8' Ceiling or 9' Ceilings? New House/ Old House?

[Hattrick]

I am looking to purchase a new house this month and am debating if I should get a nice old house in a great location but deal with a very low ceiling in the basement to have a studio or build or buy a new house and get an 8' or 9' ceiling for the basement for the studio. The benefit of the old house is location. If I find a nice old house in a desired location and it has a large enough yard I could build a stand alone building for a studio, however that would aquire more paperwork and politics to get it approved. If I build or buy a new home the location is further out of town however I have a choice in basements from 8' to 9' heights and build the studio in the basement. Any thoughts here?

[judah]

The taller the better especially if you consider that you'll loose some of the height with acoustic treatment.
I have 9' ceilings in my studio and with the panels I get around 8' 5" out of it.

[Hattrick]

I am leaning towards the new house with the 9' ceilings for the studio. How is that working for you or do you think a stand alone building for a studio is better? Also any thoughts on walk in basement? I am looking at some home plans which I can have this however I am concerned if this would be an issue for isolation?

[dan p]

I live in a brand new 2 yr old house with 9 or 10 ft ceilings and i record in the main family room when everyone is gone.The sound is like a real studio.Build from scratch and make it the way you want it .You wont regret it.


DAn P

[Hattrick]

Cool,
The house I have in mind will have a walk out basement with deep window wells. Has anyone had any issues with these in their studio?

[judah]

Originally Posted by Hattrick

I am leaning towards the new house with the 9' ceilings for the studio. How is that working for you or do you think a stand alone building for a studio is better? Also any thoughts on walk in basement? I am looking at some home plans which I can have this however I am concerned if this would be an issue for isolation?

Well I'd go for the stand alone solution if your budget allows. My studio is part of the house and as far as isolation is very poor, but that is my fault.

[Hattrick]

I can see where a stand alone on the same property would be ideal, the issue si finding a house with a large enough section of land to build on and second getting it approved by the city as well.

[666666]

Trying to build a separate building from scratch may be a headache and will be expensive. Then you have to consider, a separate building needs heat, air conditioning etc... so this means you need to keep it hot in the winter, cool in the summer, etc... more bills to pay. Having a studio in the basement of your house is WAY more efficient, unless you are going to do a lot of commercial work.

Buying a house is an important decision. The house itself, the location, the deal etc are all quite important. I hate to say it, but the studio aspect is secondary... unless you are buying this house specifically to be a studio. If that's the case, then buy a commercial building instead for the studio.

I bought a "new" house a while back and had planned on using a certain room as the studio. As it turned out, certain things changed and I could no longer use that room as the studio... and wound up doing a certain amount of recording work in the basement with a very low ceiling... others I know have had the same issues... we've all done recording work successfully, no problems.

Point is, if you like the old house and the location is great etc, go for it. If the basement ceiling is "low", well... just how low is it? Even 7.5' could work. Is it ideal? Maybe not. But again, depending on what you're doing, you may not NEED 9 or 10 foot ceilings.

I personally feel that big rooms with high ceilings are overrated... unless you really must have the degree of reverberation that such a room yields. I much prefer a smaller tighter room, well tuned of course, and then add reverb per taste later. If you could see youself agreeing with this premise, then you do not really need a high ceiling. It's all about priorities.

If you get the old house and really MUST have a higher ceiling in the basement one day, you could even dig out the basement and lower the floor, thus creating an effectively "higher" ceiling. I was almost going to do that in my house and then realized it just wasn't worth it... I can still do excellent work with a fairly low ceiling.

Also remember... don't go too nuts with studio-specific modifications because you will NOT get that money back when you go to sell the house. If you think you will be able to sell the house to another audio guy down the road, forget it. Consider that you'll need to put the entire house / property back into a state that an average family will be ready to move in with no issues. All the work you do, plan it so that it can all be easily converted back into "normal" living space quickly and easily, or you'll kick yourself later. It IS possible to do this successfully with good planning. My place will soon be set up as an ideal sound-proofed recording / mixing facility... and the day I go to sell it, I'll be able to undo everything quickly and easily to the point where the potential buyers will never even know there was a "studio" there. This does mean making some sacrifices... again, it's about priorities... and about how much $$$ you have to throw around.

