Room acoustics in a former church sanctuary?


Hey all,
My wife and I have stumbled on an extremely cheap property that used to be a church which we might buy. We are both artists/musicians, so a Goth space like that seems like a fun challenge to turn into a home. I was wondering if a church sanctuary could be used for BOTH producing music in, and for my hi fi. I wouldn't want to spend a lot of money on room treatments, but it could be a work in progress over many years, in which case some long term investments wouldn't be out of the question. I do feel that a separate listening room takes the fun out of listening to music for me personally, though I respect others for using one (and I am aware of the acoustical advantages of them). The sanctuary is roughly 30 by 40 feet and has a fairly low, barreled ceiling with a rear upper loft. I was thinking of putting my very modest Vandersteen 3a's off from that rear wall below the loft which would project forward into the rest of the space. The rear upper loft would be used for a music room (instruments and the like). Maybe this is an impossibility, maybe the echoes could never be reigned in... I am curious what you folks think.
nickyt

Showing 5 responses by wolf_garcia

Balderdash! Living in an old church can obviously be great and clearly you understand that as you mentioned it's a "challenge." I think people are weirdly concerned with room ambience (I'm a long time musician/live sound tech) and unless you plan to sit 40 feet away from your "modest" 3As you should be in for loads of fun, and recording there might have some natural reverb most studios would kill for. Gigantic period correct fake wall tapestries...great Halloween parties...atheist gatherings...human (or maybe goat) sacrifices! FUN!
If you're in the US you can pay for the entire thing by starting a religion...you only need to hold services once a week (or never), get an interesting hat for events (religions benefit from cool hats), make up whatever you need (religions are great for mythological improv) to comfort the patrons, and everything becomes property and income tax free.
Bbro...the "cool hats" suggestion is for the clergy mostly and I recognize that many religions may be hatless and therefore less fun...but I was talking about starting a new religion anyway (and "Regular Church" could be a GREAT name for this). 3 years for exemption? Piece of cake. All religions are mythology based by the way, otherwise where would the fun be? Amazing ritualistic ceremony (including a celebration of infant "naughty bits" skin removal), imaginary friends in the sky, deity images showing up in tree bark and waffles, post death virgins, the power of muttering...it's just all wonderful, and certainly there's room to cook up some more stuff.
I did have a friend (a former champion surfer) in the 60s who started his own religion in Hawaii...his was based on the Hare Krishna stuff that was going around, and he had to work out a deal with the "regular" Hare Krishna group to not chant in Waikiki at the same place. He was rumored to have female followers bathe him in the morning...that's the way you do it! He eventually merged with the regular Krishna group, and later became some sort of spiritual speaker or something...I'd see his cassettes in the health food stores.