I want a huge room, how's this sound??

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 1:42 pm

Well, for starters, just let me thanks everyone for posting all the great questions and all the sagely advice (okay, maybe that's overdoing it). Anyhow, like the subject says I'm looking for a large tracking room design, really some critiques of a current design idea. The way it all plays out is this: 100'x60' warehouse with 15' and 30' foot roof. Before you think I got lucky, it used to be a private aircraft hanger, so it is basically nothing but a concrete slab with good quality metal walls and a metal roof. I am in the research/planning phase of the project now and intend to start construction sometime in late November. I am looking to build the control room and the large tracking room first, the topic of control room design has been beaten beyond recognition so I thought I go with the tracking room questions first. I am becoming quite partial to a design I worked up a while back for a regular heptagon shaped room with wall lengths of 16', that amounts to roughly 11,163 cu.ft. with a square footage of some 922 sq.ft., I hope that's large cause I don't know what I'd do with more space. The end result will be a floating floor with the standard double wall, I have some issues to work out with the ceiling so I think a false ceiling at 12' with various absorption and diffusion panels mounted to the false ceiling lines will have to be installed for the initial construction phase. As time goes on rooms will be added but the studio centers around this heptagon, so any advice on this room would be great. I don't know how difficult it is to establish room modes, reverb times, and reflection issues in a seven sided room so any tips would be welcomed, i'm excited about the whole heptagon thing so be gentle please.

Thanks for all the work you guys(and gals) do for us noobs
Jay

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 7:19 am

OK, I ain't the expert around here, but the tracking room issue is one I beat pretty up hard here in my situation.

The one thing I do know, and will recommend that you consider...

Control rooms are best when designed symetrical... Tracking rooms, generally, are "best" unique and asymetric.

Depending on your budget, 922 sq ft could be considered a huge room or it could be a smaller big rig room...

Avatar Studios (Formerly Power Station) designed by Tony Bongiovi (perfected by Rod)
Galaxy Studios
Blackbird Studios
BlueJay Studios

Edited by Rod for accuracy

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 9:46 am

Max, thanks for the links. I should have qualified my questions and maybe the subject was a little misleading. I'm not doing any full orchestral recordings, I deal with indie-rock and metal for the most part so I figured 922 sqft was enough to demo a six piece band and went with the measurements, I am really concerned about the effect of seven walls and angles of similar size . While I have no parallel walls to contend with I may have drawn myself into a sound hole I can't absorb, diffuse, and reflect my way out of. Thanks again for the links I think the rooms at avatar have to greatest ceilings I've ever seen.

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 10:45 pm

First... Rod, thanks for clarifying my mistake!

You weren't misleading... big rooms are cool for any kind of music if they're done right... don't believe me??? check this studio out.

I'm sure that Rod can clarify on things FAR better than I can, but given the size of your place (100x60x30) the only limiting factors I can see are your budget and imagination.

Check all the floorplans you can find on studios with big rooms. Then start to narrow down things to fit your budget.

... and yeah... Avatar's main room looks to be amazingly complex and probably sounds even better.

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