Newbie here! Need some help...

[anscari]

Hi there!
I'm new here, and I'm starting to make my first serious steps into the recording world, I've been through various other forums around but after lurking a bit around here, you guys seem to be the most cool and down to earth, apart from being an endless source of information and fun!

So, I'll try to expose my situation.

I'm living in a house with a big basement floor (plans of which are attached to the post) which I would like to transform into a nice recording studio. Which would be the first steps to accomplish this? I'm attaching photos too, so you can recognise potential problems which I couldn't, and don't worry about cars or anything, all those are going out!

So, what should I do to make this place a viable recording studio? And which distribution would you recomend me?

Don't get fooled by the blueprint proportions, it's not very precise, but the written lenghts are.

I also thought about not using the right side (as you can see, it is so nicely arranged as a mini disco), wouldn't it be so small then?

Feedback plezzzzzzzzzzz


Thank you so much, and I hope to stay a long time here!

Anscari



1st: The blueprint
2nd: From outside (left side of blueprint, the two big doors)
3rd & 4th: Lower side of blueprint

 

[anscari]

5th: Window detail
6th & 7th: Upper side and staircase

 

[anscari]

And the right side nice room

 

[Ripthorn]

Okay, I am going to refer to the blueprint posted above for my suggestions. This is just my opinion, so yeah. First, I would make the room in the bottom left of the blue print the tracking room because it is far away from the wc, and the sound of water going through pipes can ruin a recording way quick. that being said, the window in the room should be either treated or just blocked off completely (though you should be careful blocking it off completely because that could create a resonating cavity, very bad in this case). Also, if the dotted line on the top of that room is not a wall, put a nice thick wall there. At the bottom of the stairs, create a soundlock to prevent any noises coming from the stairwell getting into your recording room. That is how I would do the layout. Treatment is a whole other issue that i won't get into yet. First, I think I would like to hear what others suggest about a layout. Is this building in a crowded area or connected to other houses? that could create some problems, especially if you need to do isolation work in the rooms first. That could eat into your space and budget pretty quick.

 

[anscari]

It is an isolated house, and there's no one around the house except in the night.

I have pretty much decided not to use the big room in the right side, so I think that the W.C. isn't going to be much of a hassle...

The dotted line is to show the little slope which you can see in the second photo.

What do you mean by "blocking off" the window, and how can I avoid it creating a "resonant cavity"? I think that I prefer keeping that window for having a bit of natural light, if it is possible, I guess that's what I could get by "treating" it as you say.

The staircase has got a door upside, would it be of any good to put a soundlock up and another down? Will I get rid of problems with it by just putting bricks in the part which just has the metal railing?

So much little things with that space, isn't it?

 

[Ripthorn]

Okay, time for round two. You can get by treating the window. This would be done with either really heavy, thick drapes or you could make a kind of acoustical "plug" made of mineral wool covered in fabric. The thing is that windows are bad when it comes to acoustic energy. The plug or curtain will make it so that the sound in the room doesn't get reflected back in from the glass. If you need to keep sound out of the room from outside, then that is a bigger problem, but we can cross that bridge when we get to it. As far as the room on the right side, I would think you could use it as a control room if the walls facing outside provide enough isolation. I would wall off the top section, creating a little room outside the cellar and wc doors. This wall would NOT be parallel to the wall on the opposite (bottom) side of the new control room. This is all assuming you want a control room and assuming you can put in some kind of heavy window in the wall between control room and tracking room. Would you prefer to record in the same room as playing? If so, then I am making a moot point.
What are your walls made out of? You may need to put up an extra layer of drywall or something. You definitely should put up a wall where the slope of the floor is. You can put a door in that wall, and try to make the wall not parallel to the opposite wall to avoid standing waves. It should be a strong wall, with a couple layers of drywall at least on the studio side and filled with good absorbing material like mineral wool. What kind of floor is there?

 

[anscari]

I see your points, and that's so useful.

I don't want to use the right side room, at all... Mainly because it is a part of the house which is quite used, unlike the other space which is completely abandoned, but also because it is the worst part of the entire plan when it comes to "sound" (very very thin walls, a lot of windows, etc...).

Si I guess I could make it without it, in this case, I have even thought about not using the upper part (the one in the slope), but I've been using sketchup, and I get a TINY space which probably will sound like crap, so I think it's not a good idea

I don't understand your question about "recording in the same room as playing".

It's ceramic floor all over the place.

 

[Ripthorn]

Do you want to have your recording equipment in the same space as the one you will be playing in, i.e. will your guitar and amp or drums or whatever be in the same room as your computer or other recording device?

 

[anscari]

No!!!

I want to have both a recording and control room... as I have space for both.

