Planning a basement studio, question on size requirement?

Matt the plebian · Post by **Matt the plebian** » Tue Oct 14, 2003 10:07 am

Hello. first off let me say what an excellent forum this is. I plan to reference it quite often in the future. I would like to build a studio in my basement. The dimensions are roughly 19' x 21'. I would like a separate control room. Room in a room type deal I suppose. What would be the minimum amount of space needed for the control room to still insure good sound? i.e. distance from moniters to back wall n such. Am I correct in assuming non parallel dimensions are best for control room acoustics? Also, is it a bad idea to put a vocal booth within the control room. To start out it will be just myself being artist/engineer, but eventually I would like to be able to have a full band in the basement to reherse/ record. Thank you for any suggestions.

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 1:28 am

Have you looked at the Corner Control Room layout here?

http://www.saecollege.de/reference_mate ... /Plans.htm

Size is about right, might have to move a door or something... Steve

Matt the plebian · Post by **Matt the plebian** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 11:08 am

Thanks! Those are some great diagrams. Is there a dimension that is considered too small, or would it be best to utilize as much as possible, within reason? For control room that is.

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 3:42 pm

With your dimensions, you won't be able to have BOTH a large, comfy control room AND a large, spacious sounding studio - your decision as to which is more important should be based at least partly on how much time you'll be spending in the control room. For example, if you're going to be composing in there from a keyboard workstation, or editing on a DAW, as well as recording, then the CR should get more of the available space than if you're intending to bring in live bands and record all at once.

It'll take a bit of thought, then a bit more - eventually, you'll find a compromise that should work for you. The key word here is YOU... Steve

Matt the plebian · Post by **Matt the plebian** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 10:45 am

Excellent point. For now most if not all will be done by myself through a DAW/ keyboard, although I will be recording live guitar/bass/ vocals. Which brings up another point. Would building a vocal booth be better within the control room, or outside as a separate mini room? I guess I would need it somewhat close to my equipment. How do those of you who do it all yourself handle the vox? A cable extension to bring your keyboard close? Thanks for your replies, all this info. is very helpful to a novice such as myself.

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 5:48 pm

DAW's make this part so much easier than it used to be for a one-man show - you would wire each room with audio, probably video, and DEFINITELY Cat 5 cable runs, all leading back to a patch bay in the control room. (all sealed and routed not to compromise sound proofing, of course) Then, you buy a second keyboard, 15" flat panel and mouse, and what they call a Cat 5 Extender - Belkin and a couple other manufacturers make these, they allow you to run a computer from any remote point up to about 500 feet, with resolution up to 1280 x 1024. You would put single connector plates in the outer rooms (wherever you might be playing an instrument) and a multi-point RJ-45 patch bay in the control room, or wherever the computer is (usually in a closet, or machine room, to kill the drive and fan noise) - then, you simply patch the keyboard, monitor and mouse to whichever station you're going to be both talent and engineer for, so you can use the computer keyboard to control record, etc, on the DAW. You can check these extenders out here -

http://www.pcnation.com/web/details.asp?item=151225

A single, portable keyboard/monitor/mouse mounted on a small rolling stand such as an autolocater or remote control would use, would allow you to roll to the room you will record in, plug in one cable plus headphones and mics, and record yourself. Doing it this way, you would have control over anything your computer runs whether it's multitracking software or a digital mixer with external control capabilities. You could record a track, play it back thru the phones, and re-record it if you screwed up, all without leaving your chair in the drum or vocal booth. Pretty sweet...

If you consider yourself a novice, here's another site that you'll want to bookmark and visit every chance you get -

http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html

This is a course in recording all in one place, done by a man that's almost as ancient as I am but with better connections

so enjoy... Steve

Matt the plebian · Post by **Matt the plebian** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 10:47 am

Steve, thank you very much! That's a great site. I know I have alot to learn, but these forums really help out. Another person who was both artist/ engineer said that they just got a special cable extension to extend their keyboard into the vox area, and I guess just knew the keys to punch to record/stop. Have you heard of these extension cables? Also any suggestion on the best way to choose monitors? I guess it's all personal preference, but what should I be listening for? I don't think that it's right for me to assume that just because a monitor isnt as expensive as Mackie Hr824's, that it's no good. I suppose you just listen too as many possible than select. Anyway, thanks again.

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 7:08 pm

If you don't have too far to go, you can get extension cables for keyboard, monitor and mouse. With SVGA and up, you're limited to about 15 feet TOTAL. This usually isn't enough, considering maintaining sound proofing, going around other gear, etc - however, if you can live with the limitations it's quite a bit cheaper.

Yes, monitors are at least partly personal preference. For mixing, you want monitors that make warts sound like warts. Home stereo speakers are generally designed to sound GOOD, no matter what you play through them. Within the studio realm of speakers, there are good and bad sounding monitors at most of the price points (although probably LESS bad ones in the expensive areas) - BTW, Mackies are neither expensive nor the "End-all" speakers - the range goes from a little over $100 each for passive speakers, up to several thousand dollars each.

One way to find monitors is to decide the maximum you can possibly spend on speakers, then go to a serious music store and audition as many of the ones in your price range as you can. Always, if you're comparing two speakers, make sure they are at the SAME volume level, within 1/4 dB if possible. Louder ALWAYS sounds better, so this can easily fool you.

On speakers, Barefoot is the expert here - when you REALLY want to know how to figure out your speakers, post your question in the speaker forum. Thomas is the man... Steve

Matt the plebian · Post by **Matt the plebian** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 10:29 am

Thanks again! One last thing (for now) Does the size of your control room dictate the type/size of your monitors? I suppose I'm jumping ahead since I dont even have the exact size of my room yet, nevertheless, for future reference. Or maybe this question is better for speaker forum, not to undermine your knowledge of course. Thanks.

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 4:53 pm

Yeah, to a certain extent the bigger the control room the bigger monitors you need to "fill it up" - for nearfields it's not nearly as noticeable, but for farfields, whether soffited or not, you've got the Inverse Square Law working against you, plus the overall cubic volume of the room.

And don't worry about any "undermining" - I ask Barefoot questions all the time, because that's more his specialty than mine and it's just dumb not to take advantage of it. We're all friends here... Steve

Matt the plebian · Post by **Matt the plebian** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 2:19 am

Thanks again for all your speedy replies, you've been very helpful. Till my next post.......