Building a Pro Studio - advice

Ok guys, this is a fairly unique thread... I need some genuine info and am not trying to take the piss or be smug...

I'm a property developer by day and a musician by night, I have just come across a building that I think would make an excellent pro-recording studio and am considering going for it. I've always wanted to own a studio (not necessarily be an engineer), I've been a musician for close to 15 years so this is not a pie in the sky idea.

I need to know from any engineers out there the rough cost of gear for a good quality studio (not a €1M Bob Rock setup). I can probably afford about €100K (close to $130K US) for gear and about another €100 €150K for the structural work (three phase power, soundprofing, structural work etc).

Also, if you know what you're talking about, what gear would expect/like to see in a good quality studio. There are not too many high end studios in my city so I don't have to comete with gargantuan budgets.

The building is 120 sq.m with four equal sized rooms, 11ft ceilings (that's very high), detached and block built on suspended timber floors. I take it that I may have to do work on the floors? The really cool thing is that this building looks like an old church (complete with statue of Mary on the outside wall), it was owned by a religious order and untill now has ben used as a community center. I'm thinking of having 1 control room, 1 room dedicated to drums and another for guitars and bass, then the last room could be for recreation and also have a vocal booth. Would a god studio need anything else? BTW I'm not to proud to buy used gear (once it has been checked by a professional).

If anyone has any ideas I would value your feedback.

Thanks

PS I'm going to post another thread asking for a list of dream gear for a pro studio

$250,000 Should buy you a decent set up. What I would do if I was you since you are'nt going to be the engineer is find one first. A really good experienced one. Then have him help you build it. Keep in mind if you find someone who has gone to school for recording they will know what they need. They will know what rooms should be what and all that. My friend was a great engineer before he went to school for it and he helped build a pretty good studio with about $20,000. So I can imagine what someone experienced would do with the money your laying down.

If you are serious about this studio I would strongly advise consulting the pros. Check out Russ Berger and his design group.

Russ Berger Studio Designer

Thanks for the info, I'll check it out. I've also been in touch with Richard Oliver Design (ropd.com) and johnlsayers.com
Hopefully they can advise me. There are no specialist studio architects in my country (that I can find), so I will have to get my architect to send the building schematics etc to the studio designer so they can design it on paper and send it back to my architect... who will then project manage the contractors... complicated, it all depends on the budget and costs.
Thanks again.

A studio will usually take 3 or 4 times the construction materials that a home of the same size would, so keep that in mind. But I agree with the others- it's a very scientific thing, building a studio, so it's worthwhile to hire a pro.

You might want to see about knocking down a wall to have one larger recording floor for the band, then a vocal booth off to the side. Just to get a "band atmosphere" for the players, it's usually best to have the musicians all playing in the same room together. A drum room is good too but if it's one or the other, I'd go with a larger band room.

I second that on one big band room......Just build isolation cabinets for the guitar and bass amps so the sound won't bleed through the drum mics.

Indeed. That or invest in a good set of baffles. I guess that's when it becomes a question of funds, though.

Outfit the entire studio in Monster Cable or something equivilant. It'll make a huge difference in the clarity of sound.
Look into some Googled examples of isolating the studio with floating floors and walls. Build the walls so that they aren't perpendicular to eliminate phase cancellation.
If you're using it for clients other than yourself, look at comfort like the listening area for a group of people, entertainment rooms, sleeping accomodation, ease of loading equipment, atmosphere....
Think in terms of modern recording where the mixing room is going to be used just as much as the studio itself for recording straight into the board.
Do a google of some of the more famous studios and a guy named 'Trevor Horn' at Sarm Studios. There's a web page filled with interview videos.
Maybe even check out Abbey Road Studios virtual walk through video.
The studio is old, but it gives you some ideas since it's been remodelled..

...guess I should add that you need to outfit the studio in the latest computer technology. Just about everybody is realizing these days that 99% of the studio recording can be done within the computer using virtual instruments... then taking the computer mix and using the studio to add the acoustical instruments. You'll need a storage area where people have access to the best Mics, compression and amps.. and a decent reverb.
Top end equipment and total silence (signal to noise ratio) is a total must.
Buy some esoteric albums that stereo shops use for demonstration purposes and play them on a high end stereo system to get an idea what to shoot for.

Originally Posted by: SuperhumanOk guys, this is a fairly unique thread... I need some genuine info and am not trying to take the piss or be smug...

I'm a property developer by day and a musician by night, I have just come across a building that I think would make an excellent pro-recording studio and am considering going for it. I've always wanted to own a studio (not necessarily be an engineer), I've been a musician for close to 15 years so this is not a pie in the sky idea.

