Need Help with layout design

Cape Breton Kenn · Post by **Cape Breton Kenn** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 4:05 am

Hello everyone,
I'm have been reading the posts here for quite sometime learning as much as I can. Within the next month I'll be starting renovations on my house to build my home studio. Without this site, I'd surely be lost. THANK YOU!

I own a 1 and a 1/2 story house and decided to use 2 of the rooms on the second floor as my home studio. Before I start ripping out walls, re-insulating and the like, my first problem was trying to figure out what exactly would be the best layout due to the nature of the rooms. Of course I want to get the best sound out of the room, and I need to keep from disturbing my neighbours (or their barking dog from ruining a good take); how to set this up has me stumped.

I did a rough floorplan of the these rooms and attached it. The low-pitched ceilings and odd-shaped rooms have me stuck before I even get started. I appreciate and need all the help I can get. Thank you.

The Image on the left is the overall floor plan. On the right are the two sideviews showing the pitch of the ceilings. Room A has a 4 foot wide flat ceiling, Room B does not have a flat ceiling. Part of the ceiling in Room A is a cutaway doorway leading into Room B.
Most of the measurements are pretty accurate - this is the first time I tried using any type of floorplan software so please forgive any discrepencies in measurements.
I hope I drew a clear enough picture for you.

The purpose of the studio is mostly to record my original songs (not a commercial studio by any strectch of the imagination). Mostly vocals, acoustic guitars and some MIDI but I will be buying a real drum kit in the near future. Probably won't be more than 2 musicians (besides myself) in the studio at any one time.
Looking forward to hearing some ideas,
Thanks,
Kenn

Post by **John Sayers** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 6:39 am

Kenn - I've cut your pic up so it fits on the screen - sorry mate I'm on a laptop with 1024 res.

For others who found the description hard to understand this is how it goes.

If Kenn stands under the 4' flat ceiling in studio A facing the window - on his left and right the ceiling slopes away except that on his left is a dormer roof that allows him to walk into studio B so if he faces Studio B window the roof slopes away left and right like the other room.
OK kenn - you are limited in ceiling height but all the ceilings are angled so there's really not a lot of parallels normally encountered in a square room. That's a +

Most of the space is useless for working space as the ceiling height limits being able to stand up - BUT - that extra space can be used for traps and storage.

I suppose the thing to do is to work out the usable floor space bearing in mind that sitting on a couch doesn't require a 10 ft ceiling and a work bench up against a low ceiling doesn't necessarily either.

It's a trickey one Kenn - I'd need to ponder it awhile to work through the complex ceiling angles but I'm sure we can come up with something.

Anyone else want to have a go at this one ??

cheers
john

Cape Breton Kenn · Post by **Cape Breton Kenn** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 3:51 pm

Hi again. Thanks for your help and I look forward to getting some ideas as I am still "stuck" in the planning stage.

Thought I should mention there is another room in the upstairs across the hall from Studio A that I could use if needed. As I live alone in a 4 bedroom house (1 bedroom is on the main floor with 3 rooms upstairs) I can use the entire upper level for a studio if needed.
Also, I stand 5'6", so the low ceilings allow me more "walking around" space then say the 6' guitarist friend of mine - he can sit, it's my studio

This might help everyone get a better idea of what will be on (or near) my desk and my requirements: (I figured too much info is better then not enough...if you need more, just let me know)
I use 2 computers for recording (1 MIDI, 1 Audio) with a small behringer mixer and to date I only have 4 effect units (with a homemade rack unit) but will be adding more effects as time goes on. Aside from my two guitars, I also record penny whistles and the bodhran when I write celtic flavored music) but mostly country and blues so the volume level doesn't have to be "screaching".

(I will be adding a tube amp for my archtop guitar and blues harp and of course a drum kit). Bass will be direct. I have 3 mics to date and will be upgrading to better ones in the near future.

As mentioned, there probably won't be any more than 2 people besides myself in the studio at any one time. My speakers only consist of a set of Altech-Lansing computer speakers (they'll do for now) and I will build in a set of speakers as soon as I know where the best place to put them is)

The old catch-22 problem to me was "why build a better room when I could use the mony for better gear - why buy better gear when I don't have a decent place to record". In the end, I decided to spend money on the actual studio first and then start upgrading my gear to a more pro level.

Thanks again to everyone who is pondering my studio and I am really looking forward to tsome solid planning ideas I know you guys are capable of coming up with.

Chat soon
Kenn

Cape Breton Kenn · Post by **Cape Breton Kenn** » Sat Feb 14, 2004 4:13 am

Hello again,
Been working on some ideas and was wondering if I am headed in the right direction or completely screwing things up?

