What budget should I plan for a small studio?

[djanogil]

The control room would be about 4 X 3 meters, and the live room 5 X 5.
The budget should include everything from soundproofing to acoustic treatment.
I'd build it myself with some help, so no need to pay anyone except for an electrician to do the installation.

What's the minimum required to have professional sounding rooms ?

[Matthew Murray]

That's like asking "how much for a house"?
I couldn't begin to offer you a number. BUT .. here's the best advice I should have listened to with regard to my own build, and laughed off. So seriously, listen carefully.

Whatever budget you decide on in the end.... DOUBLE IT.

[djanogil]

Originally Posted by Matthew Murray

That's like asking "how much for a house"?
I couldn't begin to offer you a number. BUT .. here's the best advice I should have listened to with regard to my own build, and laughed off. So seriously, listen carefully.

Whatever budget you decide on in the end.... DOUBLE IT.

Thanks,

Yeah I admit it's not an easy question to answer, especially if you haven't seen the space , nor the project in details, however I have to work out if a project like yours is in my realm, as I 'm planning to buy a house and build the studio on the parcel of land.

[Deep Deep Blue]

hi there, i would say start digging in, there is a lot of info on the net so work out what you want to build get the info on how and with what material to be used, get prices, shop around, then start putting everything together and you work out roughly the costs ......buy most of your material from construction material shops..

hope that helps

[avare]

Originally Posted by djanogil

The control room would be about 4 X 3 meters, and the live room 5 X 5.
The budget should include everything from soundproofing to acoustic treatment.
I'd build it myself with some help, so no need to pay anyone except for an electrician to do the installation.

What's the minimum required to have professional sounding rooms ?

The only rough guideline I know of that can be used worldwide is very similar to what Matthew wrote. First class studio building costs twice per unit area what Commercial construction costs are. So if commercial construction is 1 000/m^2 then a studio would cost 2 000/m^2.

In my part of the world, construction costs are roughly 50% labour and 50% material. If you are doing most of the labour, then the cost would around the same as for commercial building.

All of this is based on knowing nothing about what you want to build, how much isolation you need, etc.

Generally:
Andre

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by avare

The only rough guideline I know of that can be used worldwide is very similar to what Matthew wrote. First class studio building costs twice per unit area what Commercial construction costs are. So if commercial construction is 1 000/m^2 then a studio would cost 2 000/m^2.

In my part of the world, construction costs are roughly 50% labour and 50% material. If you are doing most of the labour, then the cost would around the same as for commercial building.

All of this is based on knowing nothing about what you want to build, how much isolation you need, etc.

Generally:
Andre

Very well said, but I still would budget it like you are paying the labor. How many times have we all started a project of any kind and ended with someone else actually doing the work. Aim high and if you come in under budget that is money to go back into the bank. Aim low, go over budget and you run risk of never completing or begging for more money.

This is a great time to hire a pro to really give you the cost. Yes you are paying someone else but in the end you might just save some money and you know it was done right.

Check out Running Brook Design - Recording Studio Design Services the guys name is Glenn and I believe visits gearslutz from time to time. There are other also, but that is link I have for now. Will post more if I find them.



Glenn

[jwl]

Good advice so far. It's really hard to give a ballpark on this since so many factors are at play (material costs in your area; costs of labor; etc etc).

Soundproofing is a whole different animal that requires lots of mass, airtightness, and specific construction techniques. So you need to decide how soundproof soundproof should be for you; you can add additional layers of sheetrock or green glue depending on your budget to increase the effective soundproofing.

Acoustic treatment is another matter, you can DIY, or you can buy commercial panels. There is a price difference here: the question is do you have the skills/knowledge to build something nice, do you want to buy something nice, or do you want to just put some absorptive material covered in canvas/cloth in strategic places and not worry as much about how it looks?

So again, it depends. :-)

Though if you are building this yourself, I highly recommend including Rod Gervais' book "Home Recording Studio: Build It Like The Pros" as the first $20-30 of your budget. :-)

[avare]

Originally Posted by jwl

Though if you are building this yourself, I highly recommend including Rod Gervais' book "Home Recording Studio: Build It Like The Pros" as the first $20-30 of your budget. :-)

I second that! Buy it yesterday.

Andre

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by avare

I second that! Buy it yesterday.

Andre

I would third that also..

I think I remember Rod saying to budget $50.00 per squ foot, but you may want to check me on that number.

Glenn

[bpape]

Money is well spent in the planning and isolation stages. Things people forget:

- HVAC entry and exit
- Isolation of electrical penetrations
- Proper floor and other structural isolation
- Spreading of structural and cavity resonances

Just throwing a bunch of mass at a problem and making sure it's air tight will certainly help some things but is really only the tip of the iceberg. These are often cited because they're relatively easy to do and are things that are easy to explain.

