First rule of building a studio in a condo...make sure NO LAWYERs live in the building

Oh by the way I do live in a town house thus no issues with floor. When I relocate to the Denver area I will either purchase another Townhouse but larger in size or preferably a house with a non furnished basement and build from there.

Regarding V-drums:

I am so pleased using this method for recording drums for the following reasons:

1. Extremly quite to record
2. Set up time greatly reduced (cost savings to client)
3 A huge selection of sets and samples
4. Ease of editing

I am currently using Steinberg LM-4 triggered by an inexpensive Hart Dynamics Prodigy drum kit. I will be replacing this kit with a new Hart/Roland kit. I will be using Hart Drums and Roland cymbals with a new TD-20 module. In addition I will re-sampling the drums sounds from the TD-20 into Steinberg Halion. This way I can utilize a plethura of drum samples and have midi editing as well. This is very helpful with "not so accurate" drummers. With a great drummer I would not hesitate to record direct from the TD-20 though.

Might as well abandon the thought of tracking Drums for sure. Unless you want to get shut down the first day.

I just finished a mix / odub room in my condo's two car garage. Mixing at a MAX of 90db, having built a fairly quiet, although not soundproof room ( built more for accuracy) I'm able to work all night ( not at 90) and not have the neighbors even know.
I'm thinking of running a couple cables up to the living space to cut some vox, strings and acoustic guitars, utilizing the nice vaulted ceiling in the dining room as an occasional tracking area.

It's a brand new condo, and it has those double glassed windows that keep the outside noise in check pretty well.
I track percussion in the garage room with no prob too. Amp'd guitars are generally done at the home studios of the player, but I am considering a Iso box for a guitar rig.

The big rub doing ANYTING in a residential studio, be it house or condo, is ZONING, and PARKING/ CLIENT TRAFFIC. If any of those are a problem, your throwing money away to even think you can be a for hire place.

I have strict rules for my little room. No one allowed over to odub or even hang out, unless they are folks I would also invite for dinner . No more than three people, including me in the studio. And Clients have to park OUTSIDE THE COMPLEX and walk in. That keeps things on the DL and the condo association non the wiser.

So it's primarily a production/ vocal / mix room for me. I'm really happy to start projects at big rooms. It's worked well with the budgets i work with to be able to start the project in a big room on 2 inch then transfer to Tools for the rest of the stuff done at home.

cz

the company I used to work for had a deal with Capitol Records . any ways we built
a set up that went In an office building.the floor was inter locking 2/3 foot sqaures,
we put sand and istallation inside. It was a covert thing nobody knew who was using
this stuff to record.at least they didnt tell my boss.they had to install it with nobody knowing. why the hell they did not use ol studio A .I dunno. back to my point ,
we had made a very worthy floating floor.

If you're going to track drums and/or loud electric guitars or live monkeys that can't shut up, go for the floating floor. If not, don't. I think it's a waste of money. I've worked in different condo-type-studios both with and without floating floor, and I've never heard of anyone complaining (they didn't record drums, though!). I myself work in a studio in a condo, don't use floating floor.

BUT - I don't like loud listening while working - AND - I use headphones a lot, especially when just editing. If you want and/or like really boosting your speakers til they almost fry, and your hair gets slicked to your head because of the pressure wave, then go with the floating floor/walls/ceiling.

As well, I don't like using voal booths. My workspace is quiet enough, and I think I get better connection with the performer if we're both in the same room, instead of having them go inside a small closet or something. But, if you feel like it's easier and more comfortable to use a vocal booth, then that's the way to go for you. I'm just saying that it doesn't have to be done like every other studio out there, just think about what preferences YOU have and what kind of work you need to do in this studio. Full-fledged rock sessions or just editing?

About equipment, do you have everything you need as far as converters and mic pre's and stuff go?