Mini-studio - is this feasible?

Hey all, first post here.. Apologies if I come off rather.. uneducated in acoustics, etc. I'll be spending some time tomorrow reading up here on everything, this is just an introduction. Basically, I've got a garage (still living with my parents, I'm only 19) which I use for recording drums, etc. and band practices. In my bedroom I record vocals, the rest is all digital (amp sims, soft synths, etc.). I'm not the only one who uses the garage, so I can't take it over, but I'm thinking of building a smaller room inside, just to track drums and vocals, and perhaps for band practices (may be cramped though). Pertinent details: Garage is about 8m x 5m x 2.5m approx. Pretty small. I'm thinking of a smaller room which would be about 3m x 5m on the inside - enough space to store drums on one side and get around them easily, and have enough length to put a decently far room mic in. I would like something practically soundproof - can record loud drums any time of the day, probably not late at night. It is already in a garage which is 'sort of' soundproofed with some material. I have a 3 year old child next door and a newborn baby will be coming there in the next few weeks. I've been thinking a 'vocal booth', I should have various absorbers set up in the room, and I was thinking of using a 'shower curtain' type device in one corner with a blanket or something, just to absorb the sound, for rather dead vocal takes. Possible/feasible? Not sure what else to say. I'd like it to be a fairly nice sounding room.. the garage has terrible acoustics and my drums always sound so much better when I take them elsewhere. I'm not wanting a 100% 'professional' studio, but recording is something I'm really interested in at the moment (however its not what I'm studying at uni), and if I can build something like this for $2-3000AU and at least have a go at being an audio engineer, I'm not gonna end up with a mid-life crisis 20 years on wishing I'd tried this. I've been recording and mixing for about 2 years now. Here are some very recent (2 day old) samples: http://files.getdropbox.com/u/324723/RoomRaw.mp3 (the sound of the garage as it is now - pretty ugly!) http://files.getdropbox.com/u/324723/Mixed2.mp3 (snare, kick, room and only one overhead atm, roughly mixed). Basically what I'm asking is.. Will a room this small be good enough? And will I be able to achieve a room like this, practically soundproofed, for a few thousand AU? I have noticed things always take 10x longer and cost 2x as much as you think they will.

5 x 3 is pretty good size for a drum room. The dimensions of 5 m and 2.5 m are a problem though, you will get some large peaks in the low end response of that space. I would build inside out walls with 2 layers of 16mm plaster board. And maybe try to change that 5m length to 4.8 or 5.3?? Are you thinking of HVAC or just opening the door for ventilation?

The dimensions were just a rough estimate, I'm happy to change anything. I think next band practice I'll draw a chalk outline of 4.8x2.5 and make everyone stand in it, see how cramped it is and if that's an alright size. No idea what an inside out wall is.. time to do some research. I'm assuming its room-within-a-room? With a small air gap in between? I heard a friend who built his own studio saying that soundproofing is done by multiple walls and air gaps in between - I would have thought that you'd need some material in between the two walls? As for the HVAC.. that would add a LOT to the installation cost and have a lot of maintenance cost, but here in Australia the temperatures range from 15-40 degrees Celcius and that's not very good for the drums, letalone the players!

Really? I don't know much about Australia. :shock: John's inside out wall design is basically building the wall frame on the ground, doing the two layers of plasterboard and then raising it into postion. This means your entire wall surface is absorbent. So no hanging panels or bass traps- which eat up valuable space and $$$. This layer (4 walls and ceiling) are competely free standing from your exisiting structure. So there is no flanking. Before you start this you may need to beef up your outer/existing layer and make it air/sound proof.

Oh, so the actual drum room won't be soundproofed, that has to be done to the garage? I was hoping to nail it all in one, build a nice-sounding, sound-proofed drum room. Since sound proofing a 5x3 or whatever room is gonna be a lot cheaper than an 8x5 one. Plus its a garage with an electric door, vents, a staircase with a door only at the top.. really ugly.