Just walked in the door

[Blackwater]

Hello,

Just bought my new building and am starting construction next week. The Stone house consists of 1 room that's 95X35 with 18 1/2 ft. ceilings. Floor is all hardwood and the ceiling is tin. HUGE SPACE! Comparatively that is.

Any ideas on layout??
Any ideas on acoustics??
Any idea how to heat such a large space??
Any idea who the hell would buy a 95 X 35 1 room stone building with no plumbing, heat or water???
Maybe a crazy purchase but it seemed so right at the time.

Chris Westerman
Blackwater Sound and Mastering

[Mike O]

You mention you are starting construction next week and are looking for ideas for space layout, heat, etc.

The best advice: Don't do anything until you have a PLAN for everything. You can change a plan; but to not start with a with a plan that considers all known issues and how they relate is a recipe for disaster.

If you can afford a pro, do so. Cheap in the long run. You might try John Sayers forum . He is quite helpful.

[Blackwater]

Thanks for the link!

I am starting construction of an addition off the back of the building next week, not the studio. Have to have a place to sleep ya know.

Thanks

[Drumsound]

Originally posted by Blackwater
Hello,

Just bought my new building and am starting construction next week. The Stone house consists of 1 room that's 95X35 with 18 1/2 ft. ceilings. Floor is all hardwood and the ceiling is tin. HUGE SPACE! Comparatively that is.

Congratulations!

Any ideas on layout??

Plenty of room for lots of ISO-Booths so live tracking with separation can be done (my fav method). Make the areas sound different, or even better be variable.

Any ideas on acoustics??

Lots of research and hire a pro!

Any idea how to heat such a large space??

Zones! And don't forget fresh air and A/C.

Any idea who the hell would buy a 95 X 35 1 room stone building with no plumbing, heat or water???

Me!?

Maybe a crazy purchase but it seemed so right at the time.

Go with you gut man. Good Luck!

[Blackwater]

Thanks Tony,

I just spent 5 hours in there today with a Contractor who thinks I'm insane. Long process but I decided on a largish control room, 30X32, A largish Live room with keeping the heighth and Hard wood floors, 32X28 and 2 ISo rooms, 30 X 14 One keeping pretty dead and the other somewhat reflective.

Very excited.

[Dave Martin]

Originally posted by Blackwater
... 2 ISo rooms, 30 X 14 One keeping pretty dead and the other somewhat reflective.

YOu might re-consider your isos - an enegineer whos work I respect greatly tells me that he looks for as many as 5 isolated acoustic spaces for amps, acoustic instruments and other such things. That's to record a full rhythm section, of course...

[Drumsound]

I've got three iso spaces. One booth, one bathroom and one hallway. I wish I had more, and more than one that I could put a person in.

[Blackwater]

Alright So how about 4 iso's. I'll cut the 2 in half. leaving me 4 rooms that are 30 X 7? Or maybe I should make the Live room bigger and shrink the Iso's to 15X7. What do you think?

[cajonezzz]

We decided to make the B room double as an Iso as well. And next month, we'll build a VERY iso'd booth inside the B room for it to double as a stand alone "mini studio" for vox odubs and such.

The B room is really just a 13x14 room with some storage and another PT rig.
It's completely tie lined to the main CR though.

It has become very important in that it makes us able to continue projects while mixing/tracking takes place in the A room. It translates to a soid 1/4 of the income of the room.


So, I'd agree on the # of Iso's...or at least for your size shell:

Iso for large drum kit or 6 piece horn/strings
Largish Vocal booth
small ish vocal booth/amp closet
add an "editing room" as we've done and you can tack on two more iso's for a total of five.

I originally intened to wire the Lounge and bathroom, but in our case that would seriously clash with the point of having a didicated client lounge/bathroom(as important a space as any other if your going to be taking in clients. IMHO.

good luck , and btw...Have you thought of seeing a shrink? I mean....builing a STUDIO? why not a Boat? an ice cream stand on the Alaska Highway?


best of luck, enjoy the process... remember to sleep once and a while and stay away from studio food. Learn to love, to look forward to the 16 hr. workday

[cajonezzz]

We decided to make the B room double as an Iso as well. And next month, we'll build a VERY iso'd booth inside the B room for it to double as a stand alone "mini studio" for vox odubs and such.

The B room is really just a 13x14 room with some storage and another PT rig.
It's completely tie lined to the main CR though.

It has become very important in that it makes us able to continue projects while mixing/tracking takes place in the A room. It translates to a soid 1/4 of the income of the room.


So, I'd agree on the # of Iso's...or at least for your size shell:

Iso for large drum kit or 6 piece horn/strings
Largish Vocal booth
small ish vocal booth/amp closet
add an "editing room" as we've done and you can tack on two more iso's for a total of five.

I originally intened to wire the Lounge and bathroom, but in our case that would seriously clash with the of having a didicated client lounge/bathroom(as important a space as any other if your going to be taking in clients. IMHO.

good luck , and btw...Have you thought of seeing a shrink? I mean....builing a STUDIO? why not a Boat? an ice cream stand on the Alaska Highway?


best of luck, enjoy the process...

[Blackwater]

Cajonezzz,

Great tip on the B room, Thanks.

Yea, it's a long process. Fortunately I have been running my current studio for 12+ years and have a dedicated client base that will follow me anywhere in the state. The downside is going to be having to shut down for 2-3 months to construct the new space.

An ice cream stand in Alaska sounds like a more relaxing place to set up shop right now.

Chris

[c.dizzle]

we should talk about how to build one of those amp iso booths designed to provide natural compression. Those, by nature, need to be small. That way you could put two in and take up very little space. Fletcher mentioned something about putting one in a studio he designed, he said it had brass walls with angled wooden slats! Fletch, care to elaborate?

not sure how exactly to design one of these but they seem cool. Should they be deadened, or would deadening/ absorption convert your natural compression into heat energy? If they are more live could you use ribbons or would anything figure eight become phasey in such a small space? Who has used these little booths? Do they work well with non heavy guitar, bass?

Blackwater, congratulations on the new space, hope your booked solid with good folks!

carl

[Jay Kahrs]

Step #1 is to figure out how you want to use the space. How many iso's you'll need, how big of a live room, one bathroom or two, office, storage etc. Then step #2 is to talk to an acoustics expert and get a plan together so you won't get stuck with shitty sounding rooms and a poor layout. The LAST thing you want to do is talk to a contracter.