Get the nicest house in the best location... worry about the studio later.

[Hattrick]

Originally Posted by judah

Well I'd go for the stand alone solution if your budget allows. My studio is part of the house and as far as isolation is very poor, but that is my fault.

I currently live by my self and am not worried about noise leaking into the studio from above thus during recording sessions their would be no walking around on the main floor.

[Hattrick]

Originally Posted by 666666

Trying to build a separate building from scratch may be a headache and will be expensive. Then you have to consider, a separate building needs heat, air conditioning etc... so this means you need to keep it hot in the winter, cool in the summer, etc... more bills to pay. Having a studio in the basement of your house is WAY more efficient, unless you are going to do a lot of commercial work.

Buying a house is an important decision. The house itself, the location, the deal etc are all quite important. I hate to say it, but the studio aspect is secondary... unless you are buying this house specifically to be a studio. If that's the case, then buy a commercial building instead for the studio.

I bought a "new" house a while back and had planned on using a certain room as the studio. As it turned out, certain things changed and I could no longer use that room as the studio... and wound up doing a certain amount of recording work in the basement with a very low ceiling... others I know have had the same issues... we've all done recording work successfully, no problems.

Point is, if you like the old house and the location is great etc, go for it. If the basement ceiling is "low", well... just how low is it? Even 7.5' could work. Is it ideal? Maybe not. But again, depending on what you're doing, you may not NEED 9 or 10 foot ceilings.

I personally feel that big rooms with high ceilings are overrated... unless you really must have the degree of reverberation that such a room yields. I much prefer a smaller tighter room, well tuned of course, and then add reverb per taste later. If you could see youself agreeing with this premise, then you do not really need a high ceiling. It's all about priorities.

If you get the old house and really MUST have a higher ceiling in the basement one day, you could even dig out the basement and lower the floor, thus creating an effectively "higher" ceiling. I was almost going to do that in my house and then realized it just wasn't worth it... I can still do excellent work with a fairly low ceiling.

Also remember... don't go too nuts with studio-specific modifications because you will NOT get that money back when you go to sell the house. If you think you will be able to sell the house to another audio guy down the road, forget it. Consider that you'll need to put the entire house / property back into a state that an average family will be ready to move in with no issues. All the work you do, plan it so that it can all be easily converted back into "normal" living space quickly and easily, or you'll kick yourself later. It IS possible to do this successfully with good planning. My place will soon be set up as an ideal sound-proofed recording / mixing facility... and the day I go to sell it, I'll be able to undo everything quickly and easily to the point where the potential buyers will never even know there was a "studio" there. This does mean making some sacrifices... again, it's about priorities... and about how much $$$ you have to throw around.

Get the nicest house in the best location... worry about the studio later.

Great advice from above.

I guess I get too concerned about the studios needs verses the home needs. There are a lot of homes for sale these days just about every where (wonder why) LOL. I live outside Salt Lake City Utah where most of the homes are very old in the downtown area. These are mostly bungolo style type homes built anywhere from the 1900's on remodeled with lots of charm and are more expensive then the outlining suburbs which are only about 15 miles away.

The only benefit to live outside SLC is aquiring a new larger modern home hence why there is so much expansion in these areas over the last 20 years. The valley around SLC is not that large and one can access just about anywhere from the suburbs to downtown within 30 minutes.

Regarding basement height, it sounds like that I could do just fine with a lower ceiling for recording and also could save some cash even if I choose to build a new home (8K) by going with 8' foot ceilings.

Living downtown has the same benefits and drawbacks of any other city in the USA as well as there is a more culture and blend of people who are not so (religiously influenced) living downtown as well. I do not feel that living in the outling areas whould make any difference as per having customer access, so as you can imagine I am kinda in a quandry here now.....