Hi everyone,
Do any of you know any good links for studio design... ie: layout, wall/ceiling shapes and treatments, control room size, etc.... I may have the opportunity soon to build a separate building just for a studio...
Thanks!
best info for building studio?
I suggest you read Project Studios, from Philip Newell, Focal Press, before starting anything. It's an excellent book on project studio construction. It covers just about anything you need to consider before starting construction like: mains supplies and grounding system, control room acoustics, monitoring requirements, equipment interfacing and much more.
What I really like about it is that it's not about what gear such and such famous studios used, like quite a lot of publications in this industry, but how to construct a room that will give you an accurate representation of what you're recording/mixing.
On the equipment side, the Sound Reinforcement Handbook, by Gary Davis & Ralph Jones is a must. It will teach you about the caracteristics of most types of equipment, how to read spec sheets properly(what's good, what's bad and what the manufacturer may be trying to hide with incomplete specs...). It also covers cabling schemes and a LOT more.
After that, if you still have a lot of time on your hand, you could go further and read the Master Handbook of Acoustics, by F. Alton Everest. Why they call this 600+ pages of processed wood a "handbook" is beyond me but it is, if very specialised, an excellent read.
RedSun .:.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: RedSun on 2003-06-07 10:37 ]</font>
What I really like about it is that it's not about what gear such and such famous studios used, like quite a lot of publications in this industry, but how to construct a room that will give you an accurate representation of what you're recording/mixing.
On the equipment side, the Sound Reinforcement Handbook, by Gary Davis & Ralph Jones is a must. It will teach you about the caracteristics of most types of equipment, how to read spec sheets properly(what's good, what's bad and what the manufacturer may be trying to hide with incomplete specs...). It also covers cabling schemes and a LOT more.
After that, if you still have a lot of time on your hand, you could go further and read the Master Handbook of Acoustics, by F. Alton Everest. Why they call this 600+ pages of processed wood a "handbook" is beyond me but it is, if very specialised, an excellent read.
RedSun .:.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: RedSun on 2003-06-07 10:37 ]</font>
Definitely hire an experimented studio designer. There is SO MUCH stuff to think about at the same time when you build a studio that you want someone who has processed all the data hands-on to avoid many, many mistakes. And the cost to repair these mistakes might be greater than the cost of hiring a designer in the first place, let alone hiring one to find what the mistakes are. I heard tales of whole studios ripped a part to find out that mistakes in the desing was the cause of the problems.
Reading is excellent too, like that you can compare notes with the guy and understand more deeply the concepts and decisions on the ground.
Good luck with the project, it seems quite thrilling!
Reading is excellent too, like that you can compare notes with the guy and understand more deeply the concepts and decisions on the ground.
Good luck with the project, it seems quite thrilling!
About the best advice to give which is probably also the hardest to implement is not to have any parallel walls and to cover the floor, walls and ceiling in carpet.
Look at any good music rooms, studios in colleges/schools they are always weird shapes and covered in carpet!
This prevents standing waves and reflections as much as possible.
Other things to consider are:
Getting a decent clean, reliable power supply in.
Choosing or building a decent desk/rack setup so that you can maximise your space.
Security, you dont really want anyone nicking your kit.
Making sure your monitors have enough space to breathe.
Cable management etc
Make sure you have room to grow.
Consider whether you need a separate space for recording bands/vocalists.
Checkout the Studios from Scratch articles in Future Music - they are pretty comprehensive.
Look at any good music rooms, studios in colleges/schools they are always weird shapes and covered in carpet!
This prevents standing waves and reflections as much as possible.
Other things to consider are:
Getting a decent clean, reliable power supply in.
Choosing or building a decent desk/rack setup so that you can maximise your space.
Security, you dont really want anyone nicking your kit.
Making sure your monitors have enough space to breathe.
Cable management etc
Make sure you have room to grow.
Consider whether you need a separate space for recording bands/vocalists.
Checkout the Studios from Scratch articles in Future Music - they are pretty comprehensive.
The recording room of the studio that I'm taking care of has rock walls with wooden segments and a removable carpet. Let me tell you that the live sound of this room is awesome! We had the chance to have nice rock foundations in the house where it's built so we took advantage of it! And there's always the possibility to put lots of carpets on the floor and absorbing panels on the walls if we want less reflections...
On 2003-06-09 19:10, eliam wrote:
Why do you say you have to drive 100 miles to touch rock?
rock climbing is my favourite sport and we don't have any in the area I live. In lower heights (without rope) decrypting a way up can be very meditative, you get a rather intimate relation to that piece of nature, so I'm not just an adrenaline junkie - but from time to time I need those kicks as well...
cheers, Tom