where can I get floor plan for modest recording studio

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alba359

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I am new to recording. I am having a a wooden structure of aprox. 20' by 20' built on cinderblocks in my backyard. I intend to use it for recording demos of my 4 piece rock and roll band. I have an ADAT,Alesis Studio 24, Sony MDmk2- 4 track mini disc recorder ( for mixdown), Blue Max compressor, Behringer Virtuizler, smallPA, microphones, acoustic drums and enough equipment to get started. Is there anywhere on the internet I can find a floor plan for the studio. I have no idea of where to place the drums, where to put the guitar amps, where the control room should be etc. I still have to learn to use all this stuff! Thanks, Don
 
Are you set on 20' X 20'? You should ponder these dimension a bit. While they are conducive for a tight two car garage for later retrofit when you have your second kid, they will make it harder to eliminate standing waves at the 29Hz, 58Hz, 116Hz... points.

I have a similar project underway with the same basic space. I opted for a 16 X 23 footprint. While it doesn't have the easy conversion to a garage, it has dimensions better suited (I believe) to dispersing the room modes.

http://www.mindspring.com/~toddjones/studio16X22.gif

I anticipate I will need to do some acoustic treatment of the space to optimize it, but I'm trying to start from a good beginning.

I am using sand-filled cinder blocks with an exterior stucco finish. This is slightly cheaper than stick built and has much better sound proofing capacity than stick.
 
Alba, Todzilla has the right idea- that square will cause you damn little but grief. His footprint make better sense, but you might be better off to view the outer walls as just the shell and design the booth and control room as separate rooms within that structure. The shape of the control room is the most important part of your design. You can do a lot of cool things in all kinds of different recording booth shapes, but getting the acoustics right in the control room is the difference between your mixes only sounding good in the room you mixed them, vs. a mix that sounds great no matter where you take it. It's not just the gear, its the room! It is worth the time and investment to really make sure you have the room right- before you start. I may be prejudiced because that's what I do, but you should hear the difference between a good control room and a bad one- it'll mess you up.
Buick
 
Thanks for info. The contractor said he could build the shell of the studio 24'by24' for about the same price as 20'by20'. I will do the inside. By making a control room, isolation both, closet and free standing baffels I may be able to compensate for "standing waves", is this correct? Would that make it not square? . I copied a lot of information suggested from this forum to the contractor, so thanks for all of the information given.
 
No problem, alaba. In my exerience standing waves can be defeated by making sure that not just the room dimensions are correct. The quality & accuracy of the sound in a room has as much to do with the shape as it does the size. The designs I do are all planned to direct the sound to where I want to dispose of it. In other words, live end- dead end design. Simply stated, the sound is generated at one end of the room (by your monitors) and eaten by sound absorption/dispersion at the other end. That's way too simplistic an explanation, but there are good books available on the subject. I can't emphasize enough how important it is to make sure your room will sound right BEFORE you start building it. It is worth the time and the delay you may suffer. As far as I'm concerned, its as important as tuning a guitar before you lay down the track. Some problems you can't 'fix in the mix'. Room design is definitely one of them. Either hire the design done or start reading up and drawing your own conclusions.
Buick
 
Buick and Ola,
I heard someone say that if you use nearfield monitors, the qualities of the control room is not as important as if you use a larger setup. Is this an oversimplification you think? What are the most important things to think of when you build a control room where you plan to use nearfields only?

One more thing (this is going to sound stupid): Me and the missus are just getting a new bed. I got the idea I could use the old one for a bass/lo mid absorber (double bed, spring interior mattress with a wood frame). It produces some pretty low frequencies when I bash it with my hand (plus this makes dust whirl out of it in a cool looking manner).

Does this make any sense at all? If so, how do you think I should place it - straight up against the back wall, diagonally in a corner or something else?
 
Regarding the first part of your question, if you put it in a right context - compare a main studio control room with soffited monitors, yes
Once again - study John's designs on the SAE site, they are simple, and above all, right - tested - they work, and they work very well.

Forget the bed idea, thats just a waste of space . Fuuny idea tho....:rolleyes:
 
Hehe, OK. Thanks anyway. I might try it anyway just out of curiosity, I'll post a report.

Hey, it's bedtime over there. Nighty night.
 
Hey again,
I just found out that one of the walls in the room I would use for recording, is just a plasterboard wall. How would that effect the acoustics of the room? Is it possible that it would vibrate and send a lot of bass frequencies out of the room (and thus dampen those effectively IN the room)? Or could there be any particular downsides to recording in a room like that?

The other three walls are solid concrete, as well as the floor and the ceiling.

I'm also a bit confused at the different types of low frequency absorbers. There seem to be three main constructions: Tube ones (like this one), panel type and acoustic hangers (both shown here ). So what are the pros and cons with each type?

Thanks
/Henrik
 
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alba359 said:
I am new to recording. I am having a a wooden structure of aprox. 20' by 20' built on cinderblocks in my backyard. I intend to use it for recording demos of my 4 piece rock and roll band. I have an ADAT,Alesis Studio 24, Sony MDmk2- 4 track mini disc recorder ( for mixdown), Blue Max compressor, Behringer Virtuizler, smallPA, microphones, acoustic drums and enough equipment to get started. Is there anywhere on the internet I can find a floor plan for the studio. I have no idea of where to place the drums, where to put the guitar amps, where the control room should be etc. I still have to learn to use all this stuff! Thanks, Don
Click to expand...

Attached is the overview diagram of my control room. There are two differences between reality and the drawing.

1) the racks across the back wall go completely left to right rather than 1/2 way.

2) the vocal booth collapses against the wall, i.e. hinged to be packed flat. This allows larger equipment brought up the stairs, and around the console table, without getting stuck.

Hope it helps. BTW, the studio is 18'x19', very close to your 20x20.
 

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Thanks to all who replied.

Thanks for all of the valuable info on the studio. Due to budget restrictions the studio's frame will be 24'by24' on a cement slab. The contractor said that within my budget this was the most room for the least cost. I will finish the inside. The slab was laid yesterday and framing should be done by the end of next week. I will use the information gathered on this forum to complete the inside as I get the finances. Thank you all for your kindness and sharing your knowledge with me . Respectfully, Don Albanese
 
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