 

[Ripthorn]

Okay, then here is my suggestion. If you aren't going to use the right side room (as shown in the plan view above), then your control room is probably best going to be located in the bottom right corner of your main room. Do not make it rectangular. From the top it will look sort of like a diamond with five sides. The two existing walls will make the point and then there will be three others. One will face out towards the corner completely oposite it (top left) and the other two walls will then connect that wall to the existing walls. These walls (all 3) will need to be very thick. You will also want a large window in the center wall looking out into the studio. Do some drawings to determine the right dimensions so that you have good sightlines into the room. I think that should cover the basic layout. Make sure you have patch panels to run cables from the studio into your control room and make sure that you have lots of power outlets. You are going to need to treat the walls both in the control room and the recording room.

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Lots of things to clarify and define prior to the planning stage. Let alone the design process.

1. What are your "isolation" goals. ie.."sound proofing"
A. Sound propagation to the rest of the house as well to the outside world. How critical is it vs the expected SPL of the source sound in the studio and monitors in the control room.

2. HVAC/Ventilation. What is the environmental impact on your needs. ie..Comfort and health.
A. Define the range of not only the climate outside to defend against, but the tolerance range of expected comfort you would like to achieve.

3. Skill and material availability.

4. Budget availability vs Studio criteria goals. How flexible?

5. Music type maximum SPL ...ie....Full blown Hard Rock with Marshalls vs a chamber section.

6. Recording type...ie....Multitrack sequence vs ENSEMBLE recording...ie...recording one musician at a time vs a whole band ensemble. This has to do with a number of things. First, comfort/health(i.e..ventilation/HVAC), Transmission loss goals(ie..."soundproofing goals")
Available space.....

7. Permits. Is this going to be a commercial endeavor...ie..recording for financial gain? Or just for fun. Also, how critical is your local building code enforcement authority. Even if for yourself, the PERMIT and CODE REGULATIONS, regarding modifying a residential space in some countries and localities within those countrys vary considerably. Insurance loss and fines should be considered a possiblity should you build with NO permits.

8. Contractual or DIY build? ie..Electrical, HVAC, Transmission Loss construction, and other considerations are part of the picture. Do you intend on doing EVERYTHING yourself, or contracting out portions or all of it.

10. Time...How soon do you want this to be a reality?
fitZ

 

[anscari]

Oh! Ripthorn is no longer alone

well, I'll reply point by point, thank you Fitz!

1 - It should sound as good as possible inside. Outside (soundproofing), is not that important, it is not going to be extensively used at night, and there are no neighbors near to complain during the day.

2 - It's a place of the house where little conditioning is needed. Nicely cold on winter, nicely hot on summer, but never too hot or cold. So I guess that with an electric conditioner I will be fine, no need for big installations.

3 - Skill? Construction skills, do you mean? That's no problem at all, got a bunch of relatives who know about it, and a LOT of friends to help me
Material? Like what I'm able to get? I guess that anything that I could get in a shop...

4 - The budget is quite flexible. This is a project that I have with a fellow sound technician, we talked about starting a sound company to offer services related to the sound industry (live technicians, studio technicians, recordings, production, post-production, etc...). We are going to start in a rented studio, and every single penny we earn is going to be invested in this new studio, so we can get our projects going with all the money coming to us. In the start, it is going to be like 50.000€ (75.000$), because we've got a veeery nice government that lends money to young people willing to start their own companies... I know it's not much, but it should do for the very first steps. The studio goals... well, basically I want it to be a DECENT recording studio and a GOOD producing studio. We should be able to record a medium budget LP there (I don't know what is the quality standard in the USA in this kind of budget, but the standard in Spain is absolutely LOUSY... like +15000€ recordings where you can hear cars driving outside the place where the record was being made (and it was not a sound effect).

5 - No limit here. The house is in a village where there's a lot of metal bands (must be something on the water here), so expect the maximum.

6 - I'm a big fan of multi-tracking. I don't think that we are talking about creating a good space for recording a Symphonic Orchestra... but a 5 people ensemble should fit fine and comfortably, wherever the recording room is placed.

7 - It is going to be commercial. Construction permits are not that expensive here, so I would ask for them, they would be no problem. They ask for an architect to sign the plan... got a few friends, not a problem.

8 - As I said, I've got a bunch of brains and a bunch of hands. I'm in the latter. Anyway, if I see that something is too much of a hassle, I could pay for it to be done, but experience tells me to stay away from spanish construction professionals, as "professionals" are not the best way to call them!

9 - ???

10 - profit! haha

10 - Calmly. Would like to start on January, or whenever I could get the money to make the first step (which step would be it?), and finish it in a year or two. As soon as money lets me finish it!


Answering all these questions has also answered me a lot of things which I hadn't thought about before. Thank you!

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Ok. Gotcha. So...now lets put this into perspective. SPACE ALLOCATION WISE We'll go from here.

fitZ