New Seattle Mix Room

Hey all, just thought I'd introduce myself and say a little about what I'm building and follow up in the future with more details as our house projects come along. I've been recording and mixing for several years, starting in Nashville and moved to Seattle 2 years ago to be near my wife's family. I've been doing a large majority of editing and mixing in whatever place we've lived in and we just bought our first house. The goal was to have a space where I could mix in and doing personal recording for commercial work, overdubs/mix revisions for artist and bands, and have a little more separation from wife and baby. At the moment I'm trying to get a few house projects taken care of that will allow for the single car garage to be renovated into my new space. Here's some details of the space. The whole garage is 23ft x 12ft x 9ft. The roof apexes in the center of the 23ft for a total height of about 15 feet. I'm going to section off part of the garage by adding a wall between the long walls at about 17ft and close off the garage door wall as well. This will make my studio room 17x12x9 and have a smaller room for the laundry at 6x12x9. From what I've read this make the ratio similar to the 1 = 1.28 = 1.54 ratio that people have mentioned as one of the ideal dimensions. (correct me if I'm wrong) Now I'm not super acquainted with construction and so have been researching a while and asking friends and a few contractors. Right now I'm thinking about using a rubber underlay on the concrete floor and then laminate for the main flooring. Planning on using the wood studs already on my long walls and using wood studs for the new garage door wall and new wall. I'm thinking about using soundproofing clips with steel furring channels to mount 5/8" drywall on. I'm sure on the ceiling but maybe similar to the walls. The walls will have some sort of efficient insulation as well. I'm not too afraid of sound leakage to the neighbors. I don't plan on going above 100db, mostly 70-90 for mixing or overdubs with the occasional guitar amp. A few things that are slight hinderances are a brick fireplace that sticks out of the long 17 foot wall about 2 feet for a length of around 3 feet. There is a window across from it that is about 2 ft x 2 ft. And lastly there is a bus that comes by every hour or so that creates a small amount of rumble. Our street is generally very quiet. I'll be posting some pictures, figuring out sketch up for mac, and giving more details soon, but thought I'd get started with some early details. If anyone has some suggestions, I'm all for it. Again, this is meant to be mainly meant for mixing and composing. I don't care about sound leakage as I think it will be good enough for where I live. I'm budget around 10,000 total for the buildout and some additional gear. I have a tons of guys who want to help with everything and some of them have some real experience including building his own studio. Thanks, Brett

For me laminate flooring is a relatively new invention which has taken the world of floor surface covering by storm. Versatile, easy to maintain, and reasonably priced, some people consider this a “super material. [SPAM SIGNATURE REMOVED BY MODERATOR]

Hi Brett, and welcome to the forum! :)

The whole garage is 23ft x 12ft x 9ft. The roof apexes in the center of the 23ft for a total height of about 15 feet.

Very nice! That's a good sized space for a home studio, and with decently high ceilings.

This will make my studio room 17x12x9 and have a smaller room for the laundry at 6x12x9. From what I've read this make the ratio similar to the 1 = 1.28 = 1.54 ratio that people have mentioned as one of the ideal dimensions. (correct me if I'm wrong)

check your ratio using Bog Gold's calculator: http://www.bobgolds.com/Mode/RoomModes.htm or Andy Mel's: http://amroc.andymel.eu/ There isn't just one good ratio: there are many to choose from. Also, the ratio refers to the final interior dimensions of the completed room: the hard, rigid, solid, massive boundary surfaces you'd see as you stand inside the room before putting in any treatment, furniture or equipment. In other words, the surfaces of your final inner-leaf. Sometimes people get confused and use the dimensions o the outer-leaf, but that's not correct.

Right now I'm thinking about using a rubber underlay on the concrete floor and then laminate for the main flooring.

I assume that the floor right now is plain concrete? You could use that as your final floor, if it is in good condition. Nothing better, acoustically. Or you could do laminate flooring if you prefer. But not on rubber! Use only the underlay recommended by the manufacturer.

Planning on using the wood studs already on my long walls and using wood studs for the new garage door wall and new wall. I'm thinking about using soundproofing clips with steel furring channels to mount 5/8" drywall on

If your new inner-leaf stud framing is correctly decoupled from the outer-leaf, then you do not need the clips and hat channel: Just nail the drywall directly to the framing. You only need clips and hat channel if there is some reason why you cannot decouple your inner-leaf framing.

The walls will have some sort of efficient insulation as well.

IT doesn't have to be "efficient"! It has to be the correct density... :) It isn't heat you need to be worried about, so the thermal properties of the insulation aren't important. What matters is that it has the correct acoustic properties, which means about 30 kg/m3 density if you use fiberglass insulation, or about 50 kg/m3 density of you use mineral wool.

I'm not too afraid of sound leakage to the neighbors. I don't plan on going above 100db, mostly 70-90 for mixing or overdubs with the occasional guitar amp.

OK, but what about noise coming the other way? Thunder, wind, rain, hail, aircraft flying over, etc, etc. There are many noises that could be a problem.

I don't care about sound leakage as I think it will be good enough for where I live.

Guessing isn't a good way to go about this: get a copy of the noise regulations from your local municipality, and find out what your legal requirements are. It would be sad indeed to spend all that money building a great studio that sounds fantastic inside, only to have the cops come knocking on your door and shutting you down for infringing noise laws.... - Stuart -