Designing your own Studio......

...when you only have a little space to do it in. How would you go about designing your studio if all you had to work with was a squsre room of about 20 x 30 dimensions? How would you partition it? How many?
Any help would be appreciated!

A lot of good info here

link

ORIGINAL: davestoy

...when you only have a little space to do it in. How would you go about designing your studio if all you had to work with was a squsre room of about 20 x 30 dimensions? How would you partition it? How many?
Any help would be appreciated!

That's roughly what I have (mine is about 18 x 30), here is my floorplan. Works very well for isolation and still provides enough space to be comfortable. Heat and air is the hardest thing I have to deal with.


You can also see some actual pics at Nspire studio site

Ohey, Mod, kegerator, krizrox, nbnspire---thanks for your input! Right now, I plan on building a garage behind the house of about 30x30 or 30x40 dimensions. You have started me off with a lot of information, especially the links to the other sites where I could see the visuals of the rooms. This will make my design a bit easier.
I am leaning toward one big room with maybe a seperate booth for the desk/console area.

Thanks guys!

David

Umm - very interesting post and comments. Very cool room designs and observations. Everything has merit.

From the perspective of someone who's worked in many different sized rooms and room layouts.....

the reason why I chose to go the route I did (one big room with modular baffles) was based on the following:

* An average-sized room divided up into smaller iso booths is great from the standpoint of isolation (obviously) but not so great from the standpoint that it's just not such a great place to spend a whole lot of time in - for both the client and the engineer. I will tell you from my own perspective that after a few hours, that claustrophobic feeling can drive you nuts. To the point where I think it actually becomes a distraction. You can sit in an iso booth only so long before you feel your skin crawling and wanting to get the heck out of there. Clients should be clamoring to get "into" a studio. Not out of it Anyway, this is a very personal subjective thing and everyone os going to have a different perspective on it. By the way - cooling and ventilation become a big issue if you go this route. Small rooms get real stuffy without ventilation. And if not installed properly, ventilation can actually destroy the iso "effect".

* As a paying client myself, I never liked being separated from the other members of the band (to the point where I couldn't even see them). There's a lot to be said for body language when a band is all together in the same room performing. That's how they naturally work. It's not normal to separate them and can create a sort of disorientation or confusion. Again, a subjective call really.

* Creative baffling provides enough isolation while at the same time, promoting the feeling of being all together in the same room making eye contact and being able to communicate directly with each other.

* Headphones are a great thing and I like working with them. Many people don't.

* I admit the drums are the biggest issue. I've contemplated making a single iso booth just for the drums here. Maybe someday I will. Sort of a "hybrid" approach. Maybe that is a good tradeoff. Have at least one iso booth for the drums.

Anyway - keep the ideas flowing. Good stuff.

PS - also check out the Alton Everest books they have good ideas. Auralex and other companies can provide sample layouts. EQ magazine had a good article on this same thing a few issues ago. They took an average sized room and had a number of companies provide possible layouts. It was an interesting read. Everyone had a different spin on it. I had a printout of an internet story I found a long time ago about building a studio in a garage. Will try to find it and possibly the original URL. It was funny and interesting.

http://www.stereosociety.com/body_recordingstudio.html
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/shows_war/episode/0,1806,HGTV_3902_11872,00.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/studioforrecording/cottage.html
http://www.johnlsayers.com/Pages/Studios.htm
http://www.airo.co.uk/garage.htm
http://arts.ucsc.edu/EMS/Music/tech_background/TE-14/teces_14.html
http://www.alexandermagazine.com/recordingeq/weeklytip/05tip06-3ba.asp
http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_building_system_equipping/
http://virtualturntable.org/archives/000075.php

http://members.aol.com/magaz15522/studioarticle1.html
(this is the article I was talking about - great story)

I also recommend having the closet. Mine can double as a booth (when it's done) but mainly it's good way get extra stuff out of the way.

Yes, storage space should be a part of the plan. I like your layout.

Another thing to think about is what do you do with the space if you plan to move out? You will have to convince the buyer that it can be usefull or plan on demolition.

ORIGINAL: Mod Bod

Another thing to think about is what do you do with the space if you plan to move out? You will have to convince the buyer that it can be usefull or plan on demolition.

Oh man don't even get me started. I've had to demolish a homemade studio before. I can tell you right here and now it is not a fun job. That was another big reason why I decided to go modular with my latest endeavor. Almost nothing in my studio is permanent. Everything was designed to be removed and moved easily. If I have to jam, I can do it in about a half a day and you'd never know a studio had been here.