Converting Garage to Auralex Acoustics 101 Control Room

Hey everyone, I joined this forum about a year ago and am now ready to start my project. I have a 24x24 detached two car garage that I would like to convert into a dedicated mix room. The Auralex Acoustics 101 control room looks like it will fit nicely into my space, so I've modeled it in Sketchup and will include some pics in this post. I spend the majority of my time mixing by myself (mostly for bands that have recorded themselves at their own homes), so this room will mainly be used for that. Although, it will occasionally double as a multi-purpose room, for tracking individual instruments (electric guitars, electric bass, drums, and vocals) one at a time. It will also serve as a practice room for myself, since I play all of the instruments listed above. I mix at moderate volumes but would like to achieve as much isolation as is reasonably possible. (Ideally I'd like to be able to play drums at 3AM and not bother anyone in my house). The closest house in my own (about 40ft away), followed next by my neighbor, who is a couple of acres away. After that the neighbors are far enough away so as not to be a real issue. My garage has two existing (fixed) things that I am working my design around. First, there is a side entrance door, which I plan to keep and use after the conversion is complete. This is located in the lower right corner of my sketchup diagram. Second, my garage already has a mini-split AC unit installed. (My previous plans were to make the garage an office space, and I had installed a mini-split to use for that). It is located in the upper left corner of my sketchup diagram. Having said that, my plan is to simply position the control room diagonally and utilize the remaining space however makes the most sense. In the area with the mini-split, I'd like to make an air exchange room. In the area with the exterior door, I'd like to make a small mudroom/airlock, where people can hang their coats in winter etc. I am contracting out 100% of this work. DIY is not an option for me, for various reasons. My contractor really likes the idea of being kept in the loop this early in the game, and is open to suggestions made by the experts on this forum. He will most likely be following the replies on this thread. As I understand it, I am shooting for a 2-leaf system, where the existing garage walls form leaf #1, and the soon-to-be-constructed control room walls form leaf #2. But I have some questions before I do anything more with this design. 1. The upper-left corner of my model shows roughly where the air exchange room will go. Do I need to frame in a separate room for that, or could I just heat/cool the existing space (that is, the space between the garage walls and the control room walls), then pump that air into the control room via ductwork? 2. Same question, but applied to the side entrance. Do I need to frame in new walls to actually make a room there, or can I just use the existing open space for that purpose? 3. Due the the orientation of the control room, there is a fair amount of open space both behind and in front of it. Should I leave that as open/empty cavities, or try to utilize it for something practical (storage closets, rooms for noisy gear, extra bass trapping, etc.)? I'm asking because I don't fully understand the implications of all that air space on isolation. I *think* more air is better, but could very well be missing something obvious. The storage space would be useful, so I'm leaning in that direction unless it will really affect my overall isolation. 4. My vertical space currently measures 8' from floor to the bottom of my trusses. (I assume that the build will be confined to the space below my trusses, creating an attic space for the ductwork, like in the garage conversion thread from "on purpose productions"). If finances allow, I will be finishing with hardwood flooring over a subfloor. I don't know off hand how much that will reduce my vertical space by, but I could find out when my contractor comes over for the initial consultation. So on the topic of vertical height, can anyone tell me if this proposed room matches up with known good ratios? (I don't trust my own calculations on that one!) Or would I need to scale down the CR? This is the area I that am most unclear about. That's about it for now. Once we figure out the above, I'll proceed with my work on the sketchup model. Thanks in advance for your answers. I've read that the best results come from 90% planning and 10% action... I'm trying my best to follow that advice! - H

Just one quick question: Is there any reason why you have oriented the room diagonally like that? You seem to be wasting an awful lot of space like that, and cutting off the corners eliminates the very best possible locations for your main bass traps (rear) and speaker soffits (front) If you were to re-orient it either across or along the main axis of the garage, I reckon you would have much better use of space, and you could probably even fit in a small vocal booth, or storage space, or some such, as well as your exchange chamber and mud room. You have the space to do it, so I reckon I'd probably go for a more normal RFZ design, maybe using one of John's designs as the basis, then modifying it as needed. Another question: What are your plans for dealing with the garage doors? Are you planning to remove them and brick up the openings, or leave them in place and seal them / beef them up somehow? What about the existing construction? You didn't say much about it, but I'm guessing that you have a concrete slab floor, no ceiling, and bare studs on the inside? Photos of the interior would help to get a better idea of what you have, and what can be done with it. - Stuart -