The bulk of your success in truly achieving isolation will happen before you ever think about putting up a sheet of drywall.

Bryan

[Doublehelix]

As has been said:

"Beware the HVAC issues!!!"

and

"Buy Rod's book!"

and finally:

"It will end up costing *twice* what you initially budget."

[djanogil]

Originally Posted by jwl

There is a price difference here: the question is do you have the skills/knowledge to build something nice, do you want to buy something nice, or do you want to just put some absorptive material covered in canvas/cloth in strategic places and not worry as much about how it looks?

So again, it depends. :-)

Though if you are building this yourself, I highly recommend including Rod Gervais' book "Home Recording Studio: Build It Like The Pros" as the first $20-30 of your budget. :-)

Thanks for the book, I'll order it.
As for acoustics, I have basic knowledge but design is fundamental to me so I'm looking to build something stylish and that feels good.

Any other resources for studio building and acoustics?

[zooloo]

"Everything takes twice as long and costs three times more than you think it will."

Can't remember who told me that... glad they though.

[littlenemo]

Hi, I'm doing the exact same thing, I bought a piece of land just outside Paris and I'm building a house and a recording studio next to the house. I thought of designing the whole thing myself but after doing a lot of research on the internet and talking with a bunch of people, I finally decided to pay a professional acoustician/studio designer to do all the plans and then doing most of the labor myself. He charged me about 5000 euros to do all the design and supervision of works, we are still at the early stages but I'm quite confident that in the end I won't regret it. I saw during the contruction of my house which is almost finished now that the slightest error or the tyniest forgotten detail during the design of the construction always results in a MAJOR additional expense and trust me I learned it the hard way... Taking the time to design and plan in the best possible way, trying to figure everything out and not to forget anything, be helped by someone who really knows his job and already went through all the issues is, in my opinion, the best way to keep things into your budget.
Best of luck, I will soon start my own construction thread here on GS and get my own problems

[numrologst]

building a studio will cost what you let it cost. The worst thing you can do is let contactors and materials suppliers run you. Engage multiple people for quotes and work it down. Find good people that do great work but don't charge an arm and a leg.

My first GC and carpenter labor quote was $75k for my 4000sq ft studio. My partner and I decided to GC the project and that brought us down to $50k... Then I started talking to more carpenters, I started haggling... I started getting it down and down. Then, I met a guy who did great work that is working for $40/hour... I got my carpenter costs down to $15k for the whole project... He also paints.

I found good deals on studs, drywall, and insulation. I found good deals and squeezed everyone I could do get the final buildout budget down.

It also depends alot on your existing infrastructure of the building. I saved more in the new building when I found out that the perimeter wall construction was already a 2 leaf system. This saved me $4000 in materials. The fact that I didn't have to bring in new ceiling saved me $5k. Then it cost me $5k to adjust the fire sprinkler system, etc, etc, etc.

HVAC can be a big expense... In our new place, there was only HVAC for the office area... We brought in 4 split mini systems which cost $15k... But in my previous location, we only had to do a few duct runs as the AC was already there( HVAC cost $2000 there).

Wood floors cost most people $8-12/foot... But, then I found lumber liquidators and I got it for $6/foot.

Build your own acoustical treatments when you can. Cable yourself what you can.

Studio designers can cost anywhere from $10-$50/foot.


The moral of the story is that it depends on how you can haggle with labor, if you know any good workers, the existing infrastructure, and your ability to manage a budget.

You need to know where you can take shortcuts and where you can't.

If you are smart about what you are doing, you can build out a studio for $50-$90/foot

[Disjointed]

Originally Posted by Matthew Murray

Whatever budget you decide on in the end.... DOUBLE IT.

[jwl]

Originally Posted by djanogil

Thanks for the book, I'll order it.
As for acoustics, I have basic knowledge but design is fundamental to me so I'm looking to build something stylish and that feels good.

Any other resources for studio building and acoustics?

Rod's book is definitely the place to start. I also think the John L Sayers forum is a great resource, lots of great info in the stickies and studio build diaries.

[avare]

Originally Posted by djanogil

Any other resources for studio building and acoustics?

An excellent question. The more you know, the better your studio will be. Follow this thread

[DeadPoet]

Off course we don't know enough of your project to give a guestimate on budget. For me: starting from bare ground, 50cm concrete walls, complete boxinbox construction, inner box floating on sylomer, outside i'm having build, inside i'm building myself, acoustician's cost,...

I'm guessing it'll cost me something like €1250-1500/m²



Herwig