Looking for a great contractor for Orlando Florida

I am buying a new house and want to build a recording studio sound proof room above the garage. Does any one know a good contractor in Orlando Florida. What should something like this cost for say 1000 sqft. Part of this will be a guest bedroom for clients. I would like to build a stuiod room and a vocal booth and then the guest bedroom. Thanks for the help

Joji wrote:

I am buying a new house and want to build a recording studio sound proof room above the garage. . .

Are you sure about that plan? :shock: First of all, there's no such thing as a "sound proof room." Noise will escape -- it's just a matter of how much (or little) of it does. Secondly, such spaces are extraordinarily heavy, such that they're almost always best suited on the ground floor... Unless you don't mind the room collapsing into the garage and smashing everything (and everyone) in its path! :!: (No, I'm not kidding!) Perhaps you can reverse your plan and put the guest quarters above the garage instead... :roll: I realize you're asking about available contractors, but I suggest you spend some more time here and learn as much as you can about what you're getting into so that you can effectively plan the project and (very important!) supervise the construction of your space. A tiny tiny tiny fraction of contractors know how to build studio spaces properly, yet only a tiny tiny tiny fraction of them even realize this. Welcome to the forum -- we'll be interested in seeing this plan of yours develop! :) --Keith :mrgreen:

Joji I'm in Cocoa by the space center. I'm building my own room within my house (garage & patio). I do have a friend in Orlando who is having a seperate building built by a contractor on his property for a studio. I don't know how "properly built, soundwise" it's gonna end up. I'll write him an email tonight and let you know the responce. This 2 story building will be 15' by 25', studio on the ground floor, small appartment 2nd level. He's having the exterior (outer) walls solid concrete, which in this part of the world may be both the most hurricane proof and best sound isolation choice. I think his current price is around $80K. He had one quote at $135K Sharwards very right ... spend some time reading and try putting the studio on a lower level. I'll presume your garage is attached to the house and there is nothing above the garage currently? (BTW 1000 sqft is way more then a standard 2 car garage, that's more like 5 car garage). A wild guess cost for Orlando area contractor to build 1000 sqft 2nd level, above an existing 1st level concrete block or solid concrete . $60K to $80K plus :shock: AND that would only be to code it would not include isolation and acoustics. Question, if you do build studio on 2nd floor is if you're going to have live drums with band or how loud do you plan to be? Your post only stated vocal booth. This will make a slight difference. What area of Orlando are you talking about? I doubt a contractor price would differ greatly on area. Another friend of mine is adding about 1000 sqft above a previously one level duplex in Cocoa Beach. It will be a 2 level duplex when done. The architect alone for this renovation was $4,500. Marc

Thanks for the advise. Even though I want a vocal booth. I am going to be mixing in this room a lot of Hiphop which mean a lot of lowend sub frequencies. You know how that goes. The room does not have to be a 1000 sq ft. the garage is a 3 car garage attached to the house. Which is more of a pain is that it ia gated community so the plans have to get passed by management. How many sqft would be good for a mix room and vocal booth thanks

Is this a project studio for your own personal use? Or will it be operated as a business with customers visiting your premises?

Joji wrote:

Which is more of a pain is that it ia gated community so the plans have to get passed by management. How many sqft would be good for a mix room and vocal booth thanks

By gated community I presume you mean home owners association with deed restriction on your property. They typically take a vote whether or not to allow a resident to do renovations not already within "the rule book". If I were you I'd be asking them questions ASAP. Especially if the commuity has a lot of older residents, no offence to any age range but hear in Florida there are a lot of older residents and there are numerious news stories of home owners associations not allowing minor things, let alone a studio for hip-hop music. :D How many sqft? Vocal booth's can be smaller. For a mix room the general advice is make it as big as you can. Reason being the smaller the room the more acoustic absorbers (& other) needed to correct room modes, especially in the bass end. Bass traps (Low Frequency Absorbers) take up a lot of room, the smaller room needs more bass trapping. :shock: John Sayers suggestion is: 6m x 5m with a minimum ceiling height of 2.4m or (about) 19' 6" x 16' 6" with a minimum ceiling height of 7' 10" I'll suggest you read through (where above info came from): http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html For most of us it seems "how many sqft" is determined by budget, existing structure conditions and available space. Marc

Great point, Marc -- I was going to "go there" as well, but I wanted to ask about "business vs. personal use" first, then go from there. Homeowners' assiciations are generally very restrictive when it comes to changing anything that is visible from the outside, especially from curbside. Even window coverings can fall into that category. However, inside work is typically less of a concern. (Although garage conversions are often severely restricted due parking concerns. :roll: Of course, peace and quiet in the neighborhood is a priimary concern in such places. That's usually the case in areas not covered by HOAs/CC&Rs too, but I think the likelihood of getting caught is greater in planned communities, especially gated ones... :? I guess I'll show my hand a little more here... If Joji is planning to operate this as a business, then he's definitely got an uphill battle ahead of him. Getting a home occupation permit from his local government will probably be next to impossible, as restrictions on client visits are commonplace. But being in a gated community with client traffic? I can't see that happening at all with an active HOA on his tail. But now that I've stated that, I kind of expect that it will become a "personal" studio with "friends" showing up now and then who sometimes "gift" him some cash to help with "expenses." :roll: (Like that really makes a difference!) Anyway... Joji, in spite of my pessimistic comments, I really do want you to succeed -- or, as heartbreaking as it might be, come to a realization that what you would like to do cannot be done before you spend any money or get into any trouble with any authorities. Hopefully it's the former and not the latter. :) --Keith :mrgreen:

What do you guys think of a control room with these dimensions. Is this to small. It is the Bonus room on the Bristol diagram attached to this post. thanks

Six windows??? :shock:

Did you completely skip the "Before You Post" announcement? I ask because you haven't updated your profile with a location (a must), you've posted a :shock: ginormous :shock: image, and you're not being realistic in your expectations to build a "soundproof" room on a second floor, for hip hop no less! It also seems that the red flags I'm raising about safety and other items are being ignored... :? I'm getting ready to tune out this thread...... :roll: :roll: :roll:

Dido what Sharward just said. I wish you would have posted the layout before I tried to help. Forget the numbers I guessed on price, your 2nd floor is exsting. :roll: Like Sharward said did you completly skip the stickies and worse did you even read the words both Sharward and I wrote. You asked:

What do you guys think of a control room with these dimensions. Is this to small. It is the Bonus room on the Bristol diagram attached to this post. thanks

Please see my above post with dimension info and links To read. Most of us here our "do it your selfers" trying to build a decent music space which will meet are own goals... the reason I've decided to try and help other people out is so that I understand better as I prepare and plan my own room... bla, bla, bla. At the very least Joji, you need to become familiar with the basic principles of studio build (you're going to need to convey that to a contractor, that is unless your pocket book is bigger than most) AND please consult a structual engineer, if you really plan to build on the 2nd floor for safety sake.... again loud studio is way much better on 1st floor (slab). Good luck finding a contractor, maybe try finding someone through Full Sail, the audio college in town. Marc