Studio Design Help... new space

Velvet Elvis · Post by **Velvet Elvis** » Thu Jul 24, 2003 5:40 am

Hi all...

I want some input on a design... I have a space in my new home that is specifically for me to build my new studio in.

Its not a huge space, but I do want to have area to record multiple instruments at once.

Here is the basic area with measurements as well as my original idea for the layout.

The area the enters the studio, ideally will be a vocal booth/airlock combination.

Velvet Elvis

Post by **John Sayers** » Thu Jul 24, 2003 10:19 am

hi mate - booth 3 looks a bit strange - why not invert the whole plan so you enter the rear of the control room through the booth 3 space??

cheers
john

Velvet Elvis · Post by **Velvet Elvis** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 1:11 am

John,

Yeah I thought about that... I did it that way just for an airlock and to take care of that strange slanted wall in my basement. I can add a few pictures if it helps better understand.

I thought it might also be a good way to get a small vocal booth area.

One other thing I didn't mention, is that there is HVAC/plumbing all along the ceiling of the south wall (I will attach pictures). My thought for orientating the studio the way I did was that I could enclose those pipes/ducts in the wall where I would soffit mounting my speakers.

The remainder of the ceiling is unobstructed. With the exception of needing to keep access (I'm planning on doing hinged panels) to a tub and shower drain (one in booth 1 and one in booth 2).

Picture one shows the HVAC and pipes I want to enclose in the soffit mounths

Picture two shows one of the tub drains I need to leave access to in the ceiling (hinged access panel)

Picture three shows the slanted wall that I need to deal with (where booth 3 is drawn) - the photo is actually looking INTO the studio area... from the other portion of the basement.

Velvet Elvis

Post by **John Sayers** » Fri Jul 25, 2003 12:44 pm

Yeah - I see what you mean about the airlock - it really doesn't matter if you have the lower ceiling (because of pipes/ducts over the soffit or over the rear wall) so I'd still recommend you reverse the control room so you enter from the rear - especially of you want to soffit mount the speakers.

You can still use the airlock as a booth.

cheers
john

Velvet Elvis · Post by **Velvet Elvis** » Sat Jul 26, 2003 12:41 am

John,

Ok... I will try drawing it up that way. The pipes and ducts are ONLY on that one wall (luckily)... the rest of the ceiling will not have to be dropped.

But I suppose I could build them into the wall containing the bass traps or slot resonators just as easily as I could build them into a wall with soffit mounted speakers.

My other though for having the console face the opening was visibility for the airlock/vocal booth.

If it were you designing the room, how would you lay it out? (taking into consideration the pipes/hvac and the access needed to drains in the ceiling of the north east and south east corners of the room).

I appreciate the help!

Velvet Elvis

Post by **John Sayers** » Sat Jul 26, 2003 10:41 am

I was thinking along this line

cheers
john

Velvet Elvis · Post by **Velvet Elvis** » Tue Jul 29, 2003 1:16 am

John,

Thanks man.... that's cool. I'm still concerned about the HVAC etc along the south wall... if I build at an angle I'm going to have to do some funky stuff to build around it (I don't want to lower the whole ceiling, as the rest of the room doesn't have anything in the way and its 8 feet as it is).

What if I were to take your plan and shift the control room back with the front and rear walls against the existing walls (rather than at an angle).

I could still use the right wall angle for the drum/vocal areas.

I'm REALLY like to keep space for my rack/producer's desk between my mix position and the couch in the back.

Velvet Elvis

Post by **John Sayers** » Tue Jul 29, 2003 9:08 am

You can still have a rack behind you - even have a raised seating as well

cheers
john

Velvet Elvis · Post by **Velvet Elvis** » Wed Jul 30, 2003 2:24 am

John,

Fantastic... I'm liking it more and more...

Couple of questions... I'm attaching a copy of your drawing in which I outlined where the HVAC was that I am concerned about. I'm not sure how to go about constructing the back wall you have proposed (at the angle) while taking into account the HVAC.

I also notated where the three drains/water feeds were in the upstairs rooms that I need to have panel access to of some sort.

Do you think I will be able to get decent isolation for the drums? or are they going to be annoyingly loud in the control room?

Thanks,
Velvet Elvis

frederic · Post by **frederic** » Wed Jul 30, 2003 3:05 am

Hey Velvet!!!!!

Velvet Elvis · Post by **Velvet Elvis** » Wed Jul 30, 2003 3:09 am

Whassup Frederic!?!

What do you think of the design so far?

Velvet

frederic · Post by **frederic** » Wed Jul 30, 2003 3:17 am

Honestly...

I like it better "by far" than the designs you and I were doing "over there".

I was wondering why you were so quiet and not into the paper cutout thing... now I know why. You got "pro" help

I do like how the airlock became "just an airlock" rather than a booth of any sort...

Velvet Elvis · Post by **Velvet Elvis** » Wed Jul 30, 2003 3:20 am

Psssttt... I will still use it as a small vocal booth

Yeah... I think it looks pretty decent... and so far it incorporates all of the things I wanted to see happen.

I still have all of your ideas printed out too Frederic... I just thought I'd ask John as well... then see where it all falls.

I'm ALMOST done with our loft at the house, then the next project is the studio

Velvet Elvis

frederic · Post by **frederic** » Wed Jul 30, 2003 3:27 am

Cool. Don't worry, I'm glad you asked John. I've yet not to like one of his designs. I like how the console room is cock-eyed.

What I don't get is why you want to walk through your console room to get to the other rooms. For me, thats just a disaster waiting to happen. Picture a drummer, carrying a bass drum with the legs attached and chipping your nice rack. I dunno, if that happened to me there would be one less drummer

heh-heh.

I'm just starting to move stringers up. Whats neat is I get two new stringers out of one of the old ones...

Whats neat is I was worried cutting down the long stringers would weaken the structure - four of the 11 of them weren't even nailed in at one end (the outside soffit end). Imagine that.

I haven't spent too much time up there today, the pest folks came this morning and sprayed the inside of the roof, the inside of the soffit, and the crawl space, so I can't get too much sawdust anywhere until it dries.

I even updated my website with flash experiment II.

Wait, I'm ruining your thread with my BS LOL.

Velvet Elvis · Post by **Velvet Elvis** » Wed Jul 30, 2003 4:12 am

Yeah I thought about the whole drummer scratching things issue... but my thought was the drums will be mainly stationary (IE - I have a kit).

The other reason was that the likely hood of people walking in and out of the control room during sessions is probably a bigger concern... I mean you only carry the drums in once... but if you have to walk through the live room everytime you exit the studio, we'd have to stop sessions everytime someone wanted to go use the little boys room.

Velvet