Hey Stuart! Good to see you on here. We chatted briefly about a year ago. Thanks for your quick reply. The reason I placed the room at an angle was to entertain the idea of having a mud room at the side entrance. The existing side door is not something that I want to move. When I position this control room across or along the main axis, and pull it into 3D it looks super cramped at that doorway. I think at best there would be room for my existing exterior door to open (inwards) but that's it. I've attached a pic of what I mean. The situation always seems the same, regardless of which four "straight-on" directions I point it. (Keep in mind that I'm using the exact dimensions of the control room specified in Auralex's doc... it fits in a 24x24 space but just barely!) Also, if the CR isn't angled, I don't see much space for an air exchange room in the upper left where my mini-split is. Furthermore, with any of the "straight on" orientations, the door that I make on the CR wall always seems to be in a weird spot. So the only way I could see to make the exterior door, mini-split location, and the CR door all work was to place the CR diagonally inside the garage. Now, a mud room is absolutely not necessary. It was just a thought. And I'm OK with a somewhat tight little entrance as would be the case in the attached pic, if orienting in this direction means that I'll be able to gain better bass trapping. But it still would leave my question of the air exchange room: again my mini-split is already installed in the upper left (I will also attach a pic of the garage inside, you can see it installed on the back wall). I don't think there'd be room for an air room this way, would there? Or maybe this whole existing "empty space" between the CR and garage walls would serve that purpose? And as for the existing double doors, they will be left in place but walled over. I'll be following the same sort of steps that "on purpose" did to cover his garage door. - H P.S. Existing drywall that you see in the pics will be coming down and used to beef up the outer leaf (via the backer rod, caulk, double drywall between studs method)

Ignore... double post...

I was thinking something more along these lines:You have plenty of room for your mud room up the side, plus stacks of storage, and access to your exchange chamber at the front. A much better shape for an RFZ room (6 degree splayed walls at the front), plenty of room for bass trapping at the rear, soffits at the front, etc. The door is in a more reasonable place, and it's a good size room. Your air con can stay where it is, you can easily block off the exchange chamber space, etc., etc., etc.... I didn't check the ratio, so you might have to fiddle a bit to get a good one, but I'll bet it isn't too far off from something reasonable. Here is the SketchUp model, in case you want to fiddle with it. - Stuart -

hottmeal - here is a design based on an 8m x 8m room - that's 26' 2" x 26' 2" in your money.

Stuart: Thanks so much for your response!! It lead me to search more on simple RFZ rooms. In this article (http://www.realtraps.com/art_studio.htm) Ethan Winer and Wes Lachot lay out the plans for a simple RFZ control room. Considering the sources, I have to assume that such a control room would sound excellent. I also really love how everything is completely spelled out in plain English :) I just built it up in sketchup and it would leave me tons of room on both sides of the CR. I feel very comfortable with that size, and the simplicity of the room is just awesome. That would definitely bring my construction costs down. ... and at the other end of the spectrum... John: That studio looks amazing!!! If I were to go the multi-room route, that is by far my favorite layout. Is there by any chance a sketchup file available for it? I suspect that build would be out of my budget, but you never know. Thanks again guys, this forum is outstanding!

Although we're still in the design phase, I have a quick question. As I understand it, most people "beef up" their existing garage walls with the backer rod, caulk, drywall between studs (2x) method. But my garage has log siding. It is solid pine and several inches thick (I don't have a detached piece to measure, but it is thickest in the middle, then rounds out at the top and bottom. I'm guessing this makes my existing garage walls already thicker than most. Because of this, do you think it's necessary for me to "beef up" my garage walls? I remember reading somewhere on here (I *think*) that the ceiling thickness would have to match it, otherwise it's just overkill on the walls. I definitely don't want to throw extra time/effort/money making my outer walls thicker if it's not necessary. Of course, if it is necessary, I'm all for it. I haven't seen any posts dealing specifically with log-sided garages before...

"It is solid pine and several inches thick (I don't have a detached piece to measure, but it is thickest in the middle" It is solid pine. But most likely not several inches thick even at the peak of the crown. Looking at the gable end shot you see the plywood, correct? If that is 1/2 inch plywood and your corner boards are exactly 1-1/2" then the crown of this exterior log siding that just barely projects passed the corner board, suggests the log facade is 1 inch thick at the deepest part [crown]. If the plywood is thicker, then the board is thinner than 1 inch. And if the plywood is part of a multi-layered facade, e.g. 1/2 plywood, insulation sheating THEN the log facade, the wood is even thinner. Still, I wouldn't think this is comparable to a brick facade but is better than a wood siding exterior, all things considered. End of the day? It really depends on how much isolation you require to evaluate if beefing up the interior is or is not a requirement. EDIT: A few corrections. The 1/2 inch sheathing will encompass the entire exterior. THEN the corner boards are installed. So even if there is nothing in-between the sheathing and the log facade, they are still 1-1/2 inch at the thickest. Assuming there is nothing else, thermal sheathing, fan fold, etc. in-between the log facade and the sheathing. But the thinnest point has to be taken into consideration as well. The thickest part not being contiguous and subject to change due to the roll of the log, you almost have to find the difference between the thickest and the thinnest to determine a subjective IIC or STC of this wall. The rest of what I said should remain unchanged and applicable:) Brien

Thanks xSpace. The siding could very well be 1" at the crown peak. I'm sure my contractor will be able to tell me this wall thickness for sure when we meet for our first consultation. Updated sketchup is attached showing that simple Lachot room.

