Studio plan, Opinions needed

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note2scott

New member
Hey guys,

Been browsing this website for about a month now, I've learned a lot and read a whole lot more, everything is starting to come together and my knowledge level is starting to get to the point where I realize I know absolutely nothing! The more you know, the less you know! And that's just the studio design and acustic treatment parts!

I've received permission (from the better half) to convert the entire basement into a home studio, the size of the basement is 18 x 30 feet. the stairwall can clearly been seen in the diagram below, as can the washer, dryer, laundry sink, furnace and hot water heater.

There is one small window (3 feet wide 8 inches high) at the very top of the wall on the right most side, currently none of the walls shown exist and will need to be constructed from 2x4's and drywall, does anyone have suggestions on layout changes?

I'll pose more questions later about use of the materials and sound deadening treatments.

Opinions on the 45 degree angled walls, am I helping myself out here or making things worse?

All opinions welcome, constructive or otherwise, many thanks in advance,

Scott
note2scott@hotmail.com
 

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It makes the washer/dryer area tight - Why not get in a plumber and ask him to shift the washer to left of the sink and mount the dryer above it on the wall. Then you can use the whole area for your studio area.

cheers
john
 
I agree about the washer/dryer area. 3'-6" is very small.
Can you even fit a washer in that area? Remember too, you have to be able to FULLY open the dryer door for it to be of any use. You also have to be able to stand in front of the appliances.

I'd re-think that area.
 
Ok, re-thought the area :)

I had actually designed as you described before with the washer and dryer in another place but then realized that maybe 10'6 by 8 was maybe a little too big to build a booth, I had heard elsewhere that 8' x 8' was optimal for a ISO booth.

I'll repost a little later after I relook at the plan.
 
Ok, so without the 3'6 "laundry space" which works better, A or B shown here?
 

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This software allows me to create 3d renders of floor plans as well, in case anyone is curious, attached is a jpg of the view sitting in the secondary (internet) computer facing into the room
 

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It looks to me like you need to also think about your monitor speaker placement. They seem rather far apart for that mix position, if you are using nearfield speakers.

Darryl.....
 
John, Can't thank you enough for your suggestion, makes total sense now that I look at it, I've read a huge number of your posts and have attempted to glean as much as possible from what you've had to offer.

I've redrafted the layout based on your suggestions and I have a few questions based on my redraft.

Wall D. Would that help at all? Does eliminating a 90 degree angle help avoid base build up or am I just wasting space?

Wall E. I've changed the angle of this wall slightly to allow for a larger use of space (gained a foot in the middle of the room while leaving the required 18 inches around the hot water heater, does this help or am I again just making more work for myself?

Wall F. Is this the best angle and position for this wall? Could I perhaps extend the wall the encloses the stairwall and make this wall more of a sharp angle?

TO Everyone: The only wall that I can't move is the one that covers the side of the stairwell, if anyone has suggestions for a replan of this room I'm all ears (ummm... eyes?)

Thanks again, and im always looking for suggestions!
 

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OK first let me openly proclaim I am envious, since my entire studio (almost done!!) is 8.5x11, that includes desk, drums, and space for my daughter's violin lessons!

But enough about me. I like the wall layout, but I don't like the furniture layout at all. The entire floor is wasted space, your back is to your clients, all the furniture is oriented toward walls. This is a creatively dead space.

May I ask if you are going to strictly record everything in the iso booth? Why not visually divide the main room into workstation space and client/additional recording space? Perhaps you could treat the main room in such a fashion as to facilitate monitoring on one side and a roomy sounding recording space on the other? Mind you I don't know much about acoustic design, but if it's possible, I think it's a huge benefit.

OK, some specifics:

- Make the door on wall E open into the laundry room, ditto for the iso booth--that maximizes use of studio floorspace.

- Why two desks? Two computers I understand, but two desks? Why not both boxes on a big L-shaped desk, with the long end along the iso booth window so you can stare right at 'em, and a short end angled out into the room, which allows you to address the clients on sofa/musicians in main room.

- If the plumbing isn't a problem, move the wet bar where the sofa is, the sofa where the general use computer is, and the two chairs where the wet bar is--ideally placed for client beer consumption while they listen to your mixes, but only large enough for two so the whole freakin' band doesn't chime in. Maybe even angle the wet bar out from the wall 90 degrees to divide the lounge space from the rest of the main room.

