John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hi folks,

My wife and I are in the process of working with an architect on the plans for our new house. I have attached a file showing the proposed room layout. Sorry for the poor quality but I was trying to stick within the file size allowed. It is the room labelled bedroom/studio. It is 13'2" x 13'0". The walk-in closet is 9'2" x 6'3", I am envisioning that as a vocal, isolation booth. I can't really increase the size of the main room, it would expand the total house well beyond budget.

This is in the basement, it will have 10 foot ceilings, the basement floor will be concrete everywhere. I am assuming there will be some sort of proper flooring material in the studio going on top of the concrete. The main foundation walls will be either poured concrete or pre-cast concrete (sometimes called Superior Walls).

Where the bed is shown is where the mixing desk/monitor setup would be. I will be getting the architect to show that on the next go-around! The studio is pretty isolated from the rest of the house, being on an outside wall. I am concerned about the wall with the door entrance. That will need to be beefed up to give some sound reduction for people nearby. Normally it will only be my wife and I, so I am not looking for crazy levels of sound reduction. And I would want proper acoustic treatments in the studio for mixing. Most of my guitar recording is direct. But if the old acoustic comes out of storage, or if vocals are being recorded, I would likely use the walk-in closet. Not sure what it would need treatment or construction-wise.

There is a fairly large window facing the back of the house, on my right if I were in the mixing position. Right now it is a very tall window but I will be getting him to start it much higher, say 3' or so. I need the window so the room can be counted as a bedroom, for resale purposes.

Any feedback would be appreciated!

Johnny,

Sorry about the late reply.

1. the room is virtually square which is not good. I encourage you to go to Bob Golds Room Mode Calculator and punch in your dimensions. You will see that it probably fails 1 or more of the 3 tests.

2. I would probably prefer the crafts room over the current music room due to the more rectangular shape.

3. A decently treated control room typically works alright for tracking vocals and acoustic guitar so I would just have it as one big mixing/recording room. The proposed closet is tiny and probably wouldn't sound great for recording anyway. I'd probably use the closet as a storage space.

4. Get the builder to use the thickest rimboard they can for all of the walls pertaining to your room(s).

5. Get the builder to put two layers of 3/4" subfloor down. Do whatever you can to ensure they seal the seams of each layer. I would suggest having them use Green Glue as well but that will add a lot of extra cost. Having them put two layers of subfloor is extra money but I assure you, no matter the cost, it's worth it because to address it afterwards is a nightmare.. real life nightmare. It's probably the main reason I haulted my personal build. I needed a break from the nightmare.

6. Do your best to adjust the design so that the mechanical (plumbing, HVAC, electrical, central vac) are not above your room. If it has to be placed in the joists above your room, make sure they are all together so that you can box in just one cavity, not a bunch.

7. Make sure you don't have doors in the corners of your room (right now, your crafts room that I suggested should be your music room does in fact have the door in the corner).

8. Make sure there are no windows in the corners as well. This is so that you can bass trap the hell out of the room.

Greg

Ok, thanks for the very good advice. I am going to strongly consider swapping those rooms.