John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

I am turning my finished basement into a performance/recording/control room. I have been reading and trying to understand articles by some of you brilliant folks. One thing I've noticed a few times are comments to the effect of, "if your room is irregularly shaped, with an alcove or something, that makes it more complicated".

So I have a challenging situation, I think. Besides its multiple uses (I am most concerned about recording quality, then mixing), the room is 28' long, 13' wide in the rear two-thirds, with an alcove section about 3' wider in the front. The floor is carpeted of course. The walls and ceiling is plasterboard. There is a ceiling beam coming down about 1' running lengthwise defining the alcove. The ceiling is 8' high (I'm guessing that it was dropped as little as possible). There is an exposed brick fireplace jutting out about 6" in the middle of the long wall. Of necessity, the equipment is all in the front half (including a drum set backing into the alcove area).

Can I be helped?

Hi Larry,

Welcome to the forum!

First of all, let's make sure we have the basic layout. Is my drawing about right? Also, what will this room be used for? Will it be the live room only, or do you also need to make room for monitoring and mixing? Finally, what do you mean by the ceiling being "dropped as little as possible"? Is there acoustic tile up there?

Thomas

Thanks Thomas,

Your drawing is correct, except I was a little off about the length of the alcove; it's about 13' not 9'. Also, there is a double window in the middle of the front (i.e., top of the diagram) wall, a single window towards the front of the left-side wall (starting about 5' from the corner). There is a door (leading to a bathroom) in the right wall near the front starting about 4" (yes, inches) from the corner and a doorway (no door) in the right wall near the rear starting about 3" from the corner.

Also, there is a small sink with upper and lower cabinets on the right wall in the middle of the alcove area.

No, the ceiling is plasterboard just like the walls (except for the brick fireplace area, I just meant that I don't think there is any extra space between the bottom of the beams and the ceiling.

It will be used for practicing, recording and mixing. As far as mixing goes, I have a PC-based system (using Aardvark Direct Pro) and a couple active monitors.

That may be more information than you need