John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hey guys, I just moved all my recording gear into a basement + bedroom and I'm hoping to get some pointers on where to place things. A 2d sketchup graphic is attached.

The basement's primary dimensions are 32' x 28' with roughly 10' ceilings. The ceiling is unfinished with open rafters that start at 8' with the actual ceiling/sub-floor at 10'. The floor is concrete and 3 of the walls are concrete block. The rest of the walls are interior sheet rock. One side of the basement is a kitchenette w/ a stove, fridge, sink and cabinets, while the other side consists of a staircase and wood burning stove. There is a bathroom as well. There is also a small bedroom that I can use that measures 11'10" by 10'2" with 8' ceilings.

My primary needs are a place to track drums and mix with as much accuracy as possible. I've considered using the basement as a control room/live room and I've also considered using the bedroom as a control room and using the basement as a live room. My biggest issue w/ using the basement for a control room is the asymmetry and the question of where to actually put my studio monitors. As for the bedroom, a separate control room would be nice but I worry that the small size will come with its own acoustic issues, though with enough targeted treatment I suppose it could work.

So yeah, I guess what I'm asking is if going with the control/live room approach, where would be a logical place to put the studio speakers? or would I just be better off going with the much smaller room and having to work harder taming it enough to make it usable?

Sorry if I left anything out--trying to keep it short and sweet.
Thanks guys!

My first instinct is to center my workstation/studio monitors along the "North" 32' wall as it is the most symmetrical and easiest to treat with absorbers and bass traps, while putting the drum kit rough center right of the room, centering the snare/kick along the north/south axis (allowing as much distance as possible from walls if I mic the kit with a stereo mic pair.) Not really sure how far I need to move my monitors away from the wall--being concrete I'm imagining the further the better? Maybe still having to do a bass roll off on the speakers after testing the room? (haven't bought a mic to test w/ yet). I have a pair of mackie 824s and they have a passive bass reflex port that sort of artificially extends the low end which I imagine could be problematic if too close to the wall. Am I sort of on target or do I completely need to rethink things?

Thanks!