So I'm looking for a house...

[Ultravibe]

Went out for the first time this weekend and saw a few places that piqued my interest, but then I got to thinking... See, for instance one fo these places had a decent basement, but with a pretty low ceiling. Two rooms I could have used, both about 13x13 feet. Big enough? The ceiling was only about 7'. Actually, this isn't even an issue because the basement would probably double as a swimming pool after the first big rain, but hopefully you all get the picture of what I'm asking. If not, here it is in a nutshell: What is the minimum I should look for in space considerations for setting up my new home studio? I need a place for drums, guitars, bass keys kind of tracking, with enough control room space for me, desk, racks (about 3 floor racks... only two now but adding on steadily...) and clients - maybe a couch? Also, anyone out there encountered any problems that I may not be thinking of? The water damage at this place we looked at was apparent, but what else should I be on the lookout for? We're going again this weekend and it might save some time if I know of a few other studio considerations to make. Any help here?

[Ultravibe]

Well, I'm trying to find a place that has a good amount of land, but I live in the Washington DC area, and housing prices around here are such that for what I'm spending, I can afford only about half of what I could afford about a year and a half ago. I've found a few places in my price range, but invariably they have some sort of problem that needs to be fixed before they are really useful. I might actually go the townhouse route. But that has a whole host of other problems. Maybe I'll sell my drums and get an electronic set... We'll see. Anybody in the DC area wanna offer me a job in the six figure range? Thanks.

[Audiobotica]

One major reason to avoid condos/townhomes/trailer parks: OWNERS ASSOCIATIONS!!! :eek: These usually consist of elderly retirees with nothing better to do than hassle you mercilessly. An engineer friend of mine got asked to move cause she was walking around her living room "scantily clad" with the window open. Did they admonish the old perv who was peeping in her second story window? Of course not. Plus, the place was infested with vermin and no matter how clean she kept her own condo, the vermin would just seep back in from the slobs next door. She said taking the financial hit and moving to a house was the best move she'd made in years. :thu:

[offramp]

We've got our eye on a place situated on about 3/4 of an acre; lots of fruit trees, two wells...and a railroad boxcar at the far west end of the property. Guess what Dave gets as his studio?

[Joachim P. Dyndale]

[quote]Originally posted by Ultravibe: [b]Anybody in the DC area wanna offer me a job in the six figure range? Thanks.[/b][/quote]Sorry, no. But I'll e-mail you a huge house with a pre-built multi-million dollar studio. After all it's Christmas. Would that be okay? :D (Sorry that I don't have any serious advice here. Good luck though!)

[Rim]

Andrew, Feel ya, bro. I'll be looking for a house myself in January with a basement studio in mind. It would be nice to have a tall basement but not realistic. A townhouse is not the answer. My band has had cops called from every townhouse we've practiced in. Here's what I was thinking of doing in my future basement studio based on what I read on Paul White's book "Creative Recording II". For drums, I would build a floating floor at least 9 inches deep with neoprene to insulate where the floating floor touches the real floor. I'd fill in the floating floor with "mineral wool" (whatever that is - is it the same as fiberglass insulation?). This should cut down a lot of the low frequencies. On top of the floating floor would be some kind of wood that would sound good. This floating floor will work even in basements only 7' high because a drummer will be sitting down anyway - just be careful getting up. I would make the floating floor big enough for drums and a bass amp. This way I can put the bass amp (not the bass player) on the floating floor so it can take advantage of the low frequency isolation, too. Isolating mid and high frequencies can be done fairly easily with heavy blankets, curtains and soft furniture. I was also thinking of using air beds (used for camping and guests) for spot sound isolation. The advantage of air beds is, when you don't need them, you just deflate them and stow them away. Remember, you don't want a totally dead space either. You want to isolate sound from coming in and out of your studio as much as you can, but the studio itself must sound good inside.

