How best to divide this space?

Hello everyone, This is my first post. I don't really *need* a recording studio. What I need is a great place to compose and write - a really great 'writing' environment. So I'm looking ways to divide up the space I have available. I'd like to incorporate: 1) An Argosy Dual15K Master Keyboard workstation MIDI programming desk 2) A Behringer MX900 based mixing desk workspace Argossy 90V-2R 3) Guitar Rack (several guitars) and guitar synth 4) An area where I can record Vocals - duvet frame works for me. 5) A lot about 90 (ninety) units of Analogue rack mounted outboard 6) An aeron chair near my Tannoys samplers and workstations 7) Me The basement space is essentially a square with a corner cut off and a central stairwell. So I'm looking for layout ideas and also Sketchup models - especially of the Argossy range of products. What I'm after here is advice on 'layout' - not on 'construction'. Ideas on how to divide the space effectively. I'm also interested in how to get the best natural daylight type lighting and whether I can get this dimmable without it causing interference. Finally I'd prefer to face towards the stairs rather than with my back to them because if I'm working with headphones on I don't want someone to walk up to me from behind - I'd like to see them coming. Having a heart atack is not my idea of fun! So how would you partition the space and arrange the layout for a really great writing environment? Thanks.

Aloha and welcome to the forum, Any chance you could include the room dimensions, especially the ceiling height? Aloha 8)

Maude wrote:

What I'm after here is advice on 'layout' - not on 'construction'. Ideas on how to divide the space effectively.

you've to the right forum. when you are adding the dimensions (prefer to send the skp file) include locations for windows, structure, ducts, plumbing, furnace, h/w heater, doors, etc that could all impact the layout. its very frustrating to spend time designing something to hear "oh you can't put that there, the furnace and sump go there" or "no, there's a duct that hangs down 3' and a 22" beam" etc...

Maude wrote:

I'm also interested in how to get the best natural daylight type lighting and whether I can get this dimmable without it causing interference.

without a lot of windows, natural daylight will be difficult to achieve. using daylight bulbs is a nice touch but if you dim them the light changes so you'd want to find the right power and use a number of lights and jsut turn on sets of lights on or off to change the intensity. simpler and less likely to cause problems later.

Hello, I was afraid that nobody would reply - because I wasn't requesting how to make wooden frames :-) My philosophy is simple: 'studios' have changed very radically in the last 15 years and I believe are still changing. Mostly this has been to the collapse of the older Label based models of selling time for tracking (Neve) rooms and mixing (SSL) rooms. But this has also been down to technology - especially sampling and midi sequencing and changes in the way people make music. In essence they don't make it anymore - they compose it - layer by layer in Pro tools Logic or whatever. I believe that versatle spaces are the name of the game now - it's a whole new style of design. The world has moved on and left the big names behind. That Sam Torishima thing, that Tom Hidley thing, the whole extravagence of the late 80s and early 90's trends in control room design is dead. You need homely creative inspiring spaces where people can feel relaxed for long periods of time. Spaces that you can remodel and change without literally bring down clouds of plaster and paint or ripping up miles of multicore ducting. I think a lot of the traditional studio design rules dating from the Eastlake period - Live end dead end - all that sort of stuff - and the mentality that said everyone needed a control room like PUK or SARM is just looking a little dated - especially now the big desks are becoming rare - thanks to the phenomenum of the valve front end chanel strip. If these days you only need to track one track at a time - why mortgage the family and die repaying the loans on a Neve or SSL desk when you can get a really nice high voltage valve front end? So as I surf the pages here and gasp at the amount of work people are doing and how fabulous the end results look - I really wonder whether - for most people - for most 'home' studios - if what is needed - isn't so much accoustic treatment - as better ergonomics and layout and perhaps better songs in the first place? Especially in today's Direct injected world of protools and MIDI based composition. The need for a seperate control room at all is to those in the know questionable in the current climate. Three years ago I was in a music shop in Luxembourg city and the owner told me it had been many years since he sold a good bass guitar. A few crap ones for beginers yes - but a good one - not for a very long time .... The industry is changing - people are changing the way they make music - its becoming a solitary pursuit with sad folk like me whiling away the long dark hours on their own with gigabytes of samples, racks of samplers and outboard and a midi sequencer. Not all of us need wooden frames and isolation anymore. Those days are over and the challenge for the next generation of studio designers is to understand that the space is now more important than the accoustics. A good designer - will know excatly what I mean and I'm after - while a bad one will insist that Philip Newell is right and that the best route to Nirvana is via in effect spneding a few thousand euros decoupling the speaker soffits from the room with X tonnes of concrete to get a 1% on axis improvement in phase coherence or some such nonsense :-) The answer is - we are both right - but I am more right for my needs. The height of the ceiling is about 8 feet - I;ll measure it next time I'm visiting the location. My views are controversial *wrong* even - but id' rather have a brilliant space and come up with some interesting material than have a great studio and come up with nothing much worth playing to anyone. Plus the former is cheaper and more versatile. If I come up with something great then I can still work on the sequencing and basic tracking at home and take it to a pro studio to mix. so no pro studio at home (despite my gear collection!) Just a great space to write and compose. M.

sounds nice. however i wouldn't use a basement to achieve what you're looking for since it will be tight, dark, surrounded by concrete, pipes, etc(unless i misinterpret "homely"...). I'd think a large loft with high ceilings overlooking a mountain range or a cool downtown with ready access, a well stocked kitchen, and an endless supply of great instruments and musician friends would be more suitable for spending long hours... :wink:

picture test post ....

Some more pictures

a last one

Thanks for the reply you are right about having a room with a view and daylight. Here near Lisbon even the smallest amount of daylight is very strong because it is so very bright. Actually its almost a relief to go somewhere dark and cool. I think I will drill access holes into the cupboard under the stairs and put my noisey PC, mixing desk PSU and Hard disc recorder there to take the fan noise out of the room. Sadly no Studer or Otari ...... :-( it will always be a cupboard undre the stairs rather than a machine room !