Studio Size

[McPhaul]

I'm thinking of building a studio and just wanted to get some input on how many square feet I should be looking at. I've read most of the Studio Construction threads and have visited several sites on acoustic design but still don't have a good idea as to what the minimum size for a studio is. I'd like to have a seperate control room, a live room large enough to track drums, and maybe another room for vocals or amps.

I'm looking at warehouse type space. Any pros/cons to that? I may lease or I may build a structure large enough to lease out space to other businesses. Leasing would be cheaper in the short term but building could be a good investment in the long term. I'm still working out the details on that one.

I make my living in real estate and investments so I'm not looking to make my living with this. It's something I'd like to do and my wife had said that she'd like me to do it too. With that in mind I might better do it while I can.

Thanks for the help with this one.
Will

[djui5]

1500 Sq Ft would be enough for a "small" place. If you wanna really nice big place, double that. If you wanna get crazy do a 4000-5000 Sq Ft live room, and a 1200 Sq Ft control room

M3 or M5?

[kurt]

The most important to get is high. If you don’t have at least 18` to the roof or better the double, you will get an office with recording gear in it, not STUDIO:
room(s) where music/instruments sound great, ready to be captured.

[djui5]

Yes, better to have a high roof and small floorplan, than a large floorplan and short ceilings. 12' minimum

[McPhaul]

Thanks for the quick replies guys. Most of what I've looked at were 1800 sq ft strips and generally had 15' ceilings. I'm really leaning toward building and leasing out the other sections to other business. Doing it that way would let me go almost as tall as I wanted.

djui5

Just traded the '01 M3 for a new '06. I just love those cars. Kinda weird though 'cause I've got 2 kid seats in the back.

[djui5]

Originally Posted by McPhaul

Thanks for the quick replies guys. Most of what I've looked at were 1800 sq ft strips and generally had 15' ceilings. I'm really leaning toward building and leasing out the other sections to other business. Doing it that way would let me go almost as tall as I wanted.

djui5

Just traded the '01 M3 for a new '06. I just love those cars. Kinda weird though 'cause I've got 2 kid seats in the back.

Building and renting out space is a great idea. Get them to pay your bills

nice@'06! Not really weird, just look at it like "early training"

[McPhaul]

Originally Posted by djui5

Building and renting out space is a great idea. Get them to pay your bills

Absolutely! Free space is good space.

Originally Posted by djui5

nice@'06! Not really weird, just look at it like "early training"

Choruses of "Go faster Daddy" mean that they don't need much more training. So are you a car nut too? What do you drive?

[djui5]

Originally Posted by McPhaul

So are you a car nut too?

Very much so!

What do you drive?

No comment

[nukmusic]

your design would have to lot of factors to look at. The amount of gear, your work flow, number of clients at one time, etc,etc I thought about the same thing that you thought about. buy or build a building twice the size you need and rent out the other side.

I think you should visit a few studios nearby...big and small.... to see what you would be comfortable with.....then double the size. my 2cent.

new 40x30 design (unfinished)

[McPhaul]

Looks good NUK. Are you going to build in Dallas or N.O.?

Looks good. What size is the live room in your plan? Most of the spaces I've seem available are much more rectangular so my design will end up much different than yours, but I like your layout.

[not_so_new]

Bump...



Just interested to see what other folks have for sq footage in control and drum rooms.

[nukmusic]

Dallas. Dallas. Dallas


http://www.weather.com/maps/news/atl...ath_large.html

live room 18 x 17, booth 7x6, CR about 18 x 15...... perfect for what I do. but I'm still looking into other factors. I'm really leaning toward the "Build bigger and rent the unused".

One of my fellow producers is about to build a smaller setup in New Orleans. Mostly for recording solo vocals and maybe rough tracking drums(if needed). Bass and EL GTR can be done in the control room(going direct). CR is about 15 x 13 & booth is about 8x8.

Before Katrina were both were going to combined studios into a bigger 2 room setup. So glad we waited...boy 'ol boy. Would have lost all the oold gear please all the new gear we were going to order.

So please take all the time you need to plan. I think Dave(Blast Rec) said they took over a year to plan before building.