[S_Gould]

[quote]Originally posted by offramp: [b]We've got our eye on a place situated on about 3/4 of an acre; lots of fruit trees, two wells...and a railroad boxcar at the far west end of the property. Guess what Dave gets as his studio?[/b][/quote]It looks like you'll be changing your name to 'Willy', then? :D

[ECBRules]

Andrew, I live in Germantown, a mere 20 minutes away from SS. I have a basement studio with 7 foot ceilings, and it is my number 1 pet peeve. Some of the newer houses have 10 foot ceilings in the basement, and you can do so much more with the high ceilings. But if you end up grabbing the short ceilings I have a ton of advice. I also have a friend in silver spring named Paul Leavit ( [url=http://paulsbasement.com]Pauls Basement[/url] ) He records a lot of high school kids out of his basement. Basements can be waterproofed. I am a proven testimony to that. Another thing you may not have thought of is that damn heater. Try to snag a place with the heater off to the side and not right in the middle of the basement. The townhouses in montgomery village have 8 foot ceilings and the heater is off to the side. If you get an end unit, you may be well off because the walls are concrete. My friend is renting one of them for about 1200 bucks a month. It has 3 BR's. Cheers, Keny

[Anifa]

The thread that Hank provided contained many critical issues, I'll lump them together and then add some other thoughts to consider. originally posted by F7sound [quote] Flight paths - do planes fly over the house or is it near an airport. Highways - anything close by can make a difference. Schools - kids are distracting. Power - older homes can have problems with good, clean electricity. Neighbors - if the home is close to others, their noise becomes your problem. Power lines - emit EMI which can get into your recordings if you are real close.... [/quote]originally posted by masternfool [quote] 1.Heating /AC Noise... 2.Water conditioners/pumps 3.Easy access to drag marshalls in/out [/quote]originally posted by Anderton [quote] If you end up in the basement, get a dehumidifier. If you don't do that, at least get some Damp Rid and keep it in a corner. Very important! One good thing about basements is you tend to avoid temperature extremes. [/quote]originally posted by Nika [quote] 1. Trains. 2. If the studio is in the basement, do you have water pipes above your head? Leaky water pipes can be hazardous to equipment, as can exploding ones. 3. Security. My studio is in a floated room in the basement. In order to get there you have to find your way down a very steep staircase into what at first appears to be a basement akin to the one in Silence of the Lambs. While it is not easy to get Marshalls down there, it is also not easy to get my equipment out. If someone either accidentally stumbled across my studio while breaking in, or knew what they were after, they'd probably find it not worth their effort to try to haul out the equipment. Before that my studio was up a spiral staircase - same issues. 4. How close is the outside traffic, and where is the driveway in relationship to the studio? You don't always have control of who's going to drive up the driveway when you're recording. 5. A space for a machine closet. [/quote]originally posted by Philip O'Keefe [quote] Seclusion: your comments about getting too far out for client's to get there easily is well noted! Fortunately I was able to find a fairly rural area less than an hour from LA, and with probably 2 million people within 30 minutes drive time from here. [/quote]originally posted by Murph [quote] Don't forget flooding! If you're planning on doing a basement thing, Make sure your walls and the foundation are solid, and no windows are leaking. I would almost advise against new construction, because you never know what will happen in the basement. Any good home inspector can tell if an older home is prone to flooding. For that reason and others, make sure your homeowners insurance covers your gear as well... not all of them do! [/quote]Originally posted by Ken/Eleven Shadows [quote] Your attention can turn to more important matters, like making your space sound good. it's my opinion that given a decent sized space, you can turn just about anything into a good sounding room. [/quote][b]I think that I got most of the tips from the other thread consolidated here.... now here's a few more thoughts to consider:[/b] Emergency Routes - ambulances and police car sirens MOLD - mold can be present without being visible; for yourself, family members, and especially CLIENTS that have allergies, this can be a critical issue. Mold spores attacking the vocal cords of a singer can affect performance and trained vocalists WILL seek elsewhere if mold is an issue. Also, if not tended to effectively, mold can accummulate on equipment and damage it. Accessibility (as previously mentioned) How easy is it to move equipment in and out? How easy will your place be to locate for clients, and will it be within reasonable commuting distance?) Will weather create difficult driving conditions or prohibit access; hills and steep slopes in winter weather, impassible flood zones that prohibit access even if you are not in a flood zone, mud slides, and etc. ZONING - Does your city ordinance allow commercial zoning for the operation of a business created inside of your home? Electrical Wiring - be sure to observe the condition of electrical wiring and make sure that your outlets are grounded. Steer clear of old aluminum wiring that has no grounding and merely has two prong outlets; power cord adapters and audio equipment DON'T MIX. Under rated electrical supply - make sure that your amperage is adequate enough to accommodate your equipment. It would probably be best to make sure your outlet are 20amps when operating power amps and other energy hogs. Make sure there is an ample amount of outlets in the work space so not to have to depend on extension cords and/or multiple outlet strips. Overloading a circuit will cause power surges, trip circuits, or blow fuses and can possibly damage your equipment. Nonetheless, a power surge or failure in the middle of a perfect run, will definitely damage the sound quality. Maintenance of property - will the time spent maintaining the property ( lawn care, handy man repairs, and etc.) CONSUME your precious recording time. Keep in mind that large acreage demands time to maintain... even with tractor mowers. Adequate parking space for ALL band members to drive separately if need be. ABOVE ALL: Get your home inspected by a professional building inspector. If your realtor suggests to you that you are borderline on closing costs, and that you can save money by waiving the building inspection.... RUN LIKE HELL... Realtors are notorious for trap sales, moving properties that have concealed problems to anxious and vulnerable buyers. Also, check to see how long the property has been on the market; if it has been listed for a LONG period of time, there IS as reason that it hasn't moved... don't be blind sided by a smooth talking sales rep. Either the property is overpriced, the zoning in the area is about to have an impact on the home owner (sewer assessments, and etc.), flood zoning (required to be disclosed, but sometimes get forgotten) It would not be a bad idea to hire an attorney to review the contract and do a quick check on the background of the property... back taxes, liens, and etc. You can go to the city planning office and look at the zoning yourself in most states; this would tell you if your property was in a flood zone, residential or commercial, restrictions on new additions due to home owners associations, and etc. You don't want to buy into a neighborhood that will limit or restrict your expansion potential. That's it for now, but I'm sure that I'll think of more issues to consider. Ani'Fa

