Studio Build - Where would you put my mix position?

[Kapo_Polenton]

Ok, so I'm finally getting down to finishing the basement at the house we moved into 4 years ago. Unfortunately, all the downsides to a basement studio apply on this one. I have a plumbing stack in my studio space, an I beam running through it, and I had to build a wall off the stairs to help cut down on sound transfer. In short, it isn't ideal but I am also doing a living room/ play area for my kids and have a small gym space and then storage. I'm planning double 5/8 drywall and resilient channel everywhere in the room but obviously I am going to have a weak spot in the 2 doors as my wife still wanted access to emergency supplies under the stairs.

I've used staggered inner walls and a wall within the stairs framing. Duct work is going to be flexible and run in S shape within the joists. Luckily my spot is the furthest away from the furnace but obviously, duct work projects sound.

Despite all the short comings, I am looking forward to having a space I can decorate and play guitars/drums in. Will the bass drum still transfer? Absolutely. But I'm assuming that during the day if the house is a bustle, I am significantly reducing the boom without setting off the glass break sensor panel every time i hit a crash cymbal. So given that and my unique challenges, where would you set up your listening/mixing position? The room is L shaped so I plan to set up faux walls with Gobo's on wheels.

Do you go between the plumbing stack bulkhead so you can do bass traps in the corners? Or do you take the wider wall between the two bulk heads? Interested in everyone's perspective.

 

[Monkey Man]

The preference usually is to go with the wider wall mate.

Essentially, it means that on average the nearest surfaces are further-away.

 

[glpg80]

I just moved into a house with an unfinished basement and get to enjoy the struggles you’re facing in the far future. It’s such a daunting task to finish a basement for music and multipurpose use.

Put the mixing and mastering console on the longest wall where there is symmetry for sound canceling panels to work correctly and not get odd phasing problems.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

The preference usually is to go with the wider wall mate.

Essentially, it means that on average the nearest surfaces are further-away.

I don't necessarily disagree but it is interesting that in a lot of builds, they end up putting their mix position on the shortest wall and then leave the longer wall bare. In my case it isn't ideal either way due to the L shape. I'm gravitating towards my mock up or putting gobos under that support beam and mixing between two bulkheads. ( under that light)

 

[Monkey Man]

it is interesting that in a lot of builds, they end up putting their mix position on the shortest wall and then leave the longer wall bare.

Yeah, I know and I almost did that myself; I put that down to convenience.

Think about it:
Close side-walls and a long delay for bounce-back from the rear wall is a strange arrangement, the bulk of which can be mitigated by dampening of course, but the thing is that you do want diffused reflections coming back at you from the rear wall, just not from so far away.