is 8 meter by 5 meter enough?

Hi, I am looking for a nice location to build my studio. There is a place where i can move in and there is a location behind the house. It's a standalone building (garage) of 8 meter (26.2 feet) by 5 meter (16.4 feet) Before i'm getting wild about the place.....do you guys think i can build a studio in there? I would like to have a control room, vocal booth, drum room and maybe another live room..... Or do i need to extend the garage...... PS. It's on a industrial place Thanks for your help. Jeroen

Jeroen - 8m x 5m will give you a 5m x 4m control room and 5m x 4m studio. How big do you want the control room to be?? for me 5 x 4 is a reasonable size for a control room - any smaller and you will start to compromise space. Hope this helps cheers john

Jonh, thanks for your reply. I've attached the floorplan of the empty garage. If i make an 5x4 (4.4x4) controlroom, there is not much room for a studio. I also would like to have an vocal booth. Please can somebody help me with a design for this garage. Controllroom, trackingstudio (drums etc) and a vocalbooth. Thanks a lot!!!! Existing walls are 30cm thick.

Can somebody please help me to give this design a start. I have no idea what the best size are for a controll-room, studio and vocalbooth. Can be fitted in that garage? I would like to record a normal size rockbands. Thanks!!

I am not the metric mac, but looking at your floor plan you have 4.4x7.4 meters, so dividing the space in half, you have 4.4 x 3.7 for each room or 14 x 12'. My entire studio was a 13x 12 room with a 13x 11 control room. I can cut drums in the live room. I guess if I threw up a baffle, I could cut gtr as well. (lots of bleed though) There actually IS enuff room for all 3 main players, but you will deal with bleed. Here is one possible scenerio however, Bass player and drummer in booth, gtr player in control room. of course with that scenario you could mic the gtr player behind your head and cut him whilst he is in the control room. :) Just be quiet when cutting Your space is not humongus so recording a rock band would require some placement creativity. Your Studio/Live room would then become a multipurpose room. Another scenario...... You have drums in booth, bass and gtr player in studio going direct. Afterwards (drums done) you bring the gtr player back in the studio so you can MIC his gtr and relay his parts (I am not a rocker but I know you guys love a mic'd cabinet) Just some ideas. Bryan Giles

from the picture it looks rather tall for a garage. any chance of building a vocal booth above the control room?

here is my crappy appleworks drawing. if you did go with the 2 story thing, i think i would build out the entire space above the control room. whatever you don't need for vocals could be used for storage, HVAC, etc.... a spiral staicase would be a better choice than the standard stairs shown in the drawing.

jdean, That's a great idea to put the vocalbooth upstrairs!!! Is it nog a big problem that you can't see the vocals then? Sometimes the vocals would like to see the rest of the band....i know, i don't have enough space..... I'ts high enough to stand on to 2th floor (3.3m to the highest point /\ ) Yes, the inner sizes are 4.4 x 7.4 x 2.6 meters (14.4'x24.3'x8.5') Where is the door between tracking and control? Is it the glass? Should i also make doublewalls,floor and ceiling? It's on an industrial area so not much neighbors but maybe sound from outside bleeding into the mics... Maybe i will swap rooms so you enter the tracking room to go to control. Then not all the instruments have to go via the controll when a new band is entering the studio... Great it's getting there the desingn..... I'm in the process of buying the house, so i must be sure that i can build a studio there. Yes, there is room enough to extend the building, but my wallet is not that big :wink: Thanks for helping me !!!

nice idea jdean ;) cheers John

Is it nog a big problem that you can't see the vocals then? Sometimes the vocals would like to see the rest of the band....i know, i don't have enough space.....

i didn't realize there was already a ceiling in place. if the cut out for the stairs is large enough the vocalist should be able to look down on the rest of the band (most vocalists do this already :lol: ).

Where is the door between tracking and control? Is it the glass?

yeah, the jagged blue things are supposed to be a set of sliding glass doors. a pair of standard doors and a separate window would work just as well.

Should i also make doublewalls,floor and ceiling? It's on an industrial area so not much neighbors but maybe sound from outside bleeding into the mics...

what is your budget? double walls are almost always a good idea, but i wouldn't bother with a floating floor unless there are large trucks and heavy machinery operating nearby.

