"One" Room Studio

[GeorgeG]

I am developing a design with a single live/control room and possibly some isolation booths. The main reason for the studio is excellent sound isolation for the benefit of the neighbors while I practice. The second priority is a low overhead capability to record my/our work. I have reasoned that a separate control room is overkill if not downright inconvenient since most of the time I would be the engineer and the/a performer. I figure that if I ever practice with other players, the largest live room possible is important. If I ever record (rock) I figure that the isolation booths can be used for the guitar and bass amps and the players and drums can be in the live room. Vocals can be in a booth or the live room. Another reason for the booths is that my kind of 60/70's vintage rock tone is best created by a maxed out high wattage tube amp which is almost deadly in a closed single room (man am I getting old). I took the maximum building envelope and fit one of the Sepmeyer ratios in it for the main room. The rest fell out from there.

This is concrete block exterior construction and wood stud/drywall interior construction. Shown is the maximum allowable envelope. The ceilings can be 8-10'. Please ignore some of the goofy wall connections, my design software is misbehaving. Some questions:

1) How practical is a single live/control room for my modest requirements?

2) How does my layout and work flow sound?

3) How do the room dimensions look?

4) Any other thoughts?

Thanks,

George

CC Studio.jpg

[GeorgeG]

Took another run at my design. I removed the hallway. I also added an AC closet.

Does it make any sense to angle the common wall to remove some parallel surfaces? It makes calculating room modes more difficult so is it a good tradeoff?

CC Studio 3.JPG

[GeorgeG]

Also, does a drum booth make any sense for a space this size or should I stick with the largest live room possible?

CC Studio 5 drum booth.jpg

Thanks.

[Soundman2020]

You have nearly 600 square feet of floor space to play with. If you really wanted to, you could fit in a small control room, a decent sized live room, and a booth or two. One issue I find with the "single room" approach is that it's hard to track drums well, since you cannot hear what each individual mic sounds like on your monitors as you try to place it well. Personally, I like to be able to hear just the sound of each mic by itself as I try different positions, but that's impossible if the drums are in the same room as the monitors. For some people, that doesn't seem to be a problem, but for me good mic placement is critical to getting a good drum sound.

I have reasoned that a separate control room is overkill if not downright inconvenient since most of the time I would be the engineer and the/a performer.

It's pretty easy these days to have full control of your DAW from a second location, inside the live room (or anywhere else), if that's what you were concerned about. So you could play and control from the same point, even if your DAW is physically located in a separate control room. This doesn't have to be an issue at all.

... drums can be in the live room. Vocals can be in a booth or the live room....

I think you'd find it pretty hard to track vocals in the live room if the drums are also in there!

1) How practical is a single live/control room for my modest requirements?

It can work. Many forum members do go that way, but mostly when they have too little space to be able to do both. On the other hand, you have enough space...

my design software is misbehaving.

Try switching to SketchUp! You'll be glad you did (after you get over the initial learning curve).

I also added an AC closet

You absolutely do need a suitable HVAC system, but you do not need to waste all that real estate to accommodate it. Depending on how you design it, the HVAC system can fit entirely in the wall cavities and ceiling cavities (MSM space), or even inside the rooms themselves. I would use that space in other ways.

Does it make any sense to angle the common wall to remove some parallel surfaces?

That depends on WHY you are angling them! There are only a very few valid reasons. One of those is to eliminate flutter echo, but that requires at least 12° difference between opposite walls, which can quickly eat up a lot of space, and flutter echo can easily be dealt with in other ways. Another reason is if you want to do a proper RFZ design (which is highly recommendable!), but it does not look like you are planning to go that route. And one more reason might be "because it looks cool". Those are pretty much all the possible reasons. Which one of those did you have in mind?

It makes calculating room modes more difficult so is it a good tradeoff

Correct, but there are ways around that, and the room(s) will need to be tested acoustically anyway after they are built, in order to design suitable treatment, so it isn't "life or death". As long as you start out with a good ratio and splay your walls correctly, then there won't be any major issues.

Also, does a drum booth make any sense for a space this size or should I stick with the largest live room possible?

Both! A drum booth does make sense, if you make it big enough (drums like space to sound good). But a large live room also makes sense. On the other hand, having several isolation booths does mean that you can put the other players in those (or at least put their amps in there), have the vocals in the control room, and have the drums all by themselves in the live room when you need to do top quality recordings. In other words, assuming a typical rock band setup: put the drums in the LR, vocals in the CR, electric guitar amp in one booth, bass amp in another booth, and have all the players (including keyboards) in the LR with closed headphones. That way, the only actual sound in the LR is the drums...

- Stuart -

[GeorgeG]

Stuart

Glad to see you again, and as always thank you for all of your useful responses.

I thought that it should be an objective to have a live room with a certain minimum volume to avoid small room problems? I have seen 2500 sq ft suggested. My current "single" room is around 2700.

I take it then that you do not like the idea of setting up drum mic placement with headphones while in the same live room? Isn't that what you have to do anyhow while setting up vocals in the CR? BTW, vocals in the CR does sound like a good idea if you have one.

It sounds like a long angled LR wall is not necessary for my plan. I was apparently trying to solve a problem that I don't have.

Can you point me to what you consider to be an effective control room/live room/drum booth design that would fit in my footprint so that I can see what you are suggesting?

Here's the latest "one" room revision:

CC Studio 4.jpg

Thanks,

George