Small Mixing Room in the Garden

Hey All ! This site is amazing, you guys here really know your stuff. Been reading up on here for a while but now its time for me to join in. I am a producer/engineer and am a partner in a studio here in UK, you can check it out here if you want - http://www.parloursound.co.uk/ - but the reason i'm here is because this week i bought a new house with a brick built outbuilding in the garden and i would like to turn it into a small editing/mixing room so i can work on my own stuff at home. I've made a drawing, sorry if its not up to the standard of you master architects here but i think it shows enough for now till i get the hang of sketchup. I'll be getting some good help from an electrician friend and from my partner at the studio (who built all the rooms there before i came along) so i wont be stumbling blindly into things and hopefully with the help and advice from some of you guys i shouldnt have too many nightmares over this. I dont have a fixed budget, i am willing to spend whatever it needs to make it right. I like to do things properly and not cut corners. It needs to be sound proof as there are neighbors approximately 20M away each side. also my son wants to use this space for his drum kit and he's a hard hitter!! but the primary use will be for myself. I am familiar with the principles of a room within a room and how to go about building it and so long as i keep referencing the fine advice i find here that'll be no problem. So i'm right at the starting point of design and the first question i'd like to ask you clever people is about the roof - there has been extra beams added to support the roof (which is ceramic tiles over timber beams) do you think it will be ok to have the ceiling height right upto these beams keeping the two sloped sides? so the ceiling would be sort of A shaped with the top chopped off if you see what i mean? And the second thing is the window - i would like to keep daylight in there but it would be quite close beside the mix position (which i'd like to be at the opposite end to the door) - can anyone point me to any posts on a similar situation - how best to keep the daylight without the problems of a sheet of glass next to my right ear? And one other thing thats crossed my mind - as i mentioned my son wants to play drums in there too - this will not be at the same time that i am using it so i dont need him to be isolated but i'm probably going to need some way of screening off his kit so i dont get problems with it resonating away in the corner while i'm working - could it be as simple as covering it up with heavy drapes or is that just wishful thinking? OK well thats all for now, i'll be posting stuff as i go along but if anyone would like to chip in with anything i'd be very grateful. many thanks, hope all is good with you Russ

Hi Russ - welcome. You will have to build a room within room construction to isolate the sound of the drums so you will have to devise an internal truss system to enable you to utilise the ceiling space. the window is not a problem as you can just add another window to the inner skin - pretty normal practice. It's not a very large space so it will need pretty comprehensive treatment to tame a drum kit yet still allow you to mix in a not too dead room.

And the second thing is the window - i would like to keep daylight in there but it would be quite close beside the mix position (which i'd like to be at the opposite end to the door) - can anyone point me to any posts on a similar situation - how best to keep the daylight without the problems of a sheet of glass next to my right ear?

It depends on your layout for your mixing room, but if it ends up with that window at a first reflection point (which probably will be the case, according to my good friend Murphy!) then maybe the easiest thing would be to build a gobo on wheels, and just wheel it into place in front of the window, with the absorbent side facing your head, whenever you need to mix. Then you can wheel it away again when you are not doing critical listening, and want to admire the view or get daylight in there.

but i'm probably going to need some way of screening off his kit so i dont get problems with it resonating away in the corner while i'm working - could it be as simple as covering it up with heavy drapes or is that just wishful thinking?

That might work, provided that the cloth thoroughly damps all of the resonant surfaces, meaning that it needs to be in contact with any part of the kit that is designed to vibrate. I'm not sure what that would do to the skins, though: I'm not a drummer, but it occurs to me that having a heavy item resting on the skins for long periods of time might not be a good idea. I'm not 100% convinced that this would work, since the resonant cavities inside the drums would still be there, but I reckon that if the skins are damped then it should be OK. But the best way to find out is probably just to try it!

... with a brick built outbuilding in the garden

That sounds like a good start! I assume that means it is built on its very own isolated concrete slab? If so, then "lucky you"! Concrete slab with brick walls is an excellent basis for isolation. - Stuart -

hi, thanks for the speedy replies. yeah the building is on a good solid slab and even though its fairly close to a road i could hear very little ambient noise nor feel any vibrations from the traffic even before any soundproofing so i think i got a good starting point. its good to know you think the roof space is workable, is there a name for such a roof shape that i can search on or any posts you know of that deal with a similar shape? the issue of the drums is bothering me a bit, i can easily cover the whole kit with some heavy drapes but at the end of the day there are still going to be various sized resonant tubes and lumps of metal (the cymbals of coarse!) sitting in the room with me - i guess if its a problem i might just have to buy him that really expensive roland electronic V-kit he's been buggin me about. with the window i'm thinking i'll have to find the optimum angle to place it to reduce the reflections to the mix position and maybe make some dampened shutters that i can close over the glass when i'm doing any critical listening. really loving this site, i'm not one for forums really, there's usually too many misinformed opinions flying around but i dont seem to be encountering that here at all, there's some fascinating reading material here. keep it up its much appreciated. more soon Russ

"is there a name for such a roof shape that i can search on or any posts you know of that deal with a similar shape?" Depending on who you talk to and how the final product is actually built it is referred to as a vaulted ceiling or cathedral ceiling, lessor known as a tray ceiling and to framers, a bump up. Brien

Russ - here's the Small studio in 3D scaled down by .89 and inserted into your building space. cheers john

cooooooool - food for thought, thanks very much - R