New studio help

I have a free room in my house that is approx 12'x10', and i have decided to put a recording studio in the space. fortunately i am a general contactor and we always have left over materials that i should be able to use to help with the construction. before i visited this site i thought i had a pretty good idea of what i wanted to do with the room but now that i have started reading through some of the threads, i have noticed i have a lot to learn before i start. unfortuantely i am farely wet behind the ears as far as the "lingo" is concerned. i have found it hard to understand some of the threads because of that. so maybe with that in mind you guys can help me. my goal for the room is to have a main control room and a vocal sound booth that is big enough to record in with other instruments...so i was planning on it being approx 4'x4'. as i read further i see that 90 degree corners are not ideal. so that has changed my whole thought process. also i have some major concerns about what to do for sound insulation in the room. i have carpeted floors, plaster walls, and two windows (2'x4'). i have coved ceilings throughout my house but unfortunately i dont have coved ceilings in that room. so basically my question is, why do i start? i know it sounds ignorant and i could probably find that info on another thread on the site, but as i mentioned before. i have a hard time understanding some of the terminology used. thanks so much in advance - john booko PS - i have an estimating program that allows me to sketch out rooms so i will hopefully post a sketch of the room tomorrow.

alright, i tried getting the sketch to work but i just couldnt get it converted so i drew one by hand just so you can get the general idea of what im dealing with and if the design looks good. the sound booth that i have drawn in, is not currently there...that was just my idea for placement. let me know what you guys think, and then how i should arrange and renovate the room for the best sound. thanks, -john

Aloha and welcome to the forum! :D Congrats on your studio build! Any chance you could please:

Edit your profile to include your location. This is very important, because this is a worldwide resource, and as such, material costs and availability vary widely. For example, masonry is cheaper than gypsum in some parts of the globe, whereas it's the exact opposite in other regions.

You'll probably get more of a response by doing so and this will really come in handy two or three posts down the road. It's also part of the forum guidelines. Thanks! :wink: Also, how tall are your ceilings? Here area few links that might be helpful: http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7572 http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3231 Reference Area – Useful Links – Steve Knightfly http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2125 Home Recording Studio: Build it Like the Pros (Paperback) by Rod Gervais http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5670 http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html Looking forward to your build! Aloha 8)

thank you for the helpful reply. i believe i updated my profile correctly, thanks for that. I planned on putting the ceiling height on the sketch but i forgot. The ceilings are 8' - standard height around here. I am going to read through those links now...Thanks :)

those links were very helpful - thank you. after reading i believe i should provide some more information to help people better understand the space i am dealing with. As far as how loud i like to play: i am an acoustic guitar songwriter. so, most of the songs i write and play are not very loud but i have been interested in experimenting with new sounds that may get closer to an R&B sound which will probably be a louder sound. i dont have any neighbors living close to me. to the west of my house is the business i work for (appox 40'-50' from the planned studio location), and to the east is an abandon building and there is nothing but forest behind me. although i do live on a farely busy street that is approximately 70' to the south of the sound room. the studio is at the back of my house so i dont think the street noise should be a problem. i mentioned previously that floors are carpeted but i will be a little more specific. the carpet is padded and has 2"x12" floor joists supporting it over a crawlspace that is about 2' deep. and finally my budget is not really important because most of the materials will be provided for me from scraps from other jobs. thanks again in advance for any words of advice. -john

Aloha John, Thanks for editing your profile and your ceiling height! :wink: I'll try to put something together and get back as soon as I can. Aloha 8)

I have a free room in my house that is approx 12'x10'

Actually, when you pull the 2-10 X 3-3 door floor space out of the layout it's approx. a 9'-6" X 10'-3". These guys will come up with something to remedy it, if it needs it.

ah thank you for clearifying. i noticed that once i measured the room up and then forgot to mention it. thanks, -john

Aloha, In Rod Gervais’ book “Build it Like the Pros,” http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5670 he points out both L.W.Sepmeyer’s & M.M. Louden’s formulas most widely used in professional studios worldwide. He also notes that the orders listed are (top to bottom) the first to third best ratios in both cases. L.W. Sepmeyer Height Width Length 1.00 1.14 1.39 - 7’5” x 8’4” x 10’3” 1.00 1.28 1.54 1.00 1.60 2.33 M.M. Louden Height Width Length 1.00 1.40 1.90 1.00 1.30 1.90 1.00 1.50 2.10 Given the dimensions of your room, it is possible to achieve a starting point as far as ratios go, however, how big/what function do you require the iso booth to be? Here's a 2D prelim to get an idea of what I've got so far, and a couple of ideas. if this looks viable we can do a 3D view. Aloha 8)

if you can take over a portion of the hallway (?) leading into the room (which is what I think Kendale is suggesting) you could drastically improve upon the vox booth space. if not, maybe flip the door going into the room and get it sealed really well and use what space you have left after the CR to create the vox booth. another option, just get yourself (or construct yourself) a vox booth and just treat the remaining space.

Aloha, Nice one, Glenn! :wink: Aloha 8)