My thinking is if I am going to utilized the smaller room (studio B) as a vocal/drum room then I should face the desk towards the doormer going into studio B.
But in order to have the headroom to actually walk around and get into studio B, I would have to push the desk to almost the middle of Studio A.
I have the speakers shown as sitting on stands as opposed to built-in (would this work?).
To angle the walls, a large chunk of space would be lost (bottom right corner). I though I could maybe build it to have part of that wall on hinges (a hidden door) to hold mic stands and other gear inside.

I would loose a lot of floor space using the attached plan, but it just might be workable...maybe....this is the part where one of you guys with a lot more expierence than me jumps in and says: ___________________

Any and all comments welcomed. Thank you,
Kenn

Post by **John Sayers** » Sun Feb 15, 2004 3:59 am

Yeah - that's looking good.

My only concern is that you are taking up standing space with the mixer. What if you turned the mixer/speakers/chair the other way and put them where the couch is?? Then put the couch at the other end. I suppose that'll make you back to the studio though.

cheers
John

Cape Breton Kenn · Post by **Cape Breton Kenn** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 12:04 am

Yes it would put my back to Studio B but in a perfect world, I'd have the perfect room to start with. Since I don't, I'm all for re-arranging what I have to work with until I get a setup that works (good sound) and I can work comfortably in it.
I know the rooms I have chosen have created layout problems but I'm trying to look ahead for future needs, meaning I always have the 3rd room across the hall if needed. That being said, I do have a room on the main level that measures 9' 8" X 11' 2". It has built-in closets with overhead storage. If I tear them out, I'd end up with a 9' 8" X 13' room (approx.)
The main reason I wanted to utilize the rooms I have posted is the option of having seperate control room & studio. But again, I am open to all suggestions on what would make the best studio in the long run and that is why I am eager to hear ideas so I can at least finalize the plans within the next few weeks so I can start construction.
I will make the changes you suggested John and post them tonight (as well as a layout of the downstairs room) to see where we go next.
As always, I am open to suggestions
Thanks
Kenn

Cape Breton Kenn · Post by **Cape Breton Kenn** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 2:26 am

Would this a better layout John?
Thanks,
Kenn

PS See, not all my posts are longwinded

Post by **John Sayers** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 8:40 am

Yes - and you'll have a clear walking space behind the console right through to the rear studio.
Check the elevations though - I suspect you may have to move the whole console unit a few inches back to allow for the speakers.

cheers
JOhn

dbluefield · Post by **dbluefield** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 4:29 pm

Hey Kenn,

I had a little difficulty visualizing the elevation -- so I took a shot at drawing it:)

If my rendering is correct, it looks to me that your current drawing shows the speakers far too close to the wall and roof line.

It looks like you will not have room to soffit mount the monitors (not that you intended to), and with speakers on stands it places them at around 2.5' from the wall, in order to accomodate the pitch of the roof.

I would put the computers in the storage space, and a single LCD in between the speakers

Looks like you could end up with a nice view out the window while you mix:)

Best,

Dave

Cape Breton Kenn · Post by **Cape Breton Kenn** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 1:47 pm

Hi guys, of course you are right about the speakers. They just won't fit with my last design (I know better than that, but I have no idea of what I was thinking) and Dave's "shot at drawing it"

is a lot closer to reality. Speakers will probably be on stands.
Also, I will be building something to cover the window to kill outside noise (and keep my neighbours from killing me at 3 a.m.) so there goes my view

Now for my other questions because the sloped ceilings have me really confused

1st - How should I treat the ceilings? Equally or should the one that will be to my back be treated with more absorption material?

2nd - How should I treat the floors? I noticed most control room floors are partially a reflective surface...should I do the same or is the room just too small and should be fully carpeted?

Thanks
Kenn

Post by **John Sayers** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 6:54 pm

how is the ceiling finished now?? is it exposed beams or covered with drywall??

cheers
john

Cape Breton Kenn · Post by **Cape Breton Kenn** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 1:42 am

All the walls and the sloped ceiling are paneling. The only drywall is on the small flat ceiling. However, I did run into a snag.
Electricity.
My Dad informed me less than 1/2 an hour ago that the entire upstairs is only 2 wire and there is not enough power avialable to handle the load of computers, amps, effects, etc. He then tells me that correcting the little squeaks in the old floor shouldn't be too much of a problem, but add the weight of new walls, all my gear, a few more musicians and someone "beating on drums" as he puts it and the old house would just get too noisy and potentially dangerous to work in without adding additional bracing ... I love old houses

He figures I could practically build a studio from the ground up in the backyard for what it would cost to make the upstairs workable.

He then suggested I go with my original idea and use the ground level bedroom off the back of the house because it is a new addition, is properly wired, and is better insulated (he knows, he built it).

So, taking all this into consideration, I think I am going to have to move my studio to the ground level. Back to the drawing board...man, I thought opening a restaurant was frustrating LOL

I'll be back with a new floorplan and new questions

Hmmmm, now where did I put that tape measure......?

Kenn