The Size of a comfortable control room

[Rochey]

Okay guys... here's a quickie for you....

I've been through Johns manual countless times, and i've seen some of the great CR designs he's done.

At the moment, i'm going through the processes of designing a studio that I may some-day be able to afford (read: Fantasy, but with some cost reduction - hehehe)

Anyway, one of the things i'm coming up against is the minimum size of the control room to make it comfortable. I'm not really all that good at visualising space. My current design is a square about 12.5Feet (3.8m) in each direction. The walls then angle in a 12degree's each. I've attached an idea of it.

The reason i'm designing now, is that I plan to buy a plot of land and build from the ground up. I want to have a rough idea of how much land i need to buy to make the venture worthwhile.

Any feedback you have would be appreciated.

Cheers

Rochey

[charoo]

its' looking great man !

I wish you make this idea into reality. lots' of luv and wishes !

charoo

[Eric Best]

Rochy,

What I've been doing is taking masking tape and taping it on my floor, I'll set up a couple of desks, and move around in it and see how I like it. I've dropped two designs because I thought they were too crammed.

I suppose you could also do this outside with stakes and string depending on what the weather is like where you are.

Good luck

Eric

[Michael Jones]

OK, that's not a bad start.
I had to convert your metric measurements to feet and inches to get an idea of the space. (I can't visualize SI units!)
So, if I did it right, its about 20' wide, by 34' long.
Those dimensions seem very close John Sayer's Design of Left Bank Studios so you may want to look over those plans for ideas on economy of space.

In your plan, the two rooms in juxtaposition of the control room, seem nearly identical in size and appear to be mirror images of each other. Two identical tracking rooms is probably not the best use of space. I would consider perhaps a corner control room, a larger main room, and 2 smaller rooms. If this is going to be a free standing structure, I would think you absolutely need to implement a BATHROOM and a KITCHEN into your layout!

As far as how much land you'd need to build it, consider first the site must also accompany access (a driveway) and some sort of surface parking. Those 2 items alone can easily equal the square footage of your studio.
Many local building codes also have MINIMUM set backs from property lines as well as setbacks from adjacent structures.
You'll also want to leave some room for landscape and vegetation.
At an absolute minimum, I'd think you'll need 4 times the size of your building in land area to put it on.

Hope that information helps, and like I said, it looks like you're off to a great start!
Keep us updated on your design.

Link to Left Bank Studios

[Rochey]

i've just looked at left bank, it looks like it's twice as long, and twice as wide!!! (arghhhhh) - I don't think i'll ever be in a position to buy that much land out of "spare cash" (if you know what i mean)...

there is no way i could do recording as an alternative to a monthly income. (I suspect there are many of us in that position) - so, recording for me is an out of hours thing - which I have no issue with, because i'm more than happy to spend my free hours tinkering and recording.

Anyway, thanks for the hint on bathroom etc. I didn't think of that... we all gotta pee once in a while... and i guess asking them to piss in the corner of the field wouldn't go down too well..

I've redesigned things a little, and put in metric AND imperial on the main dimentions.i havn't really made a bother regarding acoustic treatment on anything besides the control room. I will at another time, i just want some "quick and dirty" feedback

cheers guys, any comments are appreciated..

R

[Michael Jones]

Yeah, I guess Left Bank was a little bigger; 12m X 9m as opposed to your 11 x 6.
Your second design looks so much better, so much more usable.

Now you have a workable floor plan!
Would it be possible to reconfigure the kitchen sink so that it is on the same wall as the toilet and sink in the bathroom?
It would be easier to plumb is all. I know that may pose a problem with the door leading into the kitchen, but maybe you could play around with it some?
Also, remember any drain has to have a vent, and if they kit. sink, toilet and bath sink were along the same wall, one vent would suffice for all of them.

Also, I'm thinking you would want to heat and cool this space.??
Yes?
You need a mechanical room for the HVAC blower and furnace.
It is possible to put that unit in the attic, but it costs a LOT more, and simple things like changing a filter is a major pain!

You don't need much space to house the unit. 3 feet wide x 4 feet deep is adequate, but it will need a door that swings open from the outside.

[Rochey]

i don't know ANYTHING about HVAC... at all...

I've seen how much it adds to the cost as well... bloody frightening.

It also lowers the amount of soundproofing doesn't it?

Help me out here Michael! Do you know of any good websites where i can read more about HVAC for studios

besides the manual that is

cheers

R

[Michael Jones]

HVAC isn't something I feel qualified to talk about either.
If its installed and planned out correctly, it shouldn't degrade your STC or soundproffing.

Some things that are done to ensure non-degradation are over-sizing the ducts. Running multiple ducts from the blower for each room. Running one main trunk line and feeding the other rooms off of it is a sure fire isolation killer!

Look around here for a cursory guide to hvac.
http://www.trane.com

[darwin]

There are numerous posts on HVAC in this forum. Do a search on "HVAC", "air conditioning", "ventilation", and/or "duct". It is, by far, the toughest thing to accomodate in studio design and construction. These searches should get you some ideas.

[laptoppop]

Also check out John's work on the SAE site. (http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html under fitting)

Also, by building a big box lined with 703 with inputs and outputs that are offset from each other, you can help to isolate the different rooms while still using the same HVAC unit.

But ventilation is crucial in a studio -- you are creating a tightly closed off space and its easy to have it be a place where the musicians get sleepy because of a lack of oxygen! :>)

-lee-