Hottmeal - you appear to have a lot of wasted space in your room design. maybe try something like this which uses the space to treat the room as well.

John, thank you so much for putting this together! It appears to have everything that I need: big control room, spacious air exchange chamber, easy entrance, and built-in treatments. I'm examining the components in the sketchup model now for sizes etc. Too bad I can't change the thread title. Looks like I've bagged the idea of the Auralex room. :)

John Sayers=1 Auralex=0 It's fitting considering where we are.

John Sayers=1 Auralex=0

Gotta love it! :) It also looks like you'd have enough space there to put in a small booth, which I reckon would be worthwhile. - Stuart -

I agree there's probably enough room for a VOX booth. However, I will probably not build one. Reason being that the space is really only going to be used for mixing. For the occasional time when someone records vocals here (once or twice per year, max) I'll just use a little gobo or portable booth type of thing. I don't have any problems using headphones for those kind of tracking sessions. Regarding the outer wall beefing question. Right now I am leaning towards not beefing up the outer walls. They already have pine siding (extra mass) and it looks like custom cutting all those drywall sections to fit between the studs is going to chew up a good part of the budget. Also consider that my closest neighbor is an acre away or so. My hope is that since my walls are already thicker than most, skipping the "beefing" portion won't have a huge impact provided that the rest of the build is done right. I could put the money saved towards something else in the project. If I'm shooting myself in the foot with this let me know! I'll attach a pic of the closest neighbor, through the trees, as seen from the garage.

just build the inner walls as inside/out walls with one layer of 5/8" drywall. Seal the ceiling with onee layer of 5/8" drywall on RC channel to the bottom of the trusses.

That's good to know. I was already planning on building the inner walls inside out... probably would have used double drywall layers on them, though, based on the examples that I've seen. Are you suggesting a single layer because neighbors aren't close by, or because a double layer would somehow be overkill? (Not questioning the suggestion, just trying to fully understand what it is that I'm doing here). I'm also glad to know that I can just seal the ceiling with RC+drywall attached to the trusses. Would this also serve as my control room ceiling, or am I supposed to frame a separate ceiling for it, resting on the frame of the control room walls? The vented "attic" space worries me since it's basically a direct hole to the outside world.

Even if you don't beef up your outer leaf, I'd still take care to ensure that it is well sealed all around.

Definitely. Will check for any holes... we also have 3 existing windows and two overhead doors to seal up..

It appears to me in the picture you posted that the ceiling is lined with pine timber on top of the trusses. Adding another layer of 5/8" drywall on the bottom of the truss that has insulation lying on it to deaden the cavity should be ample for your situation.

Well, if one layer of drywall on the trusses is all I need, that's great. I still don't really get how sound won't be leaking out through the enormous vent (big triangle shaped opening) in the peak of my roof though. I would imagine the sound from a loud instrument would make it up into the attic space pretty easily then just shoot to the outside world through it... but maybe I'm way off :) I'd like to check another assumption, if I may. I was measuring out the proposed CR (with the dimensions tool) and the two bottom walls didn't measure out exactly the same. So I lengthened the wall in front of the hangar trap to make it 11', just like the one next to it. This way my CR wall lengths and angles are symmetrical all around. It crowds where that lower left exterior door would have been, but really that door can be placed anywhere on that side of the building. It's just for machine access. Still fits in the 24x24 space without crowding the outer leaf too much. Look OK?

hottmeal - can you give us a picture of the great big vent in the roof you are referring to? I didn't see it on the pic you posted. yes - that rear wall adjustment is fine.

In the peak above the mini-split AC

I should also mention that all along both sides of my garage, under the roof overhang, there is venting too. It's like a little skinny strip that runs the length of the building.

well you are going to have to seal that off - unfortunately a soundproof studio is an airtight studio. A mini split system doesn't supply fresh air and at the moment you are getting it via that vent. So if you seal that off you will have to get fresh air from somewhere else. I was just about to ask you for pics of the eaves - and as I suspected you have vents there as well. So it means sealing off the roof cavity with a layer of drywall on the bottom of the truss and a new ceiling built on your new internal frames. which is a shame as your ceiling isn't very high - 8'?