Many thanks, Marc. Frenchy chimed in with his 2 cents as well. My comments in response to yours:AzWhoFan wrote:PJ, 5 things came to mind when I saw the pics.
1 - The French doors may rattle noticeably and you will need to find some way to stabilize them. A cheap solution is to install a latch on them so they are bound together.
2- I am not a fan of room corner mixing. If I wuz u I would place your speakers beside your monitor, aimed at your head. But if the money is there, invest in a mixing space solution so that you use the wall under the window instead. i.e. move it/rotate to the right 90 degrees.
3 - rip out the carpeting under your mixing space and install hard-wood flooring under the desk ,and where your chair will be. In a square or rectangular form. The flooring doesn't have to be 3/4" Brazillian Cherry (tho I'm sure the wife wouldn't mind that). Just so long as it is a stiff, level and uniform surface.
4- I am jealous that you have a basement. There ain't no basements in metro-Phoenix area as they have to blast through clay and it adds at least $35K to the base price of a house.
5 - your kids will be pi$$ed that your stealing their playroom LOL
Ad nauseum: I wouldnt worry about the lack of insulation on the walls. In fact, I wouldnt worry too much about the rest of the room until you get some frequency analysis done and figure out how many thousands of dollars it's going to cost to you get it to sound like Electric LadyLand. As I probaby mentioned before, acoustic treatment of a room can be a bottomless pit of $$$. and the more money you spend after a certain point will only yield incremental results. Just let your ears be your guide.
1. Done. Easy fix to door rattling.
2. The monitors are equidistant and pointed directly at my ears when I roll the chair back to the corner of the floor mat. But I can possibly reconfigure to set it up the way you suggested. Problem is the keyboard tray under the desk is on the left side island of the desk, which means I'm restricted to either having the monitor in front of me on the left island or I can ignore the sliding keyboard tray altogether and put keyboard on top of the desk. (I thought about mounting it under the larger right island, but there's a metal fram "lip" under the desk preventing that). I thought about getting a second monitor anyway so having one under the window and leaving the current on in the corner won't look too dumb. I could also reposition the right speaker closer to the monitor to where the mixer is currently positioned. I'll figure something out.
3. As fate would have it, I may have the opportunity to rip up the carpet there, since the french drain is going to be dug on that wall and the carpet's being pulled up anyway. But here's my ignorant question: considering you're almost always attempting to eliminate quirky reflective sound anomalies why do studios construct the mixing room floor in a hard wood surface? I would have thought that the carpeting would be beneficial. And I'm assuming the floor mat I currently have isn't enough? Can I forgo the carpet removal and simply put a hard platform or other surface over the carpet?
4. Jealousy only lasts as long as it takes to discover your instruments floating around the room in 5" of water. ;^) Stick to the attic.
5. The trade off for having my own studio workspace (and the $$ spent and soon-to-be spent out of our account) was I had to be willing to share it with the rest of the family. Know of any good noise gates to eliminate screaming kids sounds?
I downloaded EQ Wizard and I'm going to test it out this week. I have the option of using a condenser mic or an SPL meter. Since I'm in need of a condenser anyway I might as well pick up something that can do the test and function as a reasonable vocal/guitar mic. The website recommends the Behringer ECM8000 as a cheap option, which can be had for under $60. Of course, I could always pick something up at Guitar Center, do the test, then return it.
the second suggestion is non-DCFS approved tho! LOL
BTW, how's your UA LA-610MKII working out?
). Very glad you suggested I join. 
And I can use 1 as my flat response condenser with EQ Wizard tests. I also noticed they make a stereo version of the AT4050 now that gives you the option of using it either as a single/standard mono AT4050 or in stereo. Pretty cool. Anyone have any experience with them?
I'm blown away by this mic, especially for the price. I I first found out about these via Gearslutz, but also found some very impressive live samples via my new favorite YouTube channel, Music Fog:
So that's the secret to a pro recording: 25,000 pounds of sand! I guess it's off to Toys R Us to purchase play sand now. Can't wait to pump it into my walls, only to accidentally puncture my sheetrock with a mic stand and find myself buried alive!