- Reconsider the sofa. I mean, what if you wanted to record a whole band together? You'd need that space.

- The landing is bigger than it needs to be--4' is plenty for a hallway. Move the door along wall F closer to the stairs. Add a wall parallel to the left exterior wall for a closet to store excess gear, client coats, etc. with a pair of bifold doors for access.

Some things to chew on, and if somebody can please review the above for acoustic implications?
 
I am not one for experiance here, I record in my room as of now, but I would amost have the studio equipment in where your ISO booth is, and have a large room for recording with plenty of room for seperation, and maybe even a small vocal booth in a corner. Just a thought.
 
Hey guys, back again, and I've got a few more questions (and some unresolved).

First I should clear some things up, the majority of the music I will be recording will be Hip Hop, R&B and Electronic, I won't have a need for a "band" at any point as far as I can see, and this studio is only scheduled to be in use for the next 3 years, and then converted into a standard basement after that.

SO, with that in mind, I need a booth for up to 3 people for vocals (shown as the ISO booth I may have misrepresented it's use) I may at some point record a violin or other small instrument in this room but it would only be for short periods and then used as a sample to include in the music.

OK, so WALL D, is this wall doing me any good? is avoiding the 90 degree angle really helping here or am I just building a wall to build myself more work?

Wall E, how's the angle here? should it be straight??? Should the angle be tighter, or more open? this is the best angle to give the studio space maximum space, but what about acoustics?

Corner G Should I be changing the angle of one of these walls or adding some sort of deflecting wall at a 45 degree angle across the two to avoid bass build up in the corner or is it not THAT important given this is the only real 90 degree corner in the whole place.

Thanks to everyone who has submitted ideas over the design phase, you've all been a great help!!!

I will be posting new questions next week regarding the type of construction and how to deal with some ventalation issues, but I'll start a new thread for that one, this one is just the structural design! Thanks again for all your help and best of luck to ALL of you no matter where you are in your music career!
 

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note2scott said:


Wall E. I've changed the angle of this wall slightly to allow for a larger use of space (gained a foot in the middle of the room while leaving the required 18 inches around the hot water heater, does this help or am I again just making more work for myself?
Click to expand...

I ain't no expert, butI think that E wall change is no good as it makes your control room assymetrical (spell?)....it should be symetrical

cheers
 
Sen said:
I ain't no expert, butI think that E wall change is no good as it makes your control room assymetrical (spell?)....it should be symetrical

cheers
Click to expand...

Everything I've read says that Symetry is bad, as it causes the sound waves to bounce off the walls behind you, causing reverb and standing wave problems, am I misunderstanding what I've read?
 
Ok, I understand, so how would I change the walls from their current configuration to a more symetrical design without getting parallel walls and causing standing waves?
 
Hey I'm glad you used some of my suggestions, but can I offer a minor correction? The closet and utility room doors all should be hinged on the opposite side, so the closet folds towards the exterior wall, the studio --> utility room door swings into the furnace, and the iso booth door swings into the sink.

Although now that you mention that it's just singers in the iso booth, you might want to change back to having the iso door open into the iso room, that's a bit less fussy in the utility room. I was thinking you were going to set up a drum kit.
 
mshilarious, I've taken your suggestions to heart, one problem, the program im using to design the flooring, doesn't for whatever reason, allow you to switch hinged sides! you can switch direction of swing (in or out) but not the side of the hinge, odd huh?

Originaly I was working with a 6x6' "booth" which wouldn't have left much room for anything but 2 vocalists, but, as I've got all that extra room, if I NEED to record drums in there I can, down the road someitme I guess, better to plan for it and not need it then not plan for it and get screwed out of a gig huh?

Any suggestions on corner G? Is it worth changing the wall or should I just put a bass trap in the corner after it's up and painted?
 
angle the wall G inwards like you angled the E wall...then you'll lose a bit of space in that G corner. anyway after you angle it, you could put a bass trap in that corner as well as in the E corner....hope you know what i mean, and it helps..

good luck

P.S. I imported your drawing into "smart draw" but couldnt change anything (i'm hopeless with that) so i tried with words :)
 
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