Goal: To build a place where i can record great sounding guitar and vocals. Preferably this room in its entirety would be a live room, allowing for recording of the four main instruments (see below) but if my existing space doesnt allow for it, theres not much i can do to increase size. This room will not be used to mix in. Only to record instruments.
Major Skills: Bricklayer,Caulker - This is my job. I can do it in my sleep.
Minor Skills : Wood working, insulation, and carpentry - Ive done very little of this but would probably get by ok
Existing Dimensions: 19' 6" wide x 22' 6" long x 7' 3" high
Existing materials: Concrete block on three sides. The fourth side is where the garage door was and should be blocked shut within a week. Leaving space for a sliding glass or french doors. This opening measures 80 inches.
The floor is concrete, and the ceiling is open joist work (wooden) packed with insulation of course.
Problems: Ha! Wouldnt ya know it. There IS a pole right in the middle of the garage. It is support for the floor above. Other than that 1/2 of the garage is below gound level. Great isolation for the neighbors, but does cause a bit of a problem with dampness/moisture. Nothing a dehumidifier wont take care of. Those are the only issues my eye sees.
Isolation: Noise going out isnt a real big problem. Noise coming in is a bigger problem since i live about 100 feet from a busy street, and about 100 yards from a highway where school buses and trucks pose a bit of a challenge.
Instruments to be recorded: Mainly drums, bass, guitar, and vocals
Budget: right now $1,000 but i am debt free as of yesterday :yahoo:
Time frame: Maybe a bit slower than normal. I have projects going on, a roof to put on my house, and get pulled out of town for work on occasion.
Hi guys, new guy here. Hope this post finds you all well.
I have a garage that i would like to transform into a live room. I understand that with the ceiling height being 7ft 3 inches it will probably never be an optimal room for recording drums, but i got to thinking that a great sounding room for recording guitar or vocals might not be out of the question. Im not sure what kind of dimensions are necessary for such.
I thought *maybe* it would be easier/cheaper/less daunting if i were to focus on a section of the room where i could create a space that would be flattering to guitar and/or vocal sounds, as opposed to saying "ok, im going to build a studio". Sure thats the longer term goal, but for now, am i being realistic in thinking that i can approach this an "instrument room" at a time?
Do i have the space to allow for a flattering (or at least closer to flat) room sound?
I have however recorded some OK drum sounds in this space in the past, and is currently the only place i have to record acoustic drums, so i would prefer to not "worsen" my drum recording situation IF at all possible. Sure, taking a little hit isnt so bad, but removing the ability from the equation completely would be a bit of a downer to say the least.
Summary: I record a lot of guitar, and i like the way my amp sounds. I would like to maximize its characteristics. I record a lot of vocal and am generally hoping for better results in any way possible.
Minimum goal: A room for recording guitar
Thank you much for any time or thought you may have given to my situation.
Help with live room construction, a different approach
Originally posted at johnlsayers.com, topic 18199.
Hi "Brother J", and welcome to the forum! :)
That's a really low ceiling! :shock: Not much room for isolation up there, so hopefully you don't need any. But there's plenty of floor area there: enough to make a live room plus an iso booth, or a live room plus a small control room. If you want to, of course!Existing Dimensions: 19' 6" wide x 22' 6" long x 7' 3" high
but:Leaving space for a sliding glass or french doors.
You might want to rethink your budget, big time! You will blow at least twice your entire budget just on that set of acoustic grade sliding glass doors.Budget: right now $1,000
Excellent! Then your final floor is finished!The floor is concrete,
:shock: :!: Oh ooo! Major red flag there: If you have damp problems right now, then you MUST solve those before you can build anything in there. And no, a dehumidifier will NOT take care of it. It will just make you think that you took care of it but the real problem will still be there, and still b causing damage as it grows and spreads. Damp problems in basements can only be solved from the OUTSIDE, by correcting the issue with the seal and drainage on the outside of the basement walls. Now is the time to call in a contractor to do this properly. Brien can fill you in on the details of how to go about it, but this needs to be fixed before you build anything in that basement. Damp is an indication that something is wrong, and needs to be fixed.but does cause a bit of a problem with dampness/moisture. Nothing a dehumidifier wont take care of.
OK, so you do need isolation. You are going to lose some ceiling height here, so I hope you are not too tall! Realistically, you are going to lose about 5" of headroom if you hope to get decent isolation.i live about 100 feet from a busy street, and about 100 yards from a highway where school buses and trucks pose a bit of a challenge.
Exactly. And that will be down to under 7 feet by the time you are done isolating. There won't be any place to put the overhead mics. Or at least, there wont be any place where you can put them and expect to get really good drums sounds out of them. The ceiling artifacts will probably be too ugly. Close mic'ing should be fine, but it will be a challenge to get usable cymbal and ambient sounds.with the ceiling height being 7ft 3 inches it will probably never be an optimal room for recording drums,
You should be OK with those.but i got to thinking that a great sounding room for recording guitar or vocals might not be out of the question.
Well..... yes and no. You can treat any space that is reasonably larger than a closet to make it pretty much "dead" acoustically, but that won't necessarily make it "flat". And "dead" sounds pretty lousy, anyway: it is uncomfortable, and unpleasant. In fact, truly flat response is an elusive chimera, even in professionally designed, high end studios! And not desirable for a live room, anyway. There are two types of "flat": there is "flat" frequency response, and there is flat time-domain response, and they are two different issues. So the question is: can your room be treated to sound good for recording vocals and acoustic guitar? The answer is: yes, it can. I would suggest that you start out by defining how much isolation you need, in terms of decibels. To do that, you need to beg, borrow or buy a sound level meter. They aren't expensive: around US$ 50 will get you a half-decent used one on e-Bay, and a new one goes for around US$75 /but do avoid the cheap US$ Chinese junk that is flooding the market right now! Most of that is worthless.... Once you have determined how much isolation you need, then you can plan how to get that isolation (plenty of data right here on the forum to help you with that!), and once you have that in place, you will know what size your final room will be, so then you can start working on the design for the acoustic treatment that you will need. That's the normal process for designing a studio. - Stuart -Do i have the space to allow for a flattering (or at least closer to flat) room sound?