[Ultravibe]

Wow, so much advice! From the bottom back: Anifa: The mold thing is a huge issue for me. Both me and my girl are heavily allergic so we need to be careful to look into it. As for electrical, luckily I have a friend who is an electrical contracter. In exchange for some stuff I've done for him and a little cash, I'm getting a separate circuit box put in, and he's even looking into balanced power (ala ebtech stuff) which he's never had cause to install before. I replaced and installed many of the outlets in my present home. One of the places we looked at was free of any furniture, clutter, etc. but the basement had a small room with a filled up electrical tool wall and drawers filled with capacitors, transistors, and even some old ass tubes. I was actually momentarily tempted to pocket one just to investigate its age, but conscience got the better of me. As for the realtor issue, I have a family friend who has known me since birth and I trust her implicitly. Besides, my dad is her husband's boss, so I have an extra layer of protection! The house I mentioned in my first post had some court stuff going on with it, too, so we steered well clear. Shame, it was such a cute little place. Keny: About the basement waterproofing thing, I know it can be done, but the problem is you never know how much its really gonna cost until after you start. I had a friend who had french drains, sump pumps, re-routed downspouts, etc. all installed. It ended up costing him about 15 G's to get the outside of the house dug out and resealed. Maybe if they'd lower the cost of the house, but like I mentioned to Anifa, it had a court lien attached and had to sell for the asking price. I record a bunch of high school bands now too. What fun! The paradigm is one or two good players who have been practicing since they were little, who invited their friend to play bass or drums and he just started playing the week before they called to set up the studio time. I have the heater problem now. Ugh! Pain in the ass. Where in Germantown? I'd like to see your set-up. S_Gould: You said nothing to me. Boxcar Willy's Fantabulous Railroad Recording Studio is a good name for a studio, however. Chestnuts: (Heh heh... nuts) Construction shouldn't be a problem. I have a contracter friend (I also have a plumber friend. Friends in low places are good to have!) who I helped set up his business software/network in his home, so he's helping me out with construction. He's eager to try out some of the soundproofing tecniques I've been discussing with him, so he may be able to offer it to other customers. I like the floating floor idea. Very nice. I'll probably do just that. Joachim: Stil waiting... Checking email every 7 seconds... offramp: Very cool! One place had a cool little brick garage that I thought would be cool, but a railroad boxcar is just super-bad-ass! Audio: Yeah, I have dwelt in both townhouses nad apartments and the neighbors are always a problem. Believe me, I'm going in to this wih a lot of time to look (my present lease is up in April, but I negotiated for month to month after that, so I have a large time window) and the neighbors is one of the things on our list of things to be inquisitive about. I hope I can find a detached home, but unless I win the lottery (or Joachim comes through) I might need to settle. Hank: I know. See above. Wish me luck. I go again this weekend!

