buildind a 2 room studio from scratch!

B

Brad_g

New member
so me and my dad are going to start building a studio! its going to be 2 rooms in our barn! but i have to come up with a plan first! one big thing i need to know is how many watts of power should i have access to? how big should the recording room be? and whats other things i need to know?? thanks!
 
Think about what you really need before you stare making any real plans. For example, how much room will you expect to need? If you only plan to record one or two guys on acoustic guitars you wont need anywhere as much space as you will for entire bands. what instruments do you plan or expect to record? Drums take more room than you might think. Once you decide how much space you need then you need to consider the shape of the room(s) square rooms are not generally preferred. Then consider sound isolation, sometimes called soundproofing, thick, solid, well built walls and ceilings are what is needed for this. Make sure you plan to have more electrical outlets than you ever expect to need and be sure everthing is grounded. All doors need to be solid and seal tightly. You will need to breathe so you will need to plan for ventilation, heat and a.c. Get past this part and you will be ready to start on phase two, room treatment. Go ahead and start reading up on room treatments, anything by or endorsed by Ethan Winer gets a good approval rating around here. This sounds like a lot to think about and do but if you plan to build a studio you will be a lot better off to do it right form the start.

One more thing, welcome to the world of home recording, Be prepaired to say good bye to your sanity and possibly your bank account, at times it is frustrating and expensive. :)
 
Good points so far guys. I think you need to look at how much equipment you can afford. Are you wanting all analog or all digital or a mix of both. Whatever you decide you need good clean power to your equipment. I bought a Furman power conditioner and have noticed a noticeable decrease in AC noise.
 
we will be recording drums! what is the best shape? we plan on using sound bored and audimute for now!
 
My main tracking room is 13' X27' with 9' ceiling. This works well for 3 or 4 piece bands, more than that and it starts getting crowded, most musicians seem to preferr having some space, and too much gear or too many people gets cluttered very quickly. Rooms of this shape tend to be "boomy" sounding and have some reflection problems. This is where room treatment really pays off. Diffusor panels (for echo/reflections) and bass traps (for the boominess) are more than worth the cost and trouble of installing them. Lighting is something else to consider. Avoid the use of florescent lights, they tend to cause a lot of hum, some dimmer switches cause hum too.

You mentioned having a 2 room set up, is the second room going to be used as a control room or as an isolation room? Either way you will need to plan for some treatment there also. Window between the two rooms? Glass presents it's own problems.

I commend you for planning in advance rather than building a room then wondering why it doesn't sound good. Take your time and build it right and you will have something you can be proud of.
 
yeah its going to be a control room! i was planning on building like a 4x4 or someting vocal booth also?
 
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