John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

We just bought a new house (well, rather old actually, built in 1938) house in Ritzville, WA (near Spokane) and I'm getting set up with my studio equipment.

I've attached a diagram of the room, with inside dimensions, and two photos of the area as well. The room is 7 feet 5 inches tall, the bottom 3 feet 7 inches is wood, and appears to not be insulated, the upper part of the wall is lath and plaster, unable to determine if there is insulation behind that. As near as I can tell the walls are quite thick and appear to be built with 2x6's on 16 inch centers, the space between floors is built with 2x12's, also on 16 inch centers, the space between floors is uninsulated.

I'm in the basement of the house so the floor is a concrete slab covered with thin carpet (the carpet will eventually go away in favor of tile, and I will likely put down an area rug at that time). The room sits 4 feet 10 inches underground around about 70% of the studio, the remainder being bordered by other rooms/hallway.

I'm a very quiet musician, I usually record and mix at around 45~50 dB, occasionally I'll take it up to 65, maybe 70db to check my low end in mixes, but only for brief periods, then I bring it back down. Because my wife's office is on the third floor, with a full floor between us, I could easily go louder without bothering anyone.

Right now budget is not a consideration as my only question is about where I should locate my desk in a room this shape. This is the first time I've set up in a room that is not a rectangle, so not sure about placement. The attached diagram shows the current placement of my desk, it is easily moved because it is on wheels. Once I have it placed I'll start putting in bass traps and stuff.

I just finished composing my 55th album and looking forward to recording in this space.

So, where do you guys think I should put my desk in this room?

Thanks!

Hi Mad Poet

If you do not need much sound reduction then you'll probably find you don't need to build any extra isolation into your space, which is good because it maximises your room volume and you'll have more space for acoustic treatment (which you'll definitely need).

Do you only need a mix room and not a tracking room? Or is this to be a hybrid room?

If it was my space then I would split it into two separate rooms, a control room and a tracking room (see red dividing wall in image)

Either way, consider placing your desk in either of these two positions instead:
Paul

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the information, sorry for the slow response, we're still working on getting the new house set up.

I've moved my desk down to the opposite side of the room, down by the fireplace. I'm not going to be splitting the room, as it's really just for mixing, and recording direct in guitars. I do have some other rooms I can use if I need isolation. Fortunately it's a rather large house so I have plenty of options that way.

I've got some 6" thick Rockwool AFB 2' x 4' on the to start making bass traps!