John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum

I can't tell you how happy I am I've found this site. Thank you all for the great input I've already learned from the other posts....

I'm moving my little writing studio into a basement space. I do record live drums in my current space, and I'll be looking to do the same here. I want to do this one right, and although the space is small, my goal is to make it as functional as possible for myself to record, and also as nice as I can make it for when I have production friends out to work with me.

The space is this: 25' long, 9' wide, and 7' ceilings. It has a walk in closet 7'x4' near the middle of the room, that I want to use for a vocal booth.

Should I make just one large room with the drums and desk and everything, or should I try to break it up. I will so COMPLETELY appreciate any input any of you will have for this. I'm lost with this, and I need to get rolling with plans....

Thanks!

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www.thunderhoofproductions.com

Hey Coach,

How about an illustration of the space, including the closet, all of the pipes, ducts, etc.?

Let me see what I can do...I don't have a scanner here at my apt, and I need to figure out how to do a sketch. I'm good with music on computers, but when it comes to design, I'm pretty much an idiot...

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www.thunderhoofproductions.com

Photos would help too.

This is the idea. I know I know...pathetic....

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Ok....This picture stinks but you can kind of get the idea. The shelves on the left side take up almost 3 feet of space so I want to take those out....Therefore it will look wider than this....

In between those shelves is the door to the walk in closet...

One shot is looking south and the other shot is looking north. We are buying this house, so none of that crap in the room is ours....Just for the record...



Thanks!

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www.thunderhoofproductions.com

You need to resize the pic down to 700 pixels wide as requested by the admin I don't know how to put the link up to that page but I know it's there

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Doni Bieler
Your Local Handyman
Ah man not again. Damn that's gonna hurt

Yeah, the pics are currently 1,280 pixels wide, and John is getting really tired of oversized pics.

That being said, the drawing and photos help a lot.

How tall is that ceiling? It looks really low.

Oh I'm sorry about the pics. I'll go and fix that....

The ceilings are 7'6" except in that middle part where it's more like 7'....I know this isn't an ideal space at all, but I figure I can still make something out of it no?


Thanks for your help!

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www.thunderhoofproductions.com

The pics look a lot better. However, the illustration is still 780 pixels wide. "The widest image wins," meaning sideways scrolling (or lack thereof) is dictated by the widest image. You'll want to reduce and/or trim that one down as well.

While you're at it, you should probably add the window to your illustration. We can see it in the photo, but it would be good to have it included in the illustration, along with measurements.

Same with the electrical service panel -- it looks like it's in the corner near the water heater.

You have plumbing on "window" wall as well. Any valves or cleanouts that require access?

I'm assuming you need to be able to access the oil tank for servicing -- right?

Don't worry if your drawings aren't "pretty." Pretty is nice, but accurate and all-inclusive is most important.

By the way, the location of that washer and dryer kind of sucks I think. Do you think it would be feasible to run a drain line along the walls opposite the stairs around to the water heater area? If so, you might be able to get your water heater and washer/dryer in same corner nearest the entrance point. You could even get a stackable washer/dryer to save on square footage.

Your lack of headroom is probably going to be problematic for you. Not only are you going to be limited in your options for isolation, you will also be constrained for ceiling acoustic treatments. You'll find a lot of empathetic fellow American basement dwellers here with whom to commiserate!

That's all I have at the moment. (I'm more of a "question asker" than an "answer giver" here!)

I fixed that last pic...sorry about that...

Since the ceiling is so low, does that mean I should just go the foam route on it, and just keep it dead? I know this isn't going to be a sonic paradise, but I still think I can get very good demo type sounds in this room. I've worked in worse.

I was thinking of building a walk that would cut off the washer/dryer/oil wall...

Let me ask this...would you think it would be better to have the desk against the long wall, which would mean sitting at the desk, you would have your back to the vocal booth? If this were the case, I'd probably just keep one large space? Right now I have just one large space, and it's worked out great for what I'm doing. It's not like I'll be recording bands or anything. I kind of am the band... haahahaha

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I'm not sure of local codes in your area, but your "hallway" would probably have to be 36" wide at least -- or, for sure, the same width as your staircase. (Plus, you'd want it to be large enough for you to move the washing machine or dryer in and out, as I assume you plan for your studio to outlast the appliances.

You also only have ten feet across to work with. I'm pretty sure that code will require a minimum habitable room width, which I'm pretty sure is greater than six feet (accounting for isolation and wall frame thicknesses). Your hallway idea may not pass the permit counter pretest (but don't take my word for it -- I'm just the resident code-phobe).

Also, your hallway would carve a river between your control room and your booth (the closet under the stairs). I suppose that could be done, but it's kind of awkward and probably doesn't pass the "coolness test ."

I take it you're averse to moving the washer and dryer to the opposite corner and framing an access door to the oil tank?

I also noticed a discrepancy in your measurements. The illustration shows 30' x 10' not counting the closet, yet your introductory post says it's 9' x 25'. (Perhaps you were figuring your shelves and/or appliance space in the lower numbers.)

You also haven't mentioned a budget. What's your dream worth?

I'll leave the rest of the questions for the others.

First of all, thanks for all of your input....The measurements are a bit up in the air because of those shelves...I thought I could fill the shelves with soundproofing and then front the shelves with drywall...I'm new at this. The place I'm in now, I pretty much set up and went with it...I meed to come up with a solution that will be fairly quick to do. I have a lot of work, and need to get this place set up. Budget wise I'd love to do the building/soundproofing in the $1500-2000 range if not less....I have a lot to figure out....

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I realize your plans are very soft at this point, but personally I'd plan on ripping the shelves out if I were you. When things firm up, if you happen to have the room to leave the shelves intact, then go for it (but I'm putting my chips on the "not" square ).

That's OK! Don't be fooled -- so do I! Giving advice to others here gives me the illusion that I know things and gives me confidence to move forward on my own project! Plus, there's a genuine feeling of "paying it forward" by giving back to the community (here) that has helped me so much over the past seven months.

Spend some more time here and you're bound to find posts from people who were admittedly clueless when the started posting, then gain confidence with each chunk of information they consume. You'll soon shed your and trade it in for some and a bit of -- but be prepared for bouts of and even some before you achieve and !

Wow....you're project is going to be sweet!!!!

I'm going out of town for a few days to record in a "real" studio, and then I'll be back on Wednesday to try to figure this little mess out...

Thanks so much!

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www.thunderhoofproductions.com