Maybe i will swap rooms so you enter the tracking room to go to control. Then not all the instruments have to go via the controll when a new band is entering the studio...

if you need a door directly to the tracking room, i would remove one of the windows and place a second door into the building. having to go in and out of the tracking room every time someone wants to smoke or use a restroom can slow down a session.

jdean wrote:

what is your budget? double walls are almost always a good idea, but i wouldn't bother with a floating floor unless there are large trucks and heavy machinery operating nearby.

I don't have a budget yet, i'm still calculating. But it is on a industrial place, and the neighbor acros the street has got an transport company. The trucks (small ones compered to the USA mack trucks) don't driver fast there, just parking and some wil have service maintenance. The street is behind the house 28 meters away. So you think a single wall and no floating floor shoot do it? What about the wall between studio and controll?

jdean, thanks again for your help, but i don't know what type of construction to use for the absorption in the control room. Is it correct that in your design the mixing desk is facing east? Can you explain what construction to use for the walls/absorption and the glassdoor. The existing walls are 10cm brick, 10 cm fibreglass, 10 cm brick Ive thought about the sizes 2.6 high, 3.32 width, 4.00 long for the controll room Thanks!

start herehttp://www.johnlsayers.com/HR/index1.htm for construction specifics try knightfly in the construction forum. the brick/fiberglass/brick walls are good. windows and doors will be your weak points. seal them with weather stripping (and eliminate any you don't need), then decide if you have to go any further with the isolation. i would reccomend double walls between the tracking and control rooms. if you record a lot of drums, build a floating platform for them. [/quote]

jdean, did you also planned in your drawing the mixing desk facing east? the wall on the bottom of the drawing, what type of construction did you think of for the slat resonators. The ones in the trackingroom i understand, those are on John's example pages. Same also for the rear wall with the door in it. All done with slats of backside with Ethan winers bass traps for example? You can see i'm a newbie, but when i start building i would like to do it right away ;) 2x2 meter enough floar a drum floating platform? what would be a good size for a vocalbooth? I i have the possibility to extend the building, what would then be a good size in square meters for control, studio, drumbooth and vocalbooth? 2x the size right now ? This is most helpfull, thanks again!!!

did you also planned in your drawing the mixing desk facing east?

i planed on it being in about the same place you put it in your drawing. if that is east then yes.

the wall on the bottom of the drawing, what type of construction did you think of for the slat resonators. The ones in the trackingroom i understand, those are on John's example pages.

the wall construction depends on how much isolation you need from the outside and how much you have to spend. if the existing walls cut down enough of the outside noise, build the bottom (south?) wall out of wooden studs 24" (about 60cm) on center. place rigid fibreglass between the studs, cover the wall with fabric, then put up the slats. the space behind the wall could be used for hangers (bass trap), or you could put in a small door and use the space for computers and other noisey equipment.

Same also for the rear wall with the door in it.

the rear wall would be just like the "rear wall absorber" on john's page. the only "real" walls in the back of the room would be for the tunnel between the two doors. ethan's traps seem to work well (i only have two built). you could use them along with or instead of the rear wall absorbers. 2mx2m sounds about right for the drum riser, maybe 1.5mx2.5m. vocal booth could be about the same size, but if you've got the space and money, go bigger.

I i have the possibility to extend the building, what would then be a good size in square meters for control, studio, drumbooth and vocalbooth? 2x the size right now ?

1.5 to 2 times the size, i guess. if you're going to increase the size of the facility, my first suggestion would be to put in a bathroom.

jdean wrote:

if you're going to increase the size of the facility, my first suggestion would be to put in a bathroom.

:) jdean, thanks a lot for all your help. Last saturday i had a visit to that location, and i'm a bit disapointed about the place. So, i'm going to look for anther place. I found a place where i can buy a piece of land where i can build a hous and a recording studio. My wife would like to have an dancestudio do give dance lessions, so i will be a combination of house, recording and dance studio. I'm now thinking about the ammount of square meters i will need to build this. I will start a new threath to discuss the new building. I want to build it with the right sizes to start with. I hope you and or John can help me also with this.....tnx!!!