John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hi there

I discovered this forum just a few days ago and it’s like I discovered a treasure trove of useful info!

I’m an electronic music producer from Holland (style ranging from Ambient to Psytrance), recently moved to Australia (Ocean Shores, NNSW) and just moved into my newly built home. I’m in the luxurious position of getting to design/build a basement studio from scratch.

It’s a wooden yurt home - dodecagon shape (12 sided), 9 meters in diameter.
The whole house is built on a slope and supported by metal poles.
Underneath the house, the earth has been excavated 3 meters deep for a studio (+ small bedroom & laundry space)
A concrete slab + 1 meter high retaining wall will be placed in about 2 weeks.
At present there’s nothing underneath, except for vertical metal poles (spaced 2.40 m) holding up the house.

The place has stunning ocean views, so my wish is to build a studio/jam recording space that opens up to the garden and with a sea view (preferably with 1 sliding glass door (2.10 H/1.80 W) + large window (1.80 W/1.80 H)

It’s mainly gonna be a control room, but the space is large enough for some recording as well.


I haven’t bought a level meter yet to test the sound levels, so I can’t provide any accurate DB measurements.
Obviously I want to get as loud as possible. I mainly produce electronic music with heavy kick drums and low end.

House is on a slope with neighbours behind/above me (up the hill - 5/6 meters up - roughly 10/12 meters away) + neighbours down the slope, 5/6 meters down - roughly 20 meters away.

It’s a wooden yurt home on metal poles - built in a 12 sided dodecagon shape. The studio will be built underneath, with whatever material is best suited for a this project.
There’s 3 meter space between floor/slab and ceiling.
The top level floor is 9mm V groove Pine plywood (a laminate floor will be added on top) and a geometrical network of wooden beams.

Budget: roughly $20.000

Attached is a floor plan I have in mind.
There is always a possibility for expansions, for example baywindows/annexes, though I prefer to follow the contours of the top level dodecagon.

I'm looking forward to inspiring ideas/tips and brainstorm sessions galore

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- Stuart -