Studio Design XL-Basement Vienna /

[ilvi]

Hi everyone,
and thank you for this forum John!

I'm a Vienna based musician and sound engineer with not the greatest english skills, so please be patient with me
I have the great opportunity to make my own sound studio and make one of my dreams finally come true!
With the help of you folks, I hope I can refine the floor plans of my basement or fix them, so that I can go on with my project. I'm struggling hard to make decisions, since I don't want to make mistakes right from the start of planing.

The basement is an old factory building, which is now a residential building.
The basement floor is paved. The walls are bricks walls and the ceiling is solid concrete that was additionally reinforced 10 years ago to carry the heavy weight metal statues from my neighbour above.

The basement features, two separate entrances and two large 'top windows' which are underneath the courtyard of the building. (The windows can't be opened). About 2/3 of my basement is 'under the house, 1/3 under the courtyard.
there are concrete columns and metal columns which makes planning more difficult.
see attached plans and photos for details ...

room height is 3,8 - 4 meters ( ~ 13 f )
The aim is to build ...
* 3 x control rooms (I share the studio with two friends)
* 1 x recording / rehearsing room
* 2 x vocal booth

the control rooms should be different in sizes, so we have different settings. Maybe booth1 can also be used as a small editing room?

see attached files for details

the sketchup file contains 3 layers with 3 different floor plans (differences mainly in the 'big' CR 1).
My concerns are:
1) regarding the dimmensions, do you think that CR 1 can work in style3 design? (facing side wall) or which would work best 1,2,3?
2) are there any functional designconcepts that use absorbant ceilings for CR, which maybe makes sense in my case (4m room height)
3) is my room design total nonsense?
4) is there a better way to fit in the rooms within the basement?

any suggestions or ideas are highly appreciated!
need more detail? please ask. (I tried to keep it short)
thank you so much for your help.

FP_photo_positions3.gif

photo_pos_2.jpg

photo_pos_4.jpg

basement_SteelStuds.jpg

external link to the sketchup files (10mb) ( I can upload it here if this is ok - even with no extra layers its still around 10Mb )
--> sketchup v5 Sketchup v5 file
--> sketchup v8 Sketchup v8 file

Westbahnstudio_emptyRoom.pdf

Westbahnstudio_FPlan_style1.pdf

Westbahnstudio_FPlan_style2.pdf

Westbahnstudio_FPlan_style3.pdf

[Soundman2020]

Hi Ilvim and Welcome!!

Sorry to have taken so long to respond, but I was on vacation when you posted originally.

With the help of you folks, I hope I can refine the floor plans of my basement or fix them, so that I can go on with my project. I'm struggling hard to make decisions, since I don't want to make mistakes right from the start of planing

You are definitely in the right place! And we sure can help you.

The basement is an old factory building, which is now a residential building.

It's a really nice place that you have there, with high ceilings, good solid construction, and plenty of room. This an be a great studio.

1) regarding the dimmensions, do you think that CR 1 can work in style3 design? (facing side wall) or which would work best 1,2,3?

For the control room, definitely not style #2. I think Style #2 makes the most sense. But for the live room, I would use Style #2.

2) are there any functional designconcepts that use absorbant ceilings for CR, which maybe makes sense in my case (4m room height)

Most design concepts for control rooms use heavily absorbent ceilings, and a solid, hard, rigid, massive floor. You have that. It seems clear that you want to do 5.1, so I would suggest an RFZ design that has been modified to take work for 5.12. That seems to make the most sense, from what I can see on your plans.

3) is my room design total nonsense?

Not at all! The basic layout is good.

It looks like you can have a great studio, so I'm looking forward to following your thread here!


- Stuart -

[ilvi]

hi stuart - thank you for your reply. I appreciate any advise, warning or idea very much.

I couldn't quite get what you mean by ...

For the control room, definitely not style #2. I think Style #2 makes the most sense. But for the live room, I would use Style #2.

do you mean style#2 is the floor plan to go for?

style#3 - CR facing sideways. Is it a no go, regarding my dimensions? I would have a better view into the recording room, even though I have to look sideways. (but then straight into the booth). also I could have symetrical windows, so one can have sight into the CR1 and also into the rec room from outside (entré / kitchen area).

Most design concepts for control rooms use heavily absorbent ceilings, and a solid, hard, rigid, massive floor. You have that.

do you think it will be a problem to have a floor construction like shown in my attached drawing. it would be nice to have most of the cables running in the ground and have outlets in the ground where i need them (e.g. 5.1 rear speakers xlr and power). Is it enough to fill all floor cavities with mineral wool to prevent resonances? any needs for floating the floor (maybe just float the floor of the rec room in the middle? does it make any sense to cut the existing floor between rooms. float only walls on sylomer or regupol ... but this goes in the construction forum right?

floor_construction3.gif

cablesFloor.jpg

It seems clear that you want to do 5.1, so I would suggest an RFZ design that has been modified to take work for 5.12. That seems to make the most sense, from what I can see on your plans.

I am still using stereo in my homestudio, but want to be ready for 5.1.