Here's my first stab...

[ChuckU]

Here's my plan for moving my studio from my attic to my garage.

Basically, I took a few ideas from the SAE link but I don't know a lot about acoustic treatments, recommended ceiling heights, room sizes, etc.

Comments on the layout are welcome. Once I get a footprint, I can work out the other details. Kind of like my day job.

The dashed purple line represents the existing wall between my cellar and my garage. The outer wall is obviously concrete. The door in the upper left will lead to a new garage addition and is currently in the center. I'm considering another large door in the center to move equipment in and out and to keep prospective clients out of my new garage.

The only questions I have right now are:

Is the control room too small? Am I better off moving it into the current garage completely?

 

[acidrock]

A very ambitious project indeed....

Is the control room too small? Am I better off moving it into the current garage completely?

These questions seem to counter each other.
I have no knowledge of a working studio,so my comments will be based on my experience of putting an addition on my house.

1.Laying out lines on a floor can be very deceiving.Even though all your walls are asymetrical I would somehow try to find rooms that approximate your planned room sizes and stand inside them to get the "feel".Having said that you pretty much have to work with what you've got.
2.Of course use the "cellar" go as big as possible(or as your wife will let you.If you're going to invest this much time go all the way baby.Plus without using this area I'd assume one of the iso booths would have to go.
3.I don't know how you plan on doing this but you may want to a least check out code and zoning restrictions.Of course you can do this on the sly,but all it takes is one nosey neighbor or a disgruntled client and the next thing you know you've got an inspector at your door.This may be a "Wisconsin"thing I don't know,but it wont cost you any thing to check it out.My reasoning is you don't want to get into a situation where you're forced to tear it down.
4.I suppose one large room with dividers/gobos won't cut it for you?
5.Have you thought out the heating/lighting/power and cabling issues?

 

[Michael Jones]

I know studio real estate gets eaten up quick, but I'd make the control room a little bigger, if possible. It's nice to be able to get behind your mixing desk, if need be.

Does the storage room need to be that big? At roughly 11'x6' its larger than the adjacent iso.

Maybe consider a double entry or air lock for the live room. With your current lay-out, it'd be easy to do.

What are the little circles you have shown? Are those support colums?

 

[Jeff_D]

Id skip the breaker / storage room- and just put i nice cabinet door or something over it (check local codes)- seems like dead space- for storage in my practice space, i hung a door slab from the ceiling with steel cable (dog tie out and a few hooks into the ceiling) so i had a shelf about 7' above the floor w/ about 2' clearance to the ceiling- good for guitar cases and such (and diffusion to an extent)- coak racks on the wall are good for cables- point is- be creative figure out what exacly you need to store and make up something cool to accomadate- you dont have to just pile shit in a closet- redo your kitchen so you can use the old cabinetry in your new studio- whatever!

have fun- good luck- happy recording

my 2c

 

[ChuckU]

Michael,
I know you could land a chopper in your control room. I actually overlaid yours over a sketch I did a while back based on the room I'm now using. Yours dwarfed it.

The circles are indeed columns. I'll just have to live with them. You're probably right about the storage area. I'm still a little ignorant as to how to set up my angles, etc.

You're definitely right about the airlock idea, too. I just don't know how far Iwant to go here.

BTW, I apologize for delay in rendering your studio. Unfortunately, the system I had 3Dstudio on crashed a few months ago completely hosing the registry. I have yet to reload all my applications, but as I recall, I was able to scab a grand piano and a drum kit from 3dcafe.com and drop them into your model. I don't believe I lost your file. Maybe I can get back to it one of these days...

 

[Michael Jones]

Michael,
I know you could land a chopper in your control room. I actually overlaid yours over a sketch I did a while back based on the room I'm now using. Yours dwarfed it.

The circles are indeed columns. I'll just have to live with them. You're probably right about the storage area. I'm still a little ignorant as to how to set up my angles, etc.

You're definitely right about the airlock idea, too. I just don't know how far Iwant to go here.

BTW, I apologize for delay in rendering your studio. Unfortunately, the system I had 3Dstudio on crashed a few months ago completely hosing the registry. I have yet to reload all my applications, but as I recall, I was able to scab a grand piano and a drum kit from 3dcafe.com and drop them into your model. I don't believe I lost your file. Maybe I can get back to it one of these days...

No worries man, those kind of things happen.
I actually drew up my piano in cad, to actual dimensions, just so that I could drop in the drawing and see how well it fit. The Boston Grand Pianos have a considerably wider tail than most.

As far as angles go, 12 degrees seems to be the norm. Also try to make your control room as symetrical as possible; you should be able to split it down the middle, and mirror one side to the other.

Don't fall in love with one layout until you've exhausted conceptual designs. Don't be afraid to change things around and take a different, even more radical approach to layouts. Remember, you're going to have this for a LONG time!

 

[ChuckU]

I'm also concerned about ceiling height. Between HVAC and the center carrying beam, I think I can get in a drop ceiling no higher than 6'9" or so.

 

[lunatic]

Do you *need* two iso booths? Maybe you could even construct a soundlock that could double as an iso booth for vocals? That would also save you some room.

I would definately make the control room a little larger.

Peace,
Brad

 

[Michael Jones]

I think the only thing you can do about the limited ceiling height is to "703" the dickens out of it and make it sonicly disappear.

(add a lot of absorbtion so there will be no reflections off the ceiling)