I would like to know what type of budget I should be looking at to build a mid rand adequate mastering studio (notice I said mid range...) I'm not trying to build the biggest and best and I of course don't want to be labeled budget (not that its a bad thing).

When I talk about budget... I mean what kind of money do I need for the equipment, the sound treatments for the room right down to construction costs...

After reading most of the posts here I notice most answers to questions like this always go off on some tangent about the engineer's experience yada yada.... Please spare me that. I just want to know a ballpark figure to work with. I like to construction pics and final look of John's mastering studio and would love to know what kind of financial hit something like that would be to build. In fact, I would consider that studio design/equipment to be exactly what I'm hoping to achieve. I'm not really sure if it makes a difference cost wise, but I'm located in Texas. Assuming that location has an effect on building/construction costs.

I appreciate any assistance and comments. Thanks.

-Jones

This never works right for some reason, but I'll give it a go.

If you go "gently used" you can probably land a monitoring chain for under $15k. DA, controller, amp, loudspeakers, even stands. Just about any other "key" piece is going to run around $4k or more - EQ's, compressors, rebuilt tape machines (as long as you don't go for ATR's, which will run you around $12k or so), a solid PC with a solid interface (you'll need two or more in most cases, plus software). Converter sets - at least two again (not including the dedicated DA for the monitoring chain).

Room treatments, if you go the less expensive route (I have 18 GIK traps in here than handle the bulk of the trapping plus several RealTraps and a few custom units) figure maybe $2k or a little more. A lot more if you like - It's certainly something you can "massage" via DIY and such, but it's not something you can compromise.

A digital "wonder box" or two - I have a very rarely used, but it's not going anywhere soon, DBX Quantum II. Those are cheap - $2k used. Playback devices - A MasterLink is pretty much a staple, the DVRA1000 comes in handy here and there...

Furniture, cabling, battery backup & power conditioning - You'll certainly hit $50k and can easily hit the $75k mark in gear & random accoutrements.

The space is an entirely different story - Again, DIY, bartering, etc., is going to have a huge impact on the cost. The last project studio I designed had a $200,000 construction tab. In this room, as small and simple as it is, I probably spent more on consultations than on materials. And I was lucky enough to have some "connections" on the construction - Probably saved $10-15k on that.

All in all, if you over-budget a little - there's always something, then there's advertising costs, insurance, TIME, etc. (I'd be lying if I didn't say that it took years before business was even relatively "steady" - Even by music industry standards), and you're looking to build in an existing space, $80-100k would probably be a decent conservative estimate.

Of course, you could triple that depending on who you call for designing the space.

It all comes down to smart money / dumb money. You can NOT skimp on the monitoring chain. You can NOT compromise the acoustic treatment. You can NOT use crappy converters.

You CAN start with limited hardware - If I were starting a new place right now, I'd probably get all the Crane Song stuff I use now (HEDD converters, STC-8M compressor, Ibis EQ, Avocet controller) and be able to pull off 90% of whatever comes in. The "Crane Chain" is amazingly flexible, and will hold its own against pretty much anything out there.

You CAN DIY thinks like cables - I'm actually having this whole place re-cabled with Belden 1800F. Cables, connectors, everything, should cost no more than around $5-600. And it's top quality - No compromise (and it's AES - It'll work with all your *digital* connections as well as the analog connections).

In any case, start with a few F. Alton Everest titles. The Master Handbook of Acoustics and the one about building a budget recording studio. Read those before you hire a consultant. Communication is key, and pre-education is key to communication. In a perfect world, a consultant is a guy who you pay to steal your watch and tell you what time it is. I had a fairly decent idea of what I was shooting for before I started making calls to acousticians and builders - As I was trying to work an existing space, I needed to be clear on what could and could not happen before I was paying these guys $150 and hour to chat with and look at pictures. That saved a lot of "what if" time. And time is money, etc., etc., yada, yada.

I am probably most likely going to be looking at renting some space and if God and the planets align just right I may be looking at approx. 70k for my budget. Of course I want to put that 70k to the best use. I gather the best place to spend the most time, money and effot would be on the room and its treatments. Then take whatever's left and get the best gear possible of course from your past posts here I reckon that means the best monitoring system I can get my hands on.

Any place on the net or elsewhere you can suggest to find a good honest reputable contractor/architect etc... versed in the building of studios?

And by the way thanks for the reply....

Re-read the first post - Added a few paragraphs.

John Sayers is a good guy to start with - Although I didn't use his design scheme, the basic premise was very sensible and the information passed over several hours was very useful.


But again - The more you know on the way in, the less time you'll waste on the way out.

And don't underestimate the time it takes to build up a clientele... From what I can tell, the average mastering place takes around 3-5 years or so before it turns a profit - *IF* it makes it that long, of course. And with the current market, I'd imagine that's a very conservative estimate.

I'm not trying to discourage - But I've seen it happen more times than I can recall over the last several years.