Hey all,
Within the next year or so I am thinking about making a little more of a commitment to doing the studio thing, at least as a part time gig to augment the other stuff I do. I do not expect to make it my full time living, but I want to do it more than I have been and that means I have to do some upgrading of sound isolation so the wife and kid aren't run out of the house every time someone's over to make rock.
My setup is currently in the basement of my ranch-style house. I have a small control room/office, a bathroom, an unfinished storage room that can be modded to suit somewhat. The whole basement was finished right before we bought the house to be a home theater, so there's decent insulation in the main room, but not where control room is. The stairwell is open and there's not a sound lock at the top of the stairs. Loud music travels through the ductwork. The control room is right below the master bedroom and the storage room is right below the 4-year-old's room. So all in all, I'm thinking that there would be some serious revamping of the basement setup before it was relatively comfortable for others in the house when serious rock is happening. That, and the 7' ceilings ain't getting any higher. All that said, I like the sounds i have been getting down here and it's comfortable.
Here's a couple pics of the control room and main room:
External image, not preserved — original: http://www.jason-lewis.net/room0808.jpg
External image, not preserved — original: http://www.jason-lewis.net/desk0808.jpg
(Storage room to the back right of the kit and bathroom to the right. there's more space behind where the pic was take and there's a laundry room and office nook behind where the home theater screen is across from the couch. I'm thinking I could put a window in the wall where the screen is and make the laundry an iso room that you'd never know was there when the screen was down.)
The garage, on the other hand, is a relatively clean slate. Bare studs, open vaulted ceiling. It measures ~11Wx20L. Vaulted ceilings maybe 15-18ft? give or take. I could finish it off, certainly, but here's the rub: the wife still wants to be able to park in there in the winter (and I don't blame her. Iowa winters suck.) I would need to figure out a way to make that possible, but still have the door be somewhat sealed for the sake of the neighbors. I'm thinking there must be some kind of shim that could be built...
So, my question to those of you who have experience or opinions: which way would you go if you wanted to have a modest rock palace that would make you maybe 5-10 grand a year to start, didn't want to spend as much to make the space and had these two possibilities to work with?