[natpub]

Hola, Messi,

I am in nearly the same situation as you, and have a very similar background. However, among our options, we have "building-from-scratch" as a high liklihood, rather than converting a shell. Main reason is that all the consultants we spoke with indicated that what ended up happening with most "shells" is that you wound up building a building within a building (phew, that is hard to spit out, lol). It is not as cost effective.

Anyway, for us, the top priority is the rooms and that they are sonically as perfect as we can get them. As a reult, weeks, hmm, now months of consulting has taken place.

We researched acoustic deisgners and engineers ranging from folks who basically just come into whatever you have and advise you on tuning it, to consultant architects who do complete design, drawings, tunings, decor, etc.

You still wind up with what is basically a pack of plans and some advice, followed by some tuning sessions. It remains up to you to either allow the consultant to seek contractors, or to do so yourself. Or, you can be primary contractor yourself, and just hire subs--though that would not be a wise idea if you are building from scratch.

For us, it turned out that pre-planned things like floor channels for cable, other wiring and plumbing concerns, wall placements, load bearing considerations, and local code law compliance, were more expensive if we convert a building, than if we just build from scratch. Besides, when building from scratch, we get precisely what we need and want. So, as you can see, that is our most likely choice.

Regardless of choice, you would be extremely well served to seek out competent consultation well before starting or buying anything. From several sad experiences, I learned that I hate nothing more than paying a bunch of money to get something, and then learn later that it wont do what I had hoped. It ends up being a massive waste of time and cash.

There are many very good designers and acoustic consultants all over the world. I would not know of the ones in your area.

Our studio philosophy is to work from the back of the recording chain, forward. So we are starting with the rooms, then monitors, and so forth. Interestingly, we have not even chosen a design, and already we have people asking us if they can rent our rooms :-)

Since we are planning a commercial facility, not just our own studio, things such as decor and modern interior/exterior design concepts must factor into our decisions. You may not have this limitation, depending on what you are planning, and your budget. Be very clear to yourself what your budget is, then, as always expect it to be very, very much in excess of that :-)

Some folks have noted that this is not a very good business investment, and that is very true. We researched the business plan worldwide, very carefully, and it is indeed a glutted industry besieged by home studios. That said, we personally will not need to care if we get business or not, so anything we do get will be fine. But, that is just our own situation. Take caution from what you read from others warinings here--if you have to eat and pay the bills from purely studio income, and have no current solid income stream, you may be in for nasty weather.

Feel free to PM me if you need any other info. For now, I had best stop making such a long post:P


Cheers,

--KT