Question about iso booths

Hi everyone...Must admit I've been coming to this forum for a couple of months now and learn everything I can about building a small studio. I have a small building on my property that I am utilizing as studio (my wife wants the room back). The building is: 18' X 24'. I would like to record acoustic instruments, such acoustic guitar, upright bass, banjo, fiddle, mandolin, etc. Bluegrass musicians like to play together, instead of too many overdubs. Will I have to have absolute isolation (iso booths) for all the instruments. Not taking any other factors into consideration other than space, will my building be too small to consider such a proposal. Should I design in a control room at one end or just make a bunch of iso booths? I appreciate your help! Jackie

Hi Her Man I am in the same postion and I have had some excellent support/help from Gullfo. I intend to use my space 15 ft by 16 ft to record noisy punk/rock/acoustic material. My main thought is to use one big room so everyone can play together. However your concerns about iso booths is noted I have recorded alot of traditional folk music and the performers all want to record together allways.... I intend to have one vocal/iso booth as a diffrent sounding enviroment dead isf. I intend to make my PC super quiet, as it is it is quiet but not quiet enough for acoustic material. I am currently trying to work out the best layout for the studio. It looks like I am using half of the design of John Sayers small 3d studio mainly the control room with a few tweaks. I hope to have my design done to submit up for all to see (Sketchup) I am after thoughts about sofit mounting my monitors which are Mackie Hr824s which I am more than happy with. I would say however you need to read the sticky regarding how to use the forum as the guys need all this info to help you posting up pics of your space etc

Thanks Steve...I appreciate your response...I will take your advice and learn to use this forum more constructively. I really enjoy this forum and have already learned a wealth of information... Best regards, Jackie

maybe this works. big doors open up the isorooms to make it a bigger space. dimensions need tweaking but its the concept that counts.

Thanks, Glenn...nice concept...You gave me some really good ideas about how to proceed...I really appreciate your help! Jackie

Awful lot of bluegrass folks record live in one room...... sure you need all those ISOs? How about one nice room?

You're right, there are bluegrass bands that do record in the same space. And I believe a larger space with proper gobos would work fine. What concerns me is the size of my studio, mic bleed would be hard to overcome. Unless everyone recorded on the same mic. Even in this situation getting everyone to work the mic just right can be very problematic and time consuming. In the past I recorded a bluegrass group in a smaller room, but not by much. When one musician made a mistake, the other musicians had to go back and record the song again, and punching in and out changed the sound noticeably, all the background noise was gone in the punch in. Trying to get the proper blend was almost impossible. The banjo got into all the other mics. The low end upright muddied up the sound since it wasn't isolated properly, etc. It just seemed to me it made more since, if the music was on separate tracks I would have much more control in the mix. When I tried to "effect" the vocal, it not only changed the dynamics of the vocal but the banjo, working with individual instruments was a nightmare. Anyway, that's my logic on iso booths. After saying all that, I am not by any stretch of the imagination an expert on studio design...I'm like a lot of folks who desire to take on such a project as building a recording studio and since my budget is relatively limited I can't hire an expert but I try to read every book I can and learn from recording websites such as this one and most importantly "listen" and respect what you guys are saying on this forum. Believe me, your help and suggestions are very welcome..Thanks, Jackie