Need some ideas... *Edit Change in plans*

[fess]

Hey everybody. Let me start out by saying this site is fantastic. I'm sure I will learn a ton here in the days to come. I bought a house that has some land and a few out buildings. The one I am focusing on was a workshop. Right now I have all my musical and recording equipment in there and wish to turn it into the best studio I can afford. I understand it will never be as good as a space that was built as a studio but i am hopefull I can make it work.

Some info on the space: Roughly 23ft x 18.6 ft x 10ft high. Exterior walls are 6" with wooden siding on the outside and 5/8 partical board on the inside filled with glass isulation. The Roof is metal (tin) with a the ceiling being accoustical drop with 6" glass insulation laying over the top. The floor is an 8" concrete slab. The building sits on an 8" block foundation.

My goals for the space: I would like to make a live area, drum booth, control room, and one other iso booth for vocals or accustic guitar. A friend of mine is an architect and has offered to draw up some plans for me if I give him the dimensions of each area. Noise escaping to the ouside is not realy a problem as I haven't any neighbors but the sound on the roof when it rains may be a problem.

I like to multi-track when doing my "one or two man band thing" and I will even do some live multi-tracking from time to time if I have a full band to play with.

My first questions: First of all I know that square rooms are "bad" for sound waves, I guess rectangles are not too good either but are better than square. MY main question for now is: Does it look like I have the room in this space to build the areas I have stated above. Secondly, if so what kind of dimension should I look at for each area. If not should I look at maybe just having the drums placed in the live area and building an isolation area to mic amplifiers to save some space?

After I can figure out a floor plan I hope to talk about ways to make the space more "music friendly". Addressing the roof,ceiling, and walls, traps
and so on. The way it is right now (just carpeting on the floor and a few packing blankets on the walls) the space sounds pretty good on some sample recordings I have made. I only hope to improve on what I have.

I thanks everyone in advance for the thoughs and ideas. I look forward to learning from you!

Fess

[sharward]

Welcome to the forum, Fess! Seems like an interesting project and I'm looking forward to seeing it materialize.

If you haven't already, please review the "Before You Post" announcement, and be sure to follow all of its guidelines. One thing that isn't covered in your introductory post is what kind of budget you have.

Your 8" concrete slab gives you a lot of options -- assuming it's in good condition.l

I think if you've got the funds, you've got a great opportunity... Although you may need to be prepared to dismantle quite a bit of that building to make it work.

Some photos and, if possible, detailed drawings of the anatomy of the walls and ceiling will be helpful.

That's all I have for now... I've got some ditches to dig!

--Keith

[fess]

Hey Keith nice to "meet" you. Thank you for the fast reply and the link. Can't understand how I misses that one hehe. Anyway, I will do as you ask and compile further information and photos this weekend.

A bit more about myself: I have been doing home recordings for serveral years now. Been playing guitar since I was 12 and drums since I was 18. (Oh I forgot to mention in my first post that I need this space to double as a rehearsal area as well.) As for my budget well..... I have about a grand to play with that I have set a side to start. I know that prolly isn't much but it is hard after just buying the house hehe. It will help that I did carpentry, plaster and drywall for 8 years before going to collage so I know quite a bit about construction. More to come soon.

Fess

[sharward]

Congrats on the house buy -- I know money's tight, and that $1000 will get the ball rolling a bit... However, you need to be prepared for the reality that you're going to need a lot more than that to finish the job. My ventilation system alone (not counting the air conditioner) will cost me about that much.

[fess]

After more thought, research and speaking to the "better half" I have decided that I will be constructing a new building next summer for my studio. It just seems to make more sense to me than turning my existing space into a "money pit". Untill then I will continue to try to improve this space some what with out dumping a ton of cash into it. I have attached a poor sketch of the space with the current lay out.

The ceiling is acoustical drop with 6" of fiberglass insulation on top of it. The walls are 6" with plywood overing both sides and insulated. The floor is concrete with carpet coverings. The room is still a bit bright so I want to build a few more diffusors on the walls. Also I am concerned about the bookself behind my mixing area that is built into the wall. I can not put a trap in that corner because of it. Any other ideas to help improve this space a bit?

I hope I am making the right decision in seeking a to build a new space. My father once told me you can't make chicken salad out of chicken sh*& .

Thanks for the advice in advance,

Fess

[sharward]

Your dad's a smart guy and I'm going to officially carry that expression forward out here in California!

Make no mistake -- a new building will introduce new challenges, like weatherizing and such... But you'll be in a better position to design it from the ground up with (hopefully) fewer compromises.

BTW, I'm pretty sure you don't want your ceiling to slope down behind you... Better to have it slope up behind you. Spend some time reviewing John's studio designs and you'll get some ideas for layout/dimensions.

--Keith

[len-morgan]

I know money's tight, and that $1000 will get the ball rolling a bit... However, you need to be prepared for the reality that you're going to need a lot more than that to finish the job. My ventilation system alone (not counting the air conditioner) will cost me about that much.

I can second this. My $4000 budget is well over $10K now and I have not bought my HVAC system yet, I've just finished my first layer of drywall and found out I'm going to be about 70 sheets short to finish, etc., etc.

It's not always the big stuff that gets you. It's the little things that just keep adding up. Snake cable to connect the rooms ($600), nails and drywall screws ($100 so far), one more stud ($3.88 ), the end result....priceless!!

Believe me, you might be better off waiting until you can afford to do things right. At least plan out your "finished" studio and then spend your current $1K on things that can be moved into that when you get the funds instead of putting up the framing and running out of money with only 1/2 the drywall up. You be left with a useless space until you can afford more. If you wait, you might not be making music for a while but you will have a much better studio when you're done instead of disappointment.

len

[fess]

That is my plan to wait untill I get more cash. I have a plan to save about 15k by July and will be getting a nice sum of cash for a barn that will be torn down in the spring. Untill then I just wanted some ideas to "keep me going" in my current space. It is good to hear about things like you mentioned though. Budget for 10k spend 15k+ lol, sounds about right to me.

Fess

[knightfly]

Fess, I think you'll be a lot happier the way you're headed - it's always easier to build from scratch for a specific purpose than it is to "adapt".

That said, keep in mind that current building costs are around $70 per square foot for a contractor built home in average areas, more in others - granted, you will have less of things like nice bathroom fixtures, kitchen appliences, etc, but more for each square foot of wall and ceiling with multiple layers, etc - subtract about 60% or so for labor (yours instead of theirs) and you're around $30 a square foot area, more or less.

Your original space would be very tight with as many rooms as you want, probably more like at least 24 x 32 feet overall; maybe even larger.

Ideally, you should design a studio from the inside out, not the other way 'round - IOW, figure out the size each room needs to be, paste them together, wrap a containment wall around it, measure, and you know what size you need to build.

At $30 a sf for materials, the 24 x 32 example above would run at least $23,000 - I'd use that as your "wish" budget, and brace yourself for more... Steve