Building new garage studio

Hello everyone, I am getting ready buy my father-in-law's property. There is an old one car garage there that needs to be torn down and replaced. I am going to replace it with a 2 car garage which will house a temporary studio for 5 years. Then I will move into the barn. The garage will not have to be totally sound proofed because the neighbors are far away and some are musicians. Plus since this will be a short term location, I don't want to dump alot of money into the construction. I'm thinking the only double wall I will need is between the live room and the control room. I have an attached Sketchup file and a JPEG with the basic floor plan I have in mind. What do you all think of the plan? Will the dimensions work? How should I angle the ceilings? Am I going in the right direction. (alt+p) Thanks for any tips, Ken Tukar Studio

Aloha and welcome to the forum, How tall are you planning your ceilings to be? Aloha 8)

Hey thanks for looking. I'm gonna try to squeeze 9ft out of it. What is the normal height for a garage wall? Thanks again.

Aloha, I'm not sure if there is a "normal" height where you are, but I've seen it range from 8' to 12' out here. In any case, a 9' ceiling will work very nicely. Given that figure, you could use any one of the following ratios to determine the rest of your spaces. 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-------------9’ x 10’2” x 12’5”’ 1.00 1.28 1.54 1.00 1.60 2.33 M.M. Louden Height Width Length 1.00 1.40 1.90-------------9’ x 12’6” x 17’1” 1.00 1.30 1.90 1.00 1.50 2.10 That should be a good place to start. Hope this helps, Aloha 8)

Thanks, Sorry I'm not really on top of this thread, moving and all that goes with it has been taking all my time and energy. Yes I think I'll order Rod's book. But in the meantime..... So I start with a box with the ratios you state and then splay my walls in from there? This is the part I never understood. Thanks again. Ken

Aloha, Yes, you could start square and then splay, or as I have recently read John stated that if you're starting from scratch, you could just build it splayed. One thing to keep in mind is that the ratios and room modes are reference points to start from. Once you begin to introduce angled surfaces it becomes very difficult to calculate the effect thereof. Perhaps John, Steve, Eric and others could offer a clearer explanation. Hope this helps muddy the waters even more :wink: Aloha 8)

I think I better order that book.

the angled wall should be averaged to determine its approx ratio, also volume of the space plays a key role, not just ratio, so if you choose a ratio from a rectangular space, compare the volume for the splayed space to see if you're in the ballpark.

Cool Glenn, Thanks alot. I guess my basic questions is do I do it like the picture on the left or on the right. I'm guessing the left. That keeps the volume the same. Ken

the left would be the way to average out the room

Thanks, the book is on the way.

Well I'm back. OK so now that I've been reading Rod's book and more of this forum, I'm even more confused. So here is another design using Louden's 1st ratio. I thought I had things figured out better until I started thinking about soffit mounting. The monitors I have are old Tannoy 6.5s Should I even bother soffit mounting these? If I do then does the area behind the soffit wall need to be included in the original room ratio (and need to be symmetrical even behind the soffit wall?) or can I build it as shown? If I need to include the area behind the soffits in the original room ratio, can I put the soffit wall only 1" from the outer wall of the control room? Should I angle the soffit wall? If I don't soffit the monitors, should I build the front wall straight and fill the corners with bass traps instead of angling the walls? So many questions. Well anyway if anyone feels like answering this run on paragraph of questions, I would be most appreciative. Thanks a bunch, Ken PS How do you make your sketchup file small enough to attach? My basic control room is over 5Meg.

the fronts of the soffits are mostly solid, the middle maybe more or less solid or absorptive (less absorption (except very top or bottom) is probably better in this design)... from a mode design - i'd ignore the soffit depth because the room volume is going to matter more than exact "golden ratio" and the trapping behind the soffits and center are going to alter the modes in the room beyond simple mode calculations... it is possible to overthink the design on ratios alone :? the little bit of symmetry difference in the trapping "could" matter but not nearly as much as if the asymmetry was present in the listening space so i'd wouldn't be too concerned there. if you didn't want to soffit, you'd still build the front wall (slat resonators... 8) ) on an angle so its "square" with the room... it looks like a good design... smaller file size - just make sure you select Model Info -> Statistics -> Purge Unused to clear unneeded textures and objects (they can build up quick!)

Glenn I can't thank you enough for helping me out here. I guess I worded my question badly. What I want to know is if I don't soffit mount do I build the room with a straight front wall and then add bass traps (like shown) or should I build it with the angles? Or if I do soffit mount can I leave the front wall where it is in the first drawing without the added area behind the soffit wall messing up the room ratio? Speaking of room volume, can sketchup free calculate volumes of complex areas? Sorry but the only reason I'm contemplating soffits is because Rod recommends it. Thanks again, this is helping alot.

i'm not sure if sketchup can calculate the volume or complex volume. a consideration on soffits is the type of monitors you have - are they suitable for soffit mounting? also, what size/power are the monitors? they need to work within your space and soffits might not be readily positioned to place the monitors in your space. for example, you might need more or less distance or angle on the monitors to get them positioned, and you have space limits which may preclude soffits. that said, if you will soffit mount them, then build the walls. if they need to be on stands (or worse, the console) then build flat and use corner bass trapping.

The monitors are old Tannoy PBM 6.5's. Of course upgrades are possible in the future.

you can probably soffit mount them pretty easily but i'd frame it out a bit bigger in case you wanted to go with slightly larger monitors in the future.