John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

The next iteration in my pursuit of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Looking into building a freestanding structure. Slab wold be about 20'x40' in rural north east Oklahoma, USA. We're way out in the boondocks. Highway and railway about 4 miles away, on a mostly quiet county road. Closest neighbors are several hundred yards away.

What do you think of this design? Somewhat based on Sonar Studio but a little larger. It would be a ground up build. I know that the size/shape isn't quite right for surround work, but I wanted to get some of my ideas down and start working through the issues. My main goals are as a general usage recording studio. To record a variety of music in house, and also to mix and master projects that I have recorded at other locations, often live performances of classical music. And also to give me a place to play and practice my saxophone away from my in-laws

BTW, the name Woodshed is a play on a music expression we have here in the jazz community...the "woodshed" is the place that you go to practice and hone your skills...i.e. "hey, you played pretty crappy tonight, you need to hit the woodshed".

Sketchup file (~12.3MB) on Dropbox:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zcmle71u36i8c ... 2.skp?dl=0

Re uploaded the picture after the forum ate it.

So...what do you guys think about this design? Do you think the live room is big enough to be useful? What about the control room?

What do you think of this design?

Looks pretty good to me!

You could save some space but not angling the rear half of the CR walls, if you wanted to. That would give you a bit more space in the LR, and also the bathroom/lobby area.

I'm wondering why you show the bathroom and lobby as being two-leaf rooms? Why do they need isolating? Normally those are outside of the acoustic isolation area, so they can just be part of the outer-leaf, done with normal construction. Cheaper, easier, less wasted space....

- Stuart -

Soundman2020 wrote:I'm wondering why you show the bathroom and lobby as being two-leaf rooms? Why do they need isolating? Normally those are outside of the acoustic isolation area, so they can just be part of the outer-leaf, done with normal construction. Cheaper, easier, less wasted space

Lol...well, originally, I was going to have just one large lobby (more like just a mud room really) area. But then I decided that I really did need to put a bathroom in since I don't want all those grubby musicians tromping through the main house to use the bathroom. So I put a bathroom in.

And then I got this hair-brained idea to do it two-leaf and then wire a couple of patch points in to the bathroom and use it as either a guitar cabinet iso room, or an echo chamber with all hard surfaces.

I hadn't thought about not angling the back half of the room. What issues will that bring up when trying to do surround production?

Do you think if I added another few feet, even just 2' to 4' to the overall width that it would greatly enhance the viability of the over all design? I've been trying to come up with a design that is 30x40. But I can't seem get to a place that I like. It seems that keeping myself restrained to 20x40 makes me work more efficiently with the space that I do have. And that to go bigger, I have to go ALOT bigger (which = much more expensive).

Also, I am considering building in a cabinet and set of drawers into the live room where the angled wall is on the left side of the room, opposite the rear door. Is that a bad idea? Would it just require building the whole two-leaf frame around the outside of the cabinet? Is there any way to use the cabinet and drawers as part of a bass trap system? It would be used for storing microphones, cables and other odds and ends.

And then I got this hair-brained idea to do it two-leaf and then wire a couple of patch points in to the bathroom and use it as either a guitar cabinet iso room, or an echo chamber with all hard surfaces.

Ahhh! Ok, that makes sense.

I hadn't thought about not angling the back half of the room. What issues will that bring up when trying to do surround production?

None at all! In fact, for surround-sound rooms, it's better to not angle the rear section, as that would create reflection surfaces at strange angles, that wold not help you at all.

I've been trying to come up with a design that is 30x40. But I can't seem get to a place that I like. It seems that keeping myself restrained to 20x40 makes me work more efficiently with the space that I do have. And that to go bigger, I have to go ALOT bigger (which = much more expensive).

Well, bigger is pretty much always better! So if you can go bigger, then that would be great. However, it is also possible to fit quite a bit into smaller spaces, if you really try hard and are prepared to compromise a bit on acoustics. I once did an entire studio with four rooms (CR, LR, vocal booth and drum booth) in 450 ft2, so with your 1200 ft2 it should be possible to do pretty well. Are you limited in any specific dimension? For example, slab no wider than "X" feet, or roof no higher than "Y" feet? If not, with free reign it should be possible to come up with a good option. I just completed a design for a nice place in Scotland where the slab measures about 32ft by 24ft, and includes CR, LR, drum booth, bathroom, lobby, storage closet and kitchenette. That's smaller than what you are looking at, and the slab isn't even square: it has to be trapezoid to fit the property lines.

Also, I am considering building in a cabinet and set of drawers into the live room where the angled wall is on the left side of the room, opposite the rear door. Is that a bad idea?

You mean built in, as in framed as part of the LR? That can be done, yes, if designed carefully. Avoid triple leaf!

Is there any way to use the cabinet and drawers as part of a bass trap system? It would be used for storing microphones, cables and other odds and ends.

Yep! It can be done. In fact, that's exactly what I did for the Scotland studio. The storage area is actually an extension of the live room, and opening or closing the door changes the acoustics...

- Stuart -

Soundman2020 wrote:Well, bigger is pretty much always better! So if you can go bigger, then that would be great. However, it is also possible to fit quite a bit into smaller spaces, if you really try hard and are prepared to compromise a bit on acoustics. I once did an entire studio with four rooms (CR, LR, vocal booth and drum booth) in 450 ft2, so with your 1200 ft2 it should be possible to do pretty well.

Wow, I can't imagine being able to fit all that in just 450 square feet. I can see a CR and an ISO booth, but not a live room AND a drum room as well. Got any pics of that or a floor plan that you can share?

Are you limited in any specific dimension? For example, slab no wider than "X" feet, or roof no higher than "Y" feet? If not, with free reign it should be possible to come up with a good option. I just completed a design for a nice place in Scotland where the slab measures about 32ft by 24ft, and includes CR, LR, drum booth, bathroom, lobby, storage closet and kitchenette. That's smaller than what you are looking at, and the slab isn't even square: it has to be trapezoid to fit the property lines.

Not really limited. Family has about 40 acres of land and we have a big pasture area which is at least a couple of acres. I could build a 100'x200' building if I had the money (and I could get the in-laws to sign off on it). No height restrictions either, except for FAA regs. But I don't expect to be building a skyscraper so no worries there either.

I've been refining version 3 of my Woodshed. Hopefully I'll be able to post an updated design later this weekend. I'm in tech for an opera this week, so I should have plenty of time to work on it (Although I do have a symphony and another opera that I need to finish mixing too )

So I have sketched up a few different options since I last posted in this thread. After adding "just a few extra feet" about 12 different times I came up with a facility that is nice, but much larger (over 1,400 square feet) and much more expensive than I can probably afford. So I started over and went smaller.

Based on this plan that John suggested almost 10 years ago, in this thread...
I came up with this smaller Woodshed Studio:
It's 16' by 24' with 8' high side walls.

The back left wall of the control room is supposed to be a bass trap. Does it matter that the bass trap is lopsided in the room? Should they be symmetrical also? Is the vocal booth too small? Not sure what to do with the ceilings either. I want to vault them up some to get a little more height, but maybe it's not worth it in this design?

Here's the Sketchup file:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3ffdavfzjhfym ... 3.skp?dl=0