Where in this room to record + what treatment there?

[missiondisguise]

Hey guys. I've got a new room to record in. I've posted some pics of it. It's on the small side, measuring out at roughly 1560 cubic feet. As you'll see, it's a rectangular room with an angled ceiling on two sides. The dimensions come out to: 15.5ft x 13.0ft x (8ft at highest, 5.5ft at lowest).

I'll be recording exclusively vocals, acoustic guitar, random little percussion (tambourine, bongo) and midi keyboard w/hardware synth. I don't have to worry about live room monitoring, since I'll be doing all monitoring through my headphones.

First off:
#1. What's the best location in the room to record in? The corner? Along one of the sides?
#2. How far away from the corner or sides?
#3. Should I face towards the interior, or the exterior?

Second:
Could anyone tell me whether any of the given characteristics of this room are good or bad?:

#1. Carpet
#2. Angled Ceilings on two sides, with skylight windows
#3. At one corner of the room, there is a staircase that leads down to the second level. As you can see in the photos, the stairwell is entirely open, and looks out onto a 20 foot high landing.

Finally:

Based on all of this, what type of basic treatment should I go after? Bass traps? Acoustic foam? Paneling? Blankets? SE microphone reflection shield?

Okay, that's all! Thanks in advance to anybody who answers my questions! I'm finally about to record a real demo w/ real equipment for once: AKG C414 mic, Focusrite ISA One Preamp, into an Apogee 2 Duet, and finally a Macbook Pro. Since I spent tons of time figuring that recording chain out, I figured I definitely shouldn't ignore the room sound.

 

[Seidy]

Hey!
Bass traps are always useful so if you are handy with tools make them yourself.
The open room could not be a problem since there are cases before when open door can act as a bass trap. However every room is different so no one can tell you exacly how good or bad it is.

 

[mjbphotos]

For mixing it probably won't be too good without some bass traps, etc, but for recording the instruments you are talking about should be fine. Set up a couple of feet off the end wall facing towards the wall with the door and stairs.

 

[Wish]

Definitely face towards the downstairs for vocals as mjb mentioned, and it will help get rid of some of the reflections back to the mic.

Also - that open space to the downstairs is a natural bass "trap", or bass "exit", as the case may be.