Recording Studio Design

[cris545]

I'm looking for a generous soul to answer a couple of questions about recording studios, since I'm designing one for class this semester.

A little background info, the recording studio is located inside a concert hall which will probably house any type of music, from orchestras to local bands from the area. I imagine it would be best to have several recording studio sizes, one big space for small orchestras and instrument ensembles, a medium sized one for full band recordings, and smaller ones for individual instruments.

My main questions are, what would be some good sizes for these recording spaces? I know next to nothing about recording studios, but I'm imagining each studio has a small control room with equipment, how big would that room need to be?

Apart from that, any pointers as to what materials I'd need, how much equipment would need to be in each room, and anything like that, would be immensely appreciated.

(If I have assumed anything incorrectly, please correct me)

Thanks!

[lew_1987]

The only advice I can think of personally would be to look around on the internet at some recording studios. Try and find them on a sliding scale of size - ie. small studios, medium, large, and just get a feel for the sizes of the rooms and things like that. Obviously that doesn't give you much quantifiable information, but most studios will have equipment lists and things like that, and sometimes they'll give the number of rooms and dimensions and things like that. Sorry if that was no help, it's all I could think of :shrug:

[cris545]

will do, I'll be getting some books from the music library too, thanks :-)

[lew_1987]

I've just realised I said "things like that" three times in that post.

[cris545]

I've just realised I said "things like that" three times in that post.
Hahaha I don't really notice things like that :unsure:

[lew_1987]

Hahaha I don't really notice things like that :unsure:

I don't usually say things like that... Really. How's this going?

Have you tried asking for help in the musician's forum? You might get more response there.

[cris545]

I don't usually say things like that... Really. How's this going?

Have you tried asking for help in the musician's forum? You might get more response there.
Alex may be helping me out a bit with sizes and stuff, he built a studio. I've looked around the internet but I can't seem to find what adequate sizing would be good, so he's helping me with that. Materials and details and so on will probably come later, since I'm busy trying to figure out the overall arrangement of the entire building first.

[brandnew741]

One thing you could do is build isolation booths inside your medium and large live rooms. Those can be used for a multitude of things (vocals, guitars, whatever). Inside your live room and control room, it'd be best to avoid 90 degree angles with your walls as well as parallel walls, as those can create standing waves and fuck up your sound. As far as size.... it all depends, but bigger live rooms can be more flexible for recording purposes and possibly sound better than a smaller room.
If you want a really nice console, the control room should be big enough for a large console (at least 15 feet long on one wall). The equipment all depends on how much your budget is and therefore is a little harder to answer.
You need mic panels in each live room. A patch bay, a DAW w/computer, time-based processors, dynamic processors, etc etc would also be a good idea.
Sorry all these thoughts are randomly thrown in here.

[Tristan Needler]

Make sure your control room is big enough to have the console (your monitors, specifically) pretty far from any walls.

[cris545]

One thing you could do is build isolation booths inside your medium and large live rooms. Those can be used for a multitude of things (vocals, guitars, whatever). Inside your live room and control room, it'd be best to avoid 90 degree angles with your walls as well as parallel walls, as those can create standing waves and fuck up your sound. As far as size.... it all depends, but bigger live rooms can be more flexible for recording purposes and possibly sound better than a smaller room.
If you want a really nice console, the control room should be big enough for a large console (at least 15 feet long on one wall). The equipment all depends on how much your budget is and therefore is a little harder to answer.
You need mic panels in each live room. A patch bay, a DAW w/computer, time-based processors, dynamic processors, etc etc would also be a good idea.
Sorry all these thoughts are randomly thrown in here.
That really helps, thanks!

Make sure your control room is big enough to have the console (your monitors, specifically) pretty far from any walls.
Will do, thank you.