[offramp]

S-Gould, not a &#$% chance. :freak: In fact, when the construction is complete, there'll be zero reference to the building's origin.

[rog951]

[quote]Originally posted by ECBRules: [b]>>>Andrew, I live in Germantown, a mere 20 minutes away from SS<<<[/b][/quote]Ahhhh HA!!! So that's what all that gol dern racket comin' from down the street is? Hey Keny, what part of G'town are you in? I'm around the corner from the Outback...

[Ultravibe]

Hey, we're going to Outback tonight!! Not the though... the one in Aspen Hill.

[KenElevenShadows]

Anifa's post sure covered a lot of ground! Wow! I have not been on these boards very much lately because I am house hunting (LA area). Housing prices are astronomical. I've found a few decent places, only to be outbid. Grrrrrr. One of the places was beautiful and had large gardens around the house. I am hoping that the first person decides to back out so we can try and buy it. I hope, I hope... Like pretty much everyone else on this thread, I'd advise getting a home and avoiding the condo/townhome thing. Second bedroom for the equipment, then run a snake into the largest room (living room? garage?) for some of the stuff you record, and you should be okay. I've done that for years in small houses and still managed to get decent sounds. Try and do as much soundproofing as is practical, and then don't stress over the rest. If you can convert the garage or a separate house, try to have double-pained windows and double-walls with double doors, and that'll get rid of a lot of the sound from the outside AND prevent loud noises from disturbing others. If you are recording loud things like rock music, the drums and amps will drown out pretty much anything anyway (I've recorded rock bands in my house for years, and anything short of a slamming car door near by does not seem to get picked up - I turn off pervasive humming things like the fridge for more quiet things, but otherwise don't worry about it). If anyone wants to sell me their beautiful, nice house for under $300k in a nice neighborhood somewhere between the ocean and Silverlake in L.A., lemme know. Otherwise, I'm gonna keep on looking and looking and looking. We are on a limited time frame because the house we are renting now (and the two houses north of it) are going to be destroyed by a developer who is going to put up a 24-unit condo complex with $600-800k units. More beautiful 1920s Spanish/Mediterranean houses destroyed, more affordable housing lost, more ugly expensive condos. Let's hear it for progress. yippee. If we can't purchase, we'll hopefully find something to rent...

[Anifa]

