New garage studio planning

hey guys, i've been reading up quite a bit on here, and im in the planning stages for my next studio which will be located in a 2 stall garage, 26x24 (ft), plus there is a shop added onto the back of the garage which is 15x17 (ft). It is a residential neighborhood, with the nearest neighbor living about 30 ft away, (thats to his garage not living quarters). Isolation of my live/tracking room will be my biggest concern. I will be doing all the construction myself, or with handy friends. max budget for all materials 10,000 Right now my biggest question is how to best build the walls, my original idea was to basically shell the whole thing with 2 layers of 5/8 sheetrock, and then build my iso/live/control rooms within that, again going with 2 layers of 5/8 sheetrock for each room. I would be gutting the place out, btw, and probably using fiberglass insulation in the exterior walls. After thinking that i've read about the 3 leaf problems vs just having a 2 leaf, so if i built that shell and sheetrocked it, then also did rooms within that room, would i have a poor 3 leaf system? Hardboard siding+osb (leaf 1) insulation + 2 layers of sheetrock (leaf 2), Air Gap +insulation+ 2 layers of sheet rock (leaf 3) would i be better off just not adding in the outer shell, and going with 3 or 4 layers of sheetrock on the inside, and possibly beefing up the outer layer somehow? I have a very rough layout (2d) for what i've been thinking and a couple pics of the house from front and rear, hopefully they will help explain my thought process. The ceiling within the garage is fairly open, right now, so i was thinking about adding in a vault of some kind to maximize ceiling height.

By the way i record all styles of music, from solo acoustic to metal, and drum isolation is my biggest goal, mostly from the neighbors. im hoping i got all of the required info.

Also... sorry my set up is pretty much all digital, running logic9/apogee ensemble, a few outboard pres/eqs/comps. and i was thinking about basing my control room off of Garage Studio 2 in John's studio plans

Hi Greg, Looks like a fun build! I think you have answered your own question. Do not drywall the exterior wall. Beef it up after pulling the insulation then put the insulation back. What are all those small spaces in your drawing? Steve

cool thanks, and yeah i forgot to include the room names in the screen shot i posted, sorry bout that. basically the very top small room on the right would be storage/hvac directly below that im planning an iso room of sorts for vocals and maybe guitars on the top left i was planning a hallway/entry way to provide a little extra separation between the house and live room, mainly to have multiple doors between the two, and also i was recently at matt goldmans studio, he had a fairly small hallway that he put room mics in when doing drums, and controlled the sound by opening/closing the doors in between the two, its kind of a weak attempt at copying that, it sounded so cool, and i really want to work something like he had into my plan. The control room will be in the square room, (obviously going to add some angles n stuff) and the big room would be the live/drum room. but the drawing is super rough, i actually wont move into the house for another month, but im trying to get the design process going so i can start right away after we close on the place.

This area I have circled in red is of concern as it is a reduced TL area of the build.

what would be the main problem that your seeing? btw, the wall with the angled separation, the gray rectangles are supposed to be windows i had color coded doors/windows in the drawing below, this was the one i tried to upload in the first place.

The way you have it laid out is going to be awkward for load in and sight lines. I would aim more towards this: ( sorry about the messy finger sketching) Can you sort of see what I'm going for? This would still leave a dead spot where your current iso booth is, but this could be used as a guitar amp booth etc. If you really want your hallway, put it as a storage area beside the new position iso booth. This will also help with your close to square room. I would use 6' sliding glass doors between the control room/live room and as the entrance to the iso booth. Positioned best for a compromise of first reflection treatment and sight lines. Put your desk with the outside window directly behind you. At least something to consider. Steve

what would be the main problem that your seeing?

The problem that Brien highlighted is two-fold. Firstly, you seem to have a three-leaf wall there, which is bad, and secondly you have one part of the air gap much narrower than the other part, thus reducing isolation. Steve also has a valid point about sight lines. I would reverse the rooms: Put the CR where your LR is right now, but make it into a proper corner CR. That would solve the issue nicely. - Stuart -

Thanks for the suggestions steve, and i had planned on laying out the control room how you had it, i had even thought about making some sliding diffusors that would go over the window in the control room, allowing sunlight or accurate listening depending on what i was doing. I agree with the awkward load in, i had been struggling with that. also, i had tossed around the idea of having 1 big room instead of walling everything off (like you laid it out), the only thing i dont like about that (or havent figured out yet), is the big room would share a direct door with the house, or at least a parallel door if i went with 2. And one more thing that im struggling with, as for the layout, is working in doors/glass in the control room while trying to keep the room fairly symmetrical. I appreciate all the replies and ideas, as i am extremely amateur at studio design

thanks stuart for the reply as well, the 3 leaf wall your seeing is due to my terribleness with sketchup, i'm not sure how i missed that. but thanks for sharing about the angled wall/narrowing airgap, i guess i didnt know that that would reduce isolation. I had thought about switching the CR and LR around before, but it always seemed to make for a weird live room, and also there is more potential for higher ceiling's in the tracking room the way i have it laid out now, which is important to me. I realize with a 2 dimensional drawing that is impossible to tell. i'll try and draw up one with a corner control room, and see if i'm thinking the same way you are.

Just in case anyone else wants to scribble in some walls, or has ideas, here is a more open floor plan. I'm fairly positive the remaining wall is load bearing, so it will either have to stay or be replaced with a massive header.

What about using the door in your back yard? Does that currently access the studio area? Or add a dedicated studio entry ? Steve

That door does go straight into the garage area which the studio will be, i haven't quite figured out what to do with that yet. it would be nice to have that access point, but it does add another isolation problem.