I need to know from any engineers out there the rough cost of gear for a good quality studio (not a €1M Bob Rock setup). I can probably afford about €100K (close to $130K US) for gear and about another €100 €150K for the structural work (three phase power, soundprofing, structural work etc).

Also, if you know what you're talking about, what gear would expect/like to see in a good quality studio. There are not too many high end studios in my city so I don't have to comete with gargantuan budgets.

The building is 120 sq.m with four equal sized rooms, 11ft ceilings (that's very high), detached and block built on suspended timber floors. I take it that I may have to do work on the floors? The really cool thing is that this building looks like an old church (complete with statue of Mary on the outside wall), it was owned by a religious order and untill now has ben used as a community center. I'm thinking of having 1 control room, 1 room dedicated to drums and another for guitars and bass, then the last room could be for recreation and also have a vocal booth. Would a god studio need anything else? BTW I'm not to proud to buy used gear (once it has been checked by a professional).

If anyone has any ideas I would value your feedback.

Thanks

PS I'm going to post another thread asking for a list of dream gear for a pro studio

(note off the bat: i'm trying to list everything that comes to mind off the top of my head for a professional studio....you can take away and accomidate for your budget)


for a professional business studio, you need to think of a few things....first off: offices. you need a reception area, an area for the business manager's office, you need a room for the musicians to beable to hang out and take a break from recording(a rec room/game room/green room type area), a live room, an iso booth, and a drum room.

for gear: you're gonna wanna have nice gear and lots of lights because musicians like shiney things...ask anyone here, they all love joe satriani's chrome guitar. so, with that in mine, i'd suggest you look at getting a nice console(maybe pick up a used SSL G series?), a pro-tools HD system, and a mac G5 and the black diamond plug-ins package. you're gonna want a nice pre-amp for your microphones, need an amp for your cue signal, probably have a patch board to route all your offboard effects and processors, on the note of processors, i like the 1176 compressor/limiter(it gets 44:1 ratio....brick wall limiting and sounds clean), also like the manley massive passive compressor too, for delays/sound mod/weird ****ing noises you gotta go with an eventide processor because they're the ****, other reverbs and such are up to your own discretion(as is everything else here....i'm just going over the top and giving you a big list of things to think about and look into). microphones! you need a way to capture every sound 5 different ways, right? so you'll need condensors, vintage microphones, microphones in cardioid, bipolar, omni, and hypercardioid directions, need dynamic mics to get right up on the instruments and get in their faces, need ribbon mics to capture things in the warm delicate way that only a ribbon microphone can, and of course, you'll need a way to make sure all these mics stand up properly, connect properly, and maybe a DI box or three and a reamp box or three and turnarounds. reamping is great because you can capture a performance live and then send that same performance back out to the amplifier anytime you want as many times as you want into as many amps as you want after that and not get some pissy guitarist whining about playing that same lick for the 10,0000th time.


but of course these are just suggestions, observations and opinions, the final decisions are yours....but this the stuff i think about when i think of professional studios.



oh yeah, it might not hurt to have a 24 track tape machine if you can find one....even though tape is becoming extinct, it is still a very popular format with artists and can even be a commercial draw without even using it!


but that's just stuff off the top of my head....i tend to think big.

You had best give some thought to >soundproofing< this studio.

The link gives me a "page cannot be found messege" :eek: . I don't know if you missed a letter or if it's a site thing or if it's just me. Thought you should know. ;) Nevermind must a been something else. :rolleyes:

Check out www.Auralex.com, there is lots of sond-proofing / acoustic advice to be had including how to deal with troublesome reflections, bass trapping, and room dimensions

The link I posted should get you a very informative National Research Council of Canada treatise on the relative benefits of different construction techniques and materials. It works fine for me from several computers.

The only disappointment was the omission of ventilation systems from their investigation. Therein lies a whole world of grief for the unwary! :eek:

I had a mate who was a drummer, built him self a sound proof room and wondered why after playing for 20 min he kept passing out !

Turned out the room was nearly air tight !


oops !

Thanks for all of the feedback guys, the agents are looking too much for the property (€400,000). I have made a significantly lower offer and will see how things pan out over the coming weeks.
It's a cool looking building and would have a great image as a studio, here's the online brochure:
http://www.hok.ie/images/commercial/10005352/10005352_brochure.pdf

I'm not sure what studios in the States are like but in Ireland they generally don't supply amps, or cabs or evn have a stand alone guitar rig let alone anything other than a bottom of the range drum kit minus hi-htats, pedals and cymbals...

I'm looking to put a studio together with good gear that musicians actually want and gear that engineers trust and have experience with. If this one doesnt work out I'll keep looking and will post back.