Ultravibe, I bought the perfect little COZY house, thinking "WOW, this has GOT to be IT!" Took a step down in the comfort of lifestyle to get the practical basics needed to have freedom to CRANK IT. The LOT size = a full acre (Ahhh yes, don't have to worry about rattling your neighbors dishes when you fire up the amps.) Rich fertile soil with plenty of moisture = mowing your butt off all late spring, summer, and fall. Checked out the surrounding neighbors and observed the WIDE OPEN undeveloped land on two sides of the property, with the exception of a string of homes on acre lots between both stretches. The man directly next door had a hearing aid and told me, "Ah, Hun, no problem; if it ever gets too loud to annoy me, I'll just turn my hearing aid down" I thought "WOW, COOL!" The old folks directly behind are retired, own their own RV, and spend 80% of their time traveling... and when they aren't traveling, they are both Bluegrass Festival Musicians and they told me that if they ever heard the noise, they come knocking on my door so that they could join the fun. Again, I thought. "AWESOME!!!" The other neighbors were Career Military people who spend much of their time in field operations... another big, "This is too incredible!!!" Absolutely... the perfect house from [b]HELL[/b] I live twelve miles from MCI International Airport in KC and I'm directly in a flight zone for East Coast travel; fortunately by the time the larger passenger jets reach my area, they are at elevations high enough not to interfere. It's when the Blue Angels, or other traveling Flight shows hit our city... Unfortunately, not only do I live 12 miles from MCI, I am in direct line with the fly zone to the old Municiple Airport which is about 10 miles the other direction from me. These bozos buzz them scrappy little oldtime airplanes that are louder than thunder BACK AND FORTH AND BACK AND FORTH AND BACK AND FORTH so they can get ready for their presention for the next two days. It's like being in a cotton-pickin' war zone. Thank God these shows don't come too frequently; maybe two or three a year... Oh yes, and I always know when a big Politician hits town... same deal. Okay, I can live with that... but now comes that wide open undeveloped acreage that I found to be so inviting. I could see for miles without having to look beyond the house directly in front of me with the exception of one building across the way, the police station. I live on a dead end street that butts up against the outer road to the what???? HIGHWAY!!! And this is not just an average thouroughfare; it's one of the highways that lead out of the city and into the wide open "God's Country" straight down the road to a MAJOR LAKE Resort..... So, guess what happens when the weather is fair...........????? Let me introduce you to Mr. HARLEY DAVIDSON.... mmmmmmmmm, but what tranquility... they come in single file, they come in packs, they come in HERDS; all hours of the day and night. Definitely the house from hell right in the heart of "God's Country" Oh yes, and I can't forget about observing the fact that the ONLY building that sat on ALL of that beautiful countryside just the other side of the HIGHWAY just so happened to be the Police Station... what could possibly be wrong with that? Far enough away not to patrol the immediate neighborhood, but close enough for quick response. I felt safe and secure that nobody would be messing around in MY neighborhood fo' sho'. Ya Got That Right, but what I didn't think about is the SPEED TRAPS that the cops would be staging right there on the highway in front of my house, just hangin' there to catch some offending HARLEY rider or kid's racing to the lake with their souped up engines. rrrRRRRRRRrrrrr rrrrrRRRRRRrrrrrrrr, busted. Right at the end of what was going to be a perfect track recording. Oh, But the view of the Sunset from my front yard during the evening time is SO beautiful.... truly tranquility. Now for the HORROR stories...... :D I could almost say, "REFER TO ALL OF THE ABOVE MENTIONED ITEMS." Not quite, but pretty darned close. The MOLD, the aluminum wiring, the electrical surges due the the furnace kicking, steep hills in the winter time, and the previous owners never maintained anything so EVERYTHING was on the brink of going out... First year, I replaced the hot water heater, replaced toilet stool that was mounted on PARTICLE BOARD and had NO flange (needless to say the floor was rotten and had to replace the section surrounding the stool,)had a minor electrical fire, and the back door fell off of it's hinges because the owners had used wood putty to hold the door on the hinges to make it cosmetically posh for the sale of the home. Year two... air conditioner went out (first HOT day of the summer.) Year three............ major surgery for me... house not an issue... 'cept for thinkin' bout that old aluminum electrical wiring that needs to be replaced to adequately protect my equipment from being burned up in an electrical fire. House two doors down burned to the ground during the second year. Year four......... MOLD.... BLACK MOLD... had to tear out an entire exterior wall because the morons had slanted the pretty guttering that they tossed up to get FHA approval, inward towards the wall of an addition to the home called "MY BEDROOM" I couldn't breathe because of allergies and I HAD to get rid of the mold....... Still thinking bout finishin' the electrical wiring... replaced the old fuse box with a 100amp breaker box, but still need to gut some of the aluminum wires. I'm midway into the 5th year of ownership... Definitely... living in the house from HELL!!! I've got about another year left of Handy Man repairs to conquer, and THEN maybe I can think about turning my HUGE garage into my dream studio..... If the devil don't get me first. :D Moral of the story... LOOK beyond the surface, and pay attention to your surroundings. :wave: Really, I do have quite a bit of silence around here... just have to know when to monopolize on the tranquil moments without the distractions. I'm sure you'll have obstacles of some sort in most places....... I'd much rather contend with all the aforementioned, than to have to deal with nagging neighbors on a daily basis. :rolleyes:

[rog951]

Wow Anifa...I think I'm going back to apartment living!!! :eek: I sure hope things start going better around the ol' homestead...

