5.1 Mix Room and VO Booth

First off, I want to thank everyone here for such a great forum. I've been pouring over all your post the last few days and have learned a ton. My name is KC and I am a Sound Designer in Culver City, CA. For the past several years I have been renting a space in Burbank (about 45 minutes away) in a nice facility, but I am tired of the commute and the cost. You can check out photos of the old place on my website at http://www.audiohangar.com . I am looking to turn my detached garage into a small 5.1 mix room and VO booth where I can mix film, TV and music. Final mixes for features will still be done on a dubbing stage, but would like to create a place that sounds good so that my pre-dubs translate well. Monitors are Dynaudio AIR 15s which are rear ported, so I am a little concerned about soffit mounting them, but from what I've read here, it sounds like it is still worth a try. They have digital EQs built in, so I am not too worried about being able to tune them for the space. I took some time to mock up the garage to scale in SketchUp. I'd never used it before stumbling on this forum a few days ago and I love the software. Thanks for introducing me! The file was to big to post, but can be downloaded here: www.kcblake.com/studio/5.1mixroom.zip The garage was built in 1946 and is 2x4 frames on a concrete slab with stucco exterior. It has an (almost) flat roof of 1" planks on 2x6 rafters covered with asphalt. All the interior walls are covered with OSB right now. The garage doors are this uninsulated steel, roll up. I plan on sealing the door off with a wall. It is a residential neighborhood with houses pretty close on all sides. It would be great to work late into the night if necessary. I mix at standard theatrical levels and I'm usually not very loud, but the films I work on always seem to have there share of explosions and fight scenes. The garage is actually two 1 car garage bays that are separated by a wall with a couple of small rooms that are just used for storage. My wife wants to keep one of the garage bays and storage units, so that leaves me with half the garage. I've made an attempt at sketching up how I think the garage should be laid out, but I would love to get your advice on the plan, wall treatments/sound proofing. It is kind of small, but I think it will work. Money is not a huge factor in the renovation. I would like to try to keep it under $1500 for materials but if it costs more, it is not a big deal. I have built other studios in the past, and am very comfortable doing all the construction myself. My specific questions are 1. Should I soffit mount? 2. What do you think of the current layout? 3. What treatments should I use in the sound booth? Thanks in advance for all your help and I look forward to working with you! Cheers, KC

welcome! if you're not currently using your speakers in soffits (i.e you're used to them freestanding) you might want to go that way. on your design - it looks like the vox booth is positioned in the back corner. what options are there for putting it next to the mix position so you have a window between them?

Thanks for the quick reply. My original plan was to have the mix position face the garage door and have a window in the door going into the sound booth, but I was worried about the door into the booth interfering with the mixing desk. It might work if I don't do soffits. This room is really too small for what I want, but should work for the next couple of years. I don't want to put more than a couple thousand into it and that is why I am reluctant to move walls. Mainly I do editing and pre-dubs, and the occasional Voiceover gig. See new mock up. I am especially worried that the room is pretty much square in width and height. Should my walls up front be for absorbtion? Will I be able to get sufficient isolation from the alley with a single wall and the steel garage door, or should I build a two leaf wall up front with resilient channel on one side. I'm not terrible worried about the vocal booth being 100% isolated from the Control room, so I am just going to go with a single door to save space. See attached picture.

that looks more usable - you could probably keep a door into the storage area...