vocal audio studio in small space low ceiling or not

Awesome site! I see no end to my reading. Is this the place to ask for people's advice on building a studio in a small space and small budget? Brief summary: We have two possible locations on our property to build a non-income producing studio. We would like to produce spoken word cds(one or two people at a time) and eventually if we are able offer some amateur recording of mainly non-percussion instruments and vocals. Both available spaces are approximately 4m x 5 m. Can construct what ever I want, no building codes. But cash is limited and knowledge is even less available. One space: is a seperate wood frame garage with metal siding. Basically empty. The ceiling height could be around 2.8 m. The picture reveals it all. The floor is 20cm concrete. Second option is inside of the first floor of our second building with 60cm thick solid walls and concrete slab ceiling, BUT the ceiling height available to construct in is no higher to 2m 10cm. The floor is an uneven slab. There already exists on three walls metal framed drywall with 50mm fiberglass insulation between the large blocks and the drywall. OUR BUDGET: ANywhere from $1000 to 5000 depending on the type of advice I can glean from all you out there. I saw on Sayer's main sight the standard small studio design (garage 2.gif) and it looks good to me, but I am concerned about the ceiling height in one of our locations. Also, I am wondering what type of cost is involved with paying someone like Mr. Sayer for a detaield design. (just curious) American, living in Ukraine, doing non-profit work. I threw that last part in for sympathy If this isnt appropriate for here, forgive me.Direct me to where, thanks all. matt

yes its messy, just finished building two houses and still am sorting through things.

also forgot to point out on the drywall optioned, the ceiling is furred out with wood (you can see the strips about the middle of the ceiling) no insulation, but about 35 cm of concrete above. What is a good minimum height for a studio?

mattbuy wrote:

What is a good minimum height for a studio?

8 feet. Sorry, 9 feet is a good minimum...8 feet is the drop dead last height, everything else is just living with whatever you have. So if you have less than 8 feet or the metric equivalent, then that is when you live with the cards dealt to you.

So with the 6'11 ceiling height max is there some dampening or advice on how to try and adjust for the ceiling height or will it not be that large of a deal? Or can I just make people sit on the ground when they play :D

What winds up happening is the microphones, in a tracking room, are so close to the ceiling that if you do not have an absorptive cloud overhead the early reflections from the ceiling distort what you think you are hearing...but to be fair, a shallow ceiling is prone to compress the sound so it is always a challenge to get good noise in/good noise out. In a control room it is the same thing but with differences only in that usually a microphone isn't being used, but the early reflections still play a big part in what you hear, so you have to take those measures to reduce hard surfaces that are close to the ears first and in difficult places second...but in any event, it's not undoable just has some built in issues but you can overcome these, many, many have here already once reasonable expectations was established.

Is this the place to ask for people's advice on building a studio in a small space and small budget?

Yup! You bet! But of course, Murphy's Law says that "small budget" will be eaten several times over by the time you finish! :)

knowledge is even less available.

Then you are in the right place! Lot's of knowledge available here. Thousands of posts on ever topic imaginable regarding acoustics and studios.

One space: is a seperate wood frame garage with metal siding. Basically empty. The ceiling height could be around 2.8 m. The picture reveals it all. The floor is 20cm concrete.

Sounds like your best bet to me. Height is important.

BUT the ceiling height available to construct in is no higher to 2m 10cm.

Like Brien already explained, that really is too low. You won't be able to get a decent sound in there.

Also, I am wondering what type of cost is involved with paying someone like Mr. Sayer for a detaield design. (just curious)

Only one way to find out: Ask him! :) He' doesn't bight. And he won't get angry if he quotes but you figure you can't afford him. That's what this forum is for: folks who can't afford to pay for a professional design, and are willing to learn spend the time to learn how to do it right themselves. That's why John made this forum in the first place. So I'd definitely go with the wood-frame garage, due to the height. But there are other factors that you might want to consider. Isolating any room (also incorrectly called "soundproofing") implies that you are going to add lots of mass to it. I mean LOTS of mass. You should check that the structure of that garage can handle the extra mass (floor, foundations). You say that it has a concrete floor, it looks decently built, and it IS a garage (designed to have a heavy car sitting on the floor) but all the same it would be a good idea to get a structural engineer to check that, once you have your design done. There will be tons (literally) of mass on there. Which leads to another question: How much isolation do you need? How loud will you be in there, and how quiet do you need to be outside? Conversely, how loud are things around you, and how quiet do you need that to be inside, so that you don't record the neighbor's dogs barking, your phone ringing, street traffic, wind and rain, along with your masterpiece once-in-a-lifetime best-over vocal track! You need to answer that with real figures (in decibels) to determine what type of construction you will to put up, in order to isolate adequately. - Stuart -

what options for using the lower space for the CR and an isolation booth and the garage for a taller live room suitable for drums etc? what about heating/cooling/fresh air etc for the basement?