[Anifa]

:D :D :D Really Rog, it's not as terribly bad as it sounds, although it IS true... I'm just being a bit cantankerous in the way I'm presenting it. I love the area for living conditions, great neighbors.. throughout the majority of the neighborhood. A simple country setting, yet near ALL major necessities and becoming higher and higher in property value due to the expansion of population growth and newer elite homes going up in surrounding neighborhoods. I'm just knit picky about people that purchase homes and fail to maintain them, so I probably go overboard on fixin' up. Always buy top of the line replacements... anyway.... just havin' a bit of fun and shinin' some lite on overlooked situations for prospective first time buyers.

[Rim]

Anifa, Thanks for all the info and sorry about your environment. But it'll be worth it! If your garage is large enough, it sounds like a good candidate for a "room within a room" studio. Though it doesn't like you have to worry about sound getting out, this should lower sounds coming in. So I've read. :)

[rog951]

Yeah, I know Anifa...it can be fun (and theraputic) to vent in public...one of the many things this place is good for! Still, you bring up a good point about airport/traffic noise. Around the DC area, since 9/11, I think the air-traffic patterns are in a semi state of flux. Ultravibe, you might wanna pay special attention to that type of stuff during your house hunt. Where they fly the day you look at a house might not be where they fly the day after you move in!!!

[ECBRules]

I'm near the intersection of Clopper and Longdraft. Rock on locals! Keny

[not coaster MODERATOR]

If you want to live by the beach in West LA you gotta pay the piper. I'm lucky enough to find a TH in Culver City w/ 2 car garage under 300k. We close escrow 12/23. I'm putting all new plumbing, kitchen and dual-glazed windows. It' got Hardwood throughout. You can have your country ranches. Gimme a beach anyday! Ken- good luck to you. The cheapest SFR I saw in Culver was a cracker box on a 2300 sf lot for 350k and it went at full price. Here's a great MLS link for you. http://www.themls.com/

[Anifa]

originally posted by Merryhohoho [quote] You can have your country ranches. Gimme a beach anyday! [/quote]I LOVE BEACHES..... but, we don't have golden coast lines in Kansas City, so the country setting is the next best thing.

[KenElevenShadows]

[quote]Originally posted by Merry Cereal Ho Ho Ho: [b]If you want to live by the beach in West LA you gotta pay the piper. I'm lucky enough to find a TH in Culver City w/ 2 car garage under 300k. We close escrow 12/23. I'm putting all new plumbing, kitchen and dual-glazed windows. It' got Hardwood throughout. You can have your country ranches. Gimme a beach anyday! Ken- good luck to you. The cheapest SFR I saw in Culver was a cracker box on a 2300 sf lot for 350k and it went at full price. Here's a great MLS link for you. http://www.themls.com/ [/b][/quote]Yes, that web site is my daily ritual. We can't get anything on the West Side. That's not possible. Not an SFR. Maybe two years ago, but not now. We are looking primarily around the Echo Park/Silverlake area, but even that area is difficult. We keep getting outbid. Five times now....We put in a bid at asking price, sometimes $5-10,000 over asking price, and it doesn't matter. One house was a complete dump. I mean, 965 square foot house, floors ripped out and horrible looking, mold, two dark bedrooms, and some other work. It was in a great neighborhood in Silverlake. We put in an offer at $2000 over asking price thinking that at least we would have enough $$ to able to fix up the place before we moved in. The house - well, I don't know what it went for, but somehow our realtor found out that there was a bidding war, and at last look, it was well over $30,000 over asking price. Forget it. The thing to do normally is to move away a bit. Problem is that my girlfriend works in Culver City, and our whole life has been built around living on the West Side. Our doctors, band rehearsal space, dentists, places we eat and shop, everything is over here. It's hard to suddenly go and move far away and then commute for 1 1/2 hours. I work in Glendale, she works in Culver City, so we are trying to get a place somewhere in between the two, but with prices the way they are...(even the AVERAGE price for the Valley is about $339,000, according to NPR and the Daily News).

