Building a basement studio

[gtrplaya]

Hi folks....
First of all, I'd like to acknowledge all those here who give excellent advice from the seasoned vets, especially John Sayers and others, to stark raving newbies like me. I have a small space (10' X 18', with a 10' ceiling) to utilize, as a basement studio Currently the studio is here:

http://www.angelfire.com/md2/picshere/studio.html

and my rough floor plan is attached. This is gonna basically be a project/MIDI studio, 'cause I don't think I have enough room to record live drums (so far all MIDI, guitars and vocals are going into a Mackie 1202VLZ/VS-880 VX digital recorder combo).

I've been over to the recommended site: http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html,

and John's studios in project site, have done a lot of reading, but still remain confused about Heinholtz resonations, soundproofing, etc. I thought I might enlist the help here for basically the beginnings of how to best treat and sound proof my space (I'll included pics of what it looks like in the next few posts). Behind the vocal booth wall will be a washroom and outside along the entrance wall are stairs, under the stairs is storage and to next to the storage is the furnace.

 

[John Sayers]

It's not really to scale is it?? That couch would be at least 6' long but it looks to be about 4' or less in your drawing.

You must attain some sort of symmetry around your speakers also

cheers
john

 

[gtrplaya]

It's not really to scale is it?? That couch would be at least 6' long but it looks to be about 4' or less in your drawing.

You must attain some sort of symmetry around your speakers also

cheers
john

No John, it's not. I don't have a fancy CAD program so I eyeballed everything. Scaling is the least of my concern. Proper sound proofing/construction is what I'd like to understand.

 

[wolf_recordings]

I feel for you man. More space is a must! I'm in the process of relocating my studio as well. (See the attached picture and you'll see my current situation/problem). I too am a little perplexed by all the differenet sound-proofing techniques, materials, etc. But I'm getting there. As for myself, I'm probably going to read the saecollege reference materials pages a few more times until I'm sure I've absorbed absolutely everything.

As for your layout, I'd say that you need more room for your instruments (your picture depicts about 6'x10'... I would be tempted to expand it to at least 8') Your instruments will probably be played at a much louder volume than will your monitors in your control room. Am I wrong, or would it be extremely tough to avoid reverb problems (from loud instruments) in such small quarters? Although this somewhat depends on how loud / what type of music you play.

my 2 cents...

Alan