32'x22' 3-Car Garage Studio Build

About Me My name is Greg Hill of Raleigh, NC (USA). I am a Student/Musician/Recording Engineer/Aspiring Acoustical Engineer I've been playing/recording music for the past 15 years of my life both solo and in various groups. I've always been in awe of the talent involved in the creation of the musical art form, and now find myself wanting to achieve a higher quality product via a well designed recording studio for both personal and external uses. (I had originally posted my design topic under the studio construction forum here- http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=14853 I apologize for having posted this twice, but I feel it is more appropriate to post it here.) My Goal To construct a 2-Story, 3-Car Garage, with a semi-professional studio on the second floor. Total budget for the project will be approximately $75k. The studio will include a Control Room, Live Room, Iso/Vocal Booth, and Bath. Instruments to be recorded include Electric/ Acoustic Guitar, Bass, Drums, Vocals, and various digital sources. Overall I'd like to have a studio that is both functional and comfortable, making the best use of the prospective 32' x 22' space. Where I'm At I am currently in the design phase of the project, and have developed a handful of ideas via Google Sketchup. (See previous thread) I have been in contact with a local contracting firm and have confirmed that the garage can be built on my property, but the contractors studio construction experience is very limited. I have read both John Sayers' "The Original Recording Manual" and Rod Gervais' "Home Recording Studio: Build It Like the Pro's". Both are excellent sources for the aspiring acoustician/ studio owner. I have also searched the forums non-stop for the past few months reading up on relevant projects. Volume I will be recording at relatively high volumes (115db +) when tracking drums or guitar/bass cabinets. (There's just something special about a Class-A Tube Amp and a 4x12 Cab when you begin to take advantage of some sweet JJ Power Tubes) Although the majority of the time this will not be the case. I would have to say the majority of the recordings I do involve acoustic guitar and vocals, while drums come in a close second. I have very friendly neighbors who have never complained about the sound creeping off my property, even when hosting gigs in the driveway way back when. We share reasonably sized lots, approximately 50' between our houses. I would like to keep the sound level reasonable between our properties, but in no way is it necessary to totally isolate the created sound from the adjacent dwellings. The Structure The exterior design of the garage will be built to match the existing house on the property. This includes the use of a rear Shed Dormer that spans the entire width of the garage, and a frontal window dormer. Please see the images below- The exterior walls will be constructed via 2x4 timber framing, an exterior layer of OSB and a final layer of residential siding. (This will act as the first leaf) In the above images the dormer window divides the width of the structure (32') into thirds (10'-8"). This is a tentative design and can be changed, but I would like to keep it as a single large dormer centered on the structure, rather than multiple smaller dormers. When incorporating the dormer design, the roof of the garage angles into the existing room at a 45 degree angle. This angled section of ceiling begins 51 1/2" vertically on the interior wall and continues for a run of 4' until it reaches the maximum height of the roof at 8'. The center third of the garage will not have this issue as the dormer allows for a consistent ceiling height of 8'. Below are images to better describe this- The images above detail the space I have to work with. (32' X 22' with a dormer that extends the center dimension an additional 3') In my attempt to incorporate the 4 rooms (CR, LR, Iso Room, and Bath) I created this floor plan. This design is in reference to John's corner control room layout. These two images differ slightly such as the 6 degree angle of the long wall in the live room and the use of a solid core door, rather than a sliding glass door to enter the CR. All rooms other than the Bath make use of the "Inside Out", "Room Within A Room" design. The order of materials for the interior walls is as follows: 2X4 Timber Stud Framing (Loose Insulation Assembly)- Double 5/8" Gypsum Board- 2" Loose Insulation- 1" Gap. The order of materials for the exterior walls is as follows: 2X4 Timber Stud Framing (Loose Insulation Assembly)- 5/8" OSB- 1/2" Exterior Siding Questions/Concerns Is this layout the best way to use the allotted space for this studio? Being that I'm tracking drums in the live room I'd like to have it be the largest of the three studio rooms. Also, the sight lines of this design seemed to be a little skewed, where there is no direct line of sight between the CR and LR. Another issue I've run into with this design is the Iso/Vocal booth being almost entirely consumed by the angled ceiling, it will work, but will be tight, no to mention the complications with the angled wall facing into the live room meeting the angled ceiling. Any recommendations to an alternative plan or links to similar floor area studio designs would be greatly appreciated. What is the best method for isolating the ceiling while conserving room height? From what I've learned, the best way to isolate the ceiling between rooms would simply be to install RC on the ceiling joists with a double layer of 5/8" gypsum board. Where I've planned to use John's inside out method for the interior walls, I'd like to be able to do the same with the ceilings. The HVAC for the studio will be run through the floor. Where should the vents and returns be placed within this design to serve both functionality and comfortability for the studio? Here is a Sketchup file that details the alloted space for the studio- This was created using Google Sketchup version 7. Thanks for your time guys, I'd really appreciate any help I could get in order to do this right the first time!

if you're restricted to the space you have, i think the overall design is good. if you could put a full dormer across the front then any number of concerns around the ceiling angles goes away. if you need to have a specific look on the exterior you could do a small transitional type of effect on the full dormer to give the illusion of a center dormer but it's only a foot or so to break up the lines of the full dormer.

