Best Place to put a wall?

First off I would like to say this forum has the most information and the best group of people that I've ever seen anywhere on the internet, it truly is amazing. I've been reading up on here for weeks and have learned a great deal from all the post. The problem for me seems to be the more I read the more I realize how big of a mess I've got myself into and the more my brain hurts :shock: . With that said.... My name is Chris, I just moved here to Marshall, IL a few months ago I play drums and do a little bit of recording for some of the bands I've been in. The property has a newly built garage with a large room on the side that I would like to turn into a studio. It is out in the country so I'm not too concerned with neighbors or a lot of outside noise. I would like to use it for my band and a few other local band to record in. It's built on a slab and the walls are unfinished, just studs and rafters with 8' ceiling. Would like to keep a space big enough for practice with a five piece rock/metal band and have a separate control room, but have been torn between how much space to give up for the control room and the live room. The monitors I have are KRK RP8's and have considered adding the sub for them in the control room area. I have a rough sketch of the floor plan, the windows are the small rectangles and there are also 2 small rooms already made that I could use for isolation, vocal booth and guitars. The dimensions given are from the inside of the studs. I've already drawn in a place for a wall but it's just a rough guess. After I figure out the wall problem I will post a better 3D sketch. It would be great to hear any idea's or suggestions for construction and where to put the wall in particular. I'm trying to stay within 1 and $2,000 for the build, I have a little bit more to play with than that but still have some equipment to buy. Thank You all for your time, Chris

I'm still trying to get sketch figured out but this is what I got so far. Chris

check out John's garage studio plans on the SAE site (linked at the top page of the site). this might be what you are looking for.

Thanks Glenn I will take a closer look at that one Chris

Aloha, Here are a couple of ideas to consider: Room Ratios - In Rod Gervais’ book “Build it Like the Pros,” http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5670 he points out both L.W.Sepmeyer’s & M.M. Louden’s formulas most widely used in professional studios worldwide. He also notes that the orders listed are (top to bottom) the first to third best ratios in both cases. L.W. Sepmeyer Height Width Length 1.00 1.14 1.39 8’ x 9’1” x 11’1” M.M. Louden Height Width Length 1.00 1.40 1.90 8’ x 11’2” x 15’2” Food for thought... Aloha 8)

Aloha and thank you kendale, for taking the time to draw that up. Looks like if I'm going to have the right sized control room and have a decent sized live room I'm will have to give up some space and the couch :( . I was thinking of using a 2"X6" staggered stud wall in between the control room and live room so there goes 2 more inches. Or in my situation will it make much difference? I am looking to buy lumber in the next few days, any input on that would be helpful also. Mahalo nui loa kendale

if you need isolation - use 2 walls instead of staggering the studs. isolation on a pair of 2x4 walls versus 2x4 on a 2x6 or 2x8 plate will be much higher. so you're talking about 3 1/2" versus 2" to achieve probably 6-10db more isolation (50-100% more). not sure if you have the option to disassemble the existing walls and re-arrange things or not. Kendale's last design looks good. keep the longer CR if you can.

I'm not to worried about complete isolation, I had been recording in a basement garage with 0 walls so I'm sure this will be much better. I do like the second design with the bigger control room, and I liked your design as well Glenn but I'm not sure how far the buget will go for something like that. From what I can tell the 2 small rooms that are already there are actually in the middle of the garage so there might be some support issues as well. Thanks for your input Glenn

Aloha, Glad to hear it works for you. Here's the skp file. Regarding the walls between the control room and live room (and front iso/ entrance) perhaps a build like this for best isolation. (See attached - STC 63) Aloha 8)