OT: Building a Studio from scratch...

[Scott Cairns]

Hi everyone, I am finally in a position to build my own studio or to be more accurate, designate a room in my new house I am building, as a studio.

I was wondering what you guys (and gals) would suggest for the design specs...

A couple of things I thought of are;

- polished timber floor (better acoustically than carpet I think?)
- built in cable runs under the floor
- air filtration system
- bay window (for inspiration images/icons/wink.gif )
- bass traps
- possibly line walls internally with rock wool
- seperate power circuit to avoid hum from fridges etc?


Sound proofing is not a big issue as the house is being built on a large spread of land. Probably minimising the noise would be good for others in the house though.

I plan to record the occasional live instrument or vocal so was thinking of some sort of screened off area in the room. I cant quite go to the length of building a seperate live room!

Any suggestions for ceiling height, room dimensions? Anything else I have missed? (probably lots I\'m sure!)

Regards, Scott.

[Nuno Fonseca]

First thing to decide is if you want a stereo or a 5.1 studio. Make all the room dimensions different.

I recomend starting by reading the auralex mini-guide at http://www.acoustics101.com/ (\"http://www.acoustics101.com/\")

and use their help (you can send them your ideias, and they will advise you for free)...

[Scott Cairns]

Thanks Nuno! Actually I have been re-reading Bruce\'s article (\"http://www.prorec.com/prorec/articles.nsf/articles/D51DA0B4344E508386256C190080663A\") on Auralex as well.

Regards, Scott.

[peter269]

See if you can find a book on studio design by a fellow named Jeff Cooper. Mix Bookshelf used to sell it. I think that\'s the one you really want. Here\'s the Amazon link. There\'s also one by F. Alton Everest.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0916899004/qid=1059982708/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/103-8400369-3787000?v=glance&s=books (\"http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0916899004/qid=1059982708/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/103-8400369-3787000?v=glance&s=books\")

[meeehoon]

Hiya Scott,

there\'s a nice article on studio installation on the May 2003 issue of Sound-on-Sound... Worth a look?

meeehoon

[Bruce A. Richardson]

Hi Scott,

Also check out Ethan Winer\'s designs for panel traps and absorbers.

It\'s great to be in your situation, where you can spend the money on finish out and acoustics rather than soundproofing. I did a similar thing when I bought my latest (and hopefully last for a while...) house. Before, I\'d always had a separate studio, but so little of my income comes from sessions now that it\'s more cost effective to rent space when I need lots of room and iso. So, as I mentioned in that article, I was lucky enough to just concentrate on the mix environment.

Be sure to build in some ceiling height, if you can, and some diffusion behind the mix position. I was amazed at how much difference the diffusion made in my space. The bass traps were also a big deal. It\'s ironic that the more bass you \"trap,\" the lower and deeper the bass sounds.

[Didier Rachou]

The firt thing that came to mind was as Nuno so graciously pointed out:
starting by reading the auralex mini-guide at http://www.acoustics101.com/ (\"http://www.acoustics101.com/\")

This was the 1st step in my room, then I consuled with a local Studio guru. Bruce\'s articles were of help as well.

Good luck. Don\'t cut any corners that you don\'t have to either.

Best of luck,
Didier

[Nick Batzdorf]

I use Auralex stuff, it\'s very good, and that article is an excellent primer. But I don\'t care for rooms that are lined with foam from head to toe.

I\'d also recommend reading some of the stuff about acoustics on my friend Dave Moulton\'s website: www.moultonlabs.com. (\"http://www.moultonlabs.com.\") If it weren\'t blatant self-promotion, I\'d even be tempted to recommend a book of his that I edited: www.KIQproductions.com (\"http://www.KIQproductions.com\") (\'Total Recording\'). But that would be obnoxious, so of course I would never do that.

[Jazzhole]

Of course not!!! images/icons/grin.gif

[Scott Cairns]

Thank you all for your replies. Lots of great advice!

I\'m building in prime horse country but still only 25 mins travel time to the state capital city.... gotta love Australia for that, even if we are stuck \"down under\" away from the rest of the world. images/icons/wink.gif

[JonFairhurst]

Scott, what a great project!!! My place is on enough property to be quiet. It\'s the sounds from my family and the house itself that tend to intrude. Hopefully your ceiling isn\'t the floor for the rest of the household.

Make sure that your studio is far away from plumbing and heating. It\'s amazing how loud running water can be. But you still want good HVAC.

If you can swing it, make the side walls non-parallel, and the ceiling slanted. Stops those standing waves dead.

Ooh. Lots of clean power is a good thing.

And if you really want to go nuts, build a cement subwoofer cabinet into the wall or floor. One or two JBL 2245H drivers should do nicely. About 8 to 10 cu ft per driver will do the trick.

And an equipment closet for those noisy PCs and fan cooled amps is a must.

In fact I\'ve got some ideas for my place. Now where\'d I put that sledge and the sawsall?...

[Joanne Babunovic]

Wow Scott, I want your life. What fun you must have designing this in your mind. Can\'t think of too much regarding acoustics and functional tips, but absolutely, all wires must be hidden, and lots of thought on how to protect the beautiful floor. There must be something else out there beyond the plastic plate underneath the wheels everyone uses.

Have fun!