[not coaster MODERATOR]

Yeah Ken. Don't get trapped in the valley thing or worse. The commute will ruin your lives. Silver Lake is nice for sure. You can get to the westside easy enough. I'm not familiar with stuff out there. Wish I was more help.

[rog951]

[quote]Originally posted by ECBRules: [b]I'm near the intersection of Clopper and Longdraft. Rock on locals! Keny[/b][/quote]Oh! I have a good friend who lives just off of Stoneridge Rd (I think that's the name of it anyway...it's the next road past Longdraft if you're heading north on Clopper). Small friggin' world...

[Ultravibe]

Even smaller... my girlfirend lived pretty damn close by that intersection til she moved in here just about a year ago. I like Germantown, so if we can find something in that area, we may be heading back that way... Still looking. Quick rant: Why don't these fucking real estate companies update their friggin' websites after the homes have been sold? Take the listing down when it is no longer available!! Argh!

[S_Gould]

Sorry if I didn't help you out earlier, I just couldn't resist that setup line ;) and I've never tried to build a studio in a basement ('cause basements don't have 12 - 16 ft. cieleings). What I did was buy a house with empty lots on either side, then I bought them too and built my studio from the ground up. It didn't sound like something you were considering, but if you want all the gritty details, lemme know (OK, here's the most important detail - it cost me about $110,000 including land, architecht and contractor). Scott

[ECBRules]

Oh is that where she went? Small world, indeed! Rock on! Keny feel free to get in touch: my aim is eastcoastbands

[Chip McDonald]

Bought a house on my birthday back in April. They put a bus stop in front of my house. I have a nice diesel assist air brake alarm clock every morning at 9 am. By the way, with my sleep schedule that's right in the middle of my present 2 hour long/ 8-10 am sleep cycle. I awoke one morning to find a fleet of police cars and animal control trucks parked outside my house; the neighbors across the street on one side of me had been stuffing live dogs into their shed in the backyard and letting them die. I hope they're in jail now, although the house is now vacant and the weeds are about 4 feet tall now. Great. The neighbors next door have installed a gigantic HVAC system right outside the window of my studio room. It's loud; as in, well over 67db inside the house. Sounds reminiscient of an airliner taxiing. So much for plans of recording acoustic guitar whenever I feel like it. And just last week around 12:30 am: Car tires screeching out front; police sirens. Walk out the front door, look up the street 3 houses, guy gets out of a car and runs behind a house, about 4 cop cars are about (more arriving) and a few get out and chase after the guy. Gunfire ensues. Eventually they cordon off the entire block. While in the midst of this I find out that the lady that lives across the street from me turned out to be a neighbor from my childhood. Memories - coming home from grade school to find the new neighbor's kids had swiped all of my toys from my backyard and were playing with them... later they reveal they have a rail dragster they liked to tune sunday mornings before they took it to the dragstrip - blown 350 with no mufflers of course... insert various "Chevy Chase like Neighbor Encounters" of the... Anna Nicole inlaw variety, if you take my meaning... ... and now they're my neighbors again. So I'm talking to this lady, and then she reveals this other emaciated woman who has walked up to survey the live episode of "Cops" that we're witnessing in front of us is a crack head rock dealer - who lives 2 doors down from me. Great. THEN, I find out the old man that lives directly behind me - "Chief" - used to be a fire chief that would always shut down band shows at local venues for not meeting code, too many people, no permits, too loud, etc... Great. That will be fun in the future some time no doubt. I'll stop, this is off the top of my head. So see, it probably couldn't end up like this, so you have nothing to fear. But it was cheap, I managed to get financing somehow, so here I sit. I'm not giving my money away for rent, and that's what counts, right? Right...?

[Anifa]

:D Chip :D This is only year one, I take it? And only midway through it, at that! Hey, maybe we're neighbors of sort.... Another house from HELL! Hopefully your repair issues will not be quite as extensive as mine. So does your neighbor still race, or is that yet to come? Maybe you'll get lucky and the old Fire Chief behind you will have a hearing aid he can turn down, and he will have been visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Spirit and has adopted a new outlook on life :D