictures, and make that window thing you want, but that's about it”, “that wall may go down after you guys are gone (I must say that He’s not the most assuring person)
Well now that we got that out the way, let’s look at the bright side of things, last night I spoke again to the company that gives me great deals on ROXUL AFB and they told me that since we are a “church” related organization he can give us even a dipper discount, seriously this guy its given us this stuff almost for free, so as for acoustic treatment that’s the least costly idea, GULFO thank you very much for the help, thank you ideas and the hopefully one day not to far I will get to make your design.
One final question the ROXUS AFB can easily be frame and mounted on the wall, so please help me configure the best/practical settings for the rooms, the roxul batts are 24x48x3, please help position this batts the best way possible.
Thank you and GOD BLESS
as a first step, check Ethan's site for layout guide on absorbers and desk. basically you want to cover the corners of the rooms to improve the low end trapping, and then cover spots where you get reflections that interfere with mixing or recording.
http://www.realtraps.com/art_studio.htm
OK, the materials for the Bass traps are on there way, in the mean time I will be cleaning, painting and prepping for all the equipment. (I will post pics as soon as I can) in the mean time I got some questions:
1-Its there such thing as a "standard studio color" for the rooms?
2-The window from the CR to LR its there a standard size for that? I was planning maybe 48x36?
Thank you for all the help and God bless.
48x36 will work. standard studio color is whatever you want it to be. :D
Sweet, I found this: http://iit.bloomu.edu/vthc/Design/psychology.htm it may help someone else that needs to select colors, one more question: - Plexiglass or Glass for the CR to LR window? any advantage to either one?48x36 will work. standard studio color is whatever you want it to be. :D
use laminated glass - plexiglass is not dense enough and scratches easily. or you could just get solid exterior grade windows and mount a pair of them back to back with about 2-3" of air space. it won't win prizes for isolation but you're limited by the amount of isolation you can get on the walls anyways and construction will be easier than trying to build a dedicated control room window.