Hi,
I have been reading these forums for a while now and I am amazed at the volume of information being passed around. Being quite new at recording I am still a little overwhelmed at the amount I need to learn so I could use your help and pointers.
This spring we are finishing the upstairs of our garage. The garage is a new wood constructed buidling that has finished exterior walls and bare studs on the interior. I have the opportunity to make some smart choices before we start to build out the space but I don't have a great deal of time as the designs have to passed on to my contractor. What I plan on building is a control room/mixing room at one end of the garage. This would be approx 15x8 ft. The angled roof of the garage makes the space interesting to say the least. I have sketched up a drawing of the space that I hope is clear enough for people to understand.
I plan on using the studio to mix mostly rock stuff on my pro tools rig. I will have the studio for a long time so I would like it to be as flexible as possible as my musical ability and tastes grow and change.
I have roughly shown where a door may be on the drawing. I have also indicated where the window would roughly be on the exterior wall. As nothing is built yet this is all flexible. This includes making changes to the exterior wall to accomodate a variety of window options. The 8 ft depth of the room is also flexible within a few feet but the more I move it the more I cut into the main room which serves as a live room/family room and painting studio for my wife.
Here are the questions I have:
- How severely do I need to angle the walls to make the sound decent? I would prefer to use the most space possible so I hope I can get away with some slightly angled walls.
- At what height and angles would you suggest placing the monitors (I use 2 Wharedale Diamond 9.2A monitors)? 60 and 90 degrees seem to be popular choices but I was not sure of the effect the angled ceiling would make on this decision. I would prefer the monitors to be at a decent height as I have to children under the age of 5.
- The placement of the desk and the door are an issue for me as the path for entry will take up considerable space in the room. The door positions are limited by the ceiling angle. Can you think of any work arounds to help this?
- Is there anything I should consider to make the exterior window and interior windows work better for both sound in the room and to prevent sound from escaping the room?
- I was planning on using quite a minimal double drywall treatment for the exterior walls to help dampen the exterior building noise. The garage is a new woodframe construction so will this be effective at all? I would like to use the room 24/7 if possible and my nearest neighbors are approx 250 ft away.
- Should I be concerned about the angled ceiling? Do I need to treat is heavily to stop the sound from bouncing down at me?
- I can use the small angled spaces at the edge of the garage or I can block them off. I didn't know if these less than 4 ft spaces would hurt or help the room?
- I could possibly move the ceiling height to use more if not all of the vaulted space. The rough framing suggests that an 8 foot ceiling was planned but it is possible that I could change that. Is this space a problem? Is the flat ceiling a problem?
External image, not preserved — original: http://www.crushpuppy.com/Studio.jpg
I know a lot of these are newbie questions but I have searched and read a lot and I know I need some help. Any help you can offer is appreciated.
If you have any questions about my drawing or my plans then please ask.
Thanks
Chris