The other thing I don't see in your design is a lounge or bathroom. Where are you putting the fridge? Where do you want the musicians smoking? Do they pee in the bushes or tromp through your house? Actually the lack of a bathroom was the first thing my wife pointed out while looking over my shoulder. You may even want to consider a new door off the side of the garage.

haven't decided where the fridge is going since i haven't figured out a great layout yet. i'm pretty sure we dont have the budget to add a bathroom, although i would like one. we will not be building a lounge into the studio, but we will have a downstairs living room/tv/video games. the smoking is also a good point, as i would want that in back yard, not in front

"the 3 leaf wall your seeing is due to my terribleness with sketchup, i'm not sure how i missed that." Designing takes patience and accurate attention to detail. Don't blame the tools ::) You have to know more than the software, once you get to that point you can design things freely since your inner interest will know when an error is being produced by software or by human error.

I guess i wasn't trying to blame the program, just my abilities to translate my ideas. I will never be a studio designer and i'm ok with that, i just have to get through this one so i can start making music :)

in case anyone wants to doodle in some walls, here is a blank layout

Hey Greg, Can you add some of the existing house details? Such as where people could access the house to use facilities. It makes it easier to brainstorm with you if we understand the practicalities. Is the back door in a good location as an outside access for musicians? Or would it be better to put a new entrance on the side? Or is this going to be too close to neighbours? Do you need two entrances, one for load in and one for house access? Or three, for musician outside space? All of these things have to be taken into account to create a practical design. The space is already slightly awkward with it being L shaped, but certainly usable. Steve

I will probably keep the entrances/exits as is, i attached a picture that gives a few details of where the house is, and the layout. I'm not really interested in adding in a bathroom or lounge to the studio. i want to keep the rear door for fresh air/smoking type needs, i dont want to add a third entrance because of the neighbors, im perfectly fine with doing load in through the house entrance and into the studio that way

anyone see any serious problems with this design? the wall between the CR and TR wont be a 3 leaf, theres a support wall that i can't tie into, so i'll probably just leave it, and not sheetrock it

anyone see any serious problems with this design?

The control room is not symmetrical. Symmetry is critical for control rooms, at the very least for the front half of the room. Also, that slot wall on the vocal booth (?) at the rear of the CR is going to cause you problems with reflections, perhaps even first reflections. You should take a careful look at the angle of that wall, and adjust it so that there are no reflection problems at the mix position. Are you going to soffit-mount your speakers? It looks like you have the space to do so, so it would be a shame to not make the most of that. - Stuart -

are you saying the control room isn't symmetrical because of the double door? or maybe just because my picture is at a weird angle, because i tried to design it perfectly symmetrical, the opposing wall to the door would be wood. Also, i was thinking about soffit mounting speakers, but i will have to research that quite a bit more before i do any designing of how i will do that. If you know of any good links for guidance it would be appreciated, ive heard that you can mess up soffit mounts pretty easily. was your slot wall/vocal booth comment a what the hell are you doing kind of thing? haha, cause i just thought the room needed some color, and was like, this would look cool! Then for the rear of the CR, are you speaking about the wall with the window causing the early reflections? i'm going to try and follow the basic layout of this control room design Thanks for your help!

are you saying the control room isn't symmetrical because of the double door? or maybe just because my picture is at a weird angle, because i tried to design it perfectly symmetrical, the opposing wall to the door would be wood.

I'm saying that it is not symmetrical because the right wall is flat and runs straight from the front wall to the rear wall, while the left wall is not straight and has a very large angled "kink" in it just a few inches from the front, roughly where the bass trap ends. That's a major difference in symmetry.

Also, i was thinking about soffit mounting speakers, but i will have to research that quite a bit more before i do any designing of how i will do that. If you know of any good links for guidance it would be appreciated,

Try John's Recording Manual to get the basic idea: http://johnlsayers.com/Recmanual/index.htm Plus use the "search" feature of the forum to find other designs and methods, and more details. Bare in mind that that the recording manual is about fifteen years old, and John has updated his soffit design many times since then.

ive heard that you can mess up soffit mounts pretty easily.

The basic concept is simple: the front panel of the soffit acts as an infinite baffle, which allows you to do away with the baffle step compensation that was built into your speakers by the manufacturer. They had to do that, since it is really hard to fit a huge baffle, several feet high and wide, into a small box that they can put on the shelf in the store. So they make the speakers small enough for that, but then have to build in circuits to compensate for the power imbalance due to the lack of a baffle. so if you build the baffle, then you can turn off those circuits since there is no longer any power imbalance. As long as your speaker has a "bass roll-of" control, and does not have a bass reflex port on the back or sides, then you are fine.

was your slot wall/vocal booth comment a what the hell are you doing kind of thing? haha, cause i just thought the room needed some color, and was like, this would look cool!

Not at all! :) The comment was about the angle and location of the slot wall on the front of your vocal booth, assuming that it is a vocal booth. Slot walls are very useful acoustic devices, when used correctly. But there purpose isn't really to add color or make the room look cool! Their purposes is to treat some aspect(s) of the room acoustics, in order to get more neutral response.

Then for the rear of the CR, are you speaking about the wall with the window causing the early reflections?

Exactly. At the rear of the room you have a slot wall running diagonally across one corner, with a door in it. I'm assuming that is a vocal booth. That wall is the issue. Or maybe I'm mixing up your rooms, and the CR is actually the other room? You didn't label them, so it is hard to tell which is which... - Stuart -