My first question would be why you chose such a complex shaped studio layout. Would it not be easier to go with simple more rectangular shapes? Why not just put the control room in the middle, facing out the window, with the booth on the right (next to the bathroom), and the really big live room on the left? Seems like much better use of space to me. I don't have time to sketch that out right now, but I hope the explanation is clear enough that you can do it yourself. Also, this is going to be on the second floor: I imagine that you are aware that this will most likely require some major beefing up of the structure to be able to support the huge amount of extra weight that you will go into that construction? You say that you are not concerned about isolation to the outside world, but you also say that you want to track live drums and amps at blistering levels: this implies that you need excellent isolation

between

your rooms, which in turn implies that all of your isolation must be very good. Without good isolation between rooms you cannot track well, since you won't be able to hear clearly what is coming from the speakers, as it will be muddied up by the bleed coming through the walls. And that level of isolation, of course, implies very large amounts of mass, which means that you need a structure underneath it all that is capable of safely supporting all of that mass. So I'd suggest that a major point in your design will be modifying the existing structure to handle the mass.

Where I've planned to use John's inside out method for the interior walls, I'd like to be able to do the same with the ceilings.

You can and should do the same. Inside out all around the room makes sense, and will give you better isolation than just using that for the walls then hanging your ceiling from RC. Especially considering the strange angles that you'll have to deal with in some places on the ceiling. So my suggestion would be to support your inner-leaf ceiling on the inner-leaf walls, in true "room-in-a-room" fashion. - Stuart -

Appreciate the comments guys,

gullfo wrote:

if you could put a full dormer across the front then any number of concerns around the ceiling angles goes away.

This makes complete sense and believe me, I've thought about it. It just seems impractical to use a full dormer on both the front and back of the garage. The past couple of days I've tried to sketch the idea of using a front dormer along with the transitional dormer you described and visually, it doesn't look right. I think for the purpose of sticking with the original house design, I will have to keep the front truss of the structure "full dormer" free.

Soundman2020 wrote:

My first question would be why you chose such a complex shaped studio layout. Would it not be easier to go with simple more rectangular shapes? Why not just put the control room in the middle, facing out the window, with the booth on the right (next to the bathroom), and the really big live room on the left?

The reason for choosing this layout is mainly to satisfy the sight lines of the studio, as well as maximize the space for both the control room and live room. Yes, rectangular shapes would be far easier (and oh how I miss them) but after having maneuvered each rectangular room within this floor plan more ways than imaginable, I'm not able to find a design that suits me. What I really like about the corner design is that the live room is fairly even in its wall dimensions. By this I mean its not a "hall" shape with two narrow walls and two long walls, but more even around its perimeter. I did put pencil to paper in order to visualize what you described. If I did so correctly, the live room would be about 10' wide on the left-third of the garage, and about 20' long. This is the hall shape I'm trying to avoid, plus it seems that those dimensions would result in major modal issues. Please let me know if I understood you correctly, or if you could sketch it out that'd be great.

Soundman2020 wrote:

I'd suggest that a major point in your design will be modifying the existing structure to handle the mass.

I'm glad you mentioned this, and I will definitely run this by my contractor. Through all my failed efforts to change the layout from the corner design I decided to try and change the dormers rather than the rooms. The image below details two dormers which allow the angled wall of the iso booth and live room to meet the ceiling evenly at 8'. This also makes the booth a little roomier and provides clearance for a window! What do you think of this layout? Anyone out there that may know of a better way to position the rooms, feel free to weigh in. Thanks for your time,

Nice work Greg - you understand the procedure really well.

Thanks John. Also, thank you for creating such an awesome resource allowing me to do so! After having searched around the internet for images of 3-car garages and front dormers I think I'm finally set on a design. Contrary to my last post, I've decided to go with the front dormer as well as the back, without the accompanying transitional dormer. This will allow MUCH more room for the second story as well as a 9' ceiling height. (Or 8'-3.25" after the "inside-out" ceiling is installed) Here's the adjusted floor plan- The cavity's on the front left and right of the garage are storage areas where the angled ceiling eats up the floor space. Let me know what you think! Thanks,

looks good!

Hello again, I've drawn up some images detailing the iso ceiling that will be supported by the interior iso walls. I've also included a couple of snapshots that are taken from an interior perspective to better visualize the space. Feel free to take a look and let me know if you see anything that may need altering. This is standard 16" OC framing on both walls and ceiling.

i'd suggest putting another stud on each side of each door and window to make sure they're solid. what size are the isolation joists over the rooms? some of those spans looks pretty long.

Glenn, I'm not sure if the images I posted were clear enough, but I do want to double check to see if I understood you correctly. As drawn, the windows and doors are constructed with 2x4 internal jack-studs and external king-studs, as well as a header and cripple-studs above the doorway. Here is a better image of the door framing detail- Are you suggesting I add an additional stud to the outside of the existing king-stud like so...

gullfo wrote:

what size are the isolation joists over the rooms? some of those spans looks pretty long.

I plan on using 2x4 joists for the framing of the iso ceiling. Within the 3.5" space there will be 2 layers of 5/8" Gypsum Board and loose insulation, just as in John's illustrations. I did have some concerns whether or not 2x4 joists would be large enough to accommodate the overall load of such a ceiling. As the above image illustrates, the longest span required of these joists will be 15' 6 7/8" located in the live room. Should I opt for a 2x6 or larger in this circumstance? I would like to conserve as much room height as possible while maintaining both code and safety. Thanks for your help!

Correct, you're adding another stud adjacent to the king studs. For the ceiling you want continuous mass and can do this by hanging drywall under the ceiling joists or over them (inside out). Either eay, you will need to support a heavier than normal dead load including ventilation components. Given the span, you may need a beam added or at least 2x10. Maybe (since the building is still on the drawing board) is to raise the overall structure to accommodate the necessary structure, or beef up the exterior roof to handle suspending the ceiling.