2 car garage studio conversion in Portland, OR

Hello, This is my first post to this forum, though I've been reading extensively from it for months. I’ve attempted to comply with the guidelines for posting to this forum. Let me know if I need to improve anything. I've just begun actively planning a conversion of what used to be a two car garage into a studio/rehearsal space. I've been more passively researching and playing with different designs and ideas for months (really for years). I own and have read both Rod Gervais' and Cooper's books on designing/building a studio. I've re-read parts of Rod's book several times. I'm a little on information overload. Thus far I've mostly been focusing on familiarizing myself with all the issues I need to consider, rather than getting down to specifics. About a month ago I realized that, unless I wanted to spend a year or two in the design phase I was going to need some design help. I hired an architect (with hands on building experience) friend of mine to help me get down to specifics, make sure the design is code compliant, and generally help me think of things I wouldn't have thought of. Though we've really just gotten started this has already proved worth the money, as he's thought of some things which will improve the studio that I never would have considered. Before I go further, a little about myself. I'm a classically trained semi-professional violinist (hoping someday to be full time). I play a variety of non-classical music, such as jazz, swing, bluegrass, fusion (full electric rock band), irish, etc. I play with multiple bands, gig multiple times a week (gig or rehearse almost every day) and have had the dream of having a functional home studio for over a decade. The studio will be used for, in order of importance: 1) Practicing and rehearsing my own acoustic music into the wee hours. 2) Recording my own acoustic music into the wee hours 3) Teaching students 4) Recording and rehearsing my own amplified rock/jazz music. This will be less often, but I still want to allow for it. 5) Possibly helping to pay for gear (and get some recording practice) by recording other bands demos and such. 6) My home office 7) Crash pad for visiting friends/musicians My wife (a classical violist who teaches Suzuki violin/viola) and I moved to Portland, OR, USA just over a year ago. We bought a house in an urban neighborhood (41' X 100' lot) that has a large (inside dimensions ~25' X ~21') existing detached 2 car garage with an apartment above it. The plan is that I will build my studio in the garage, and my wife will teach lessons upstairs in the apartment, and we get both activities out of the house. I've attached a variety of pictures to give a feel for the space. I reached my max attachments, so I'll do another post with more. I need the studio to be as isolated reasonably possible from the apartment upstairs. It will probably be ok to work around my wifes teaching schedule, or have her teach in the house if a big recording project is underway. But I'd still like to isolate as much as I reasonably can from upstairs. We may need the possibility of renting out the upstairs if finances ever get tight, and I want the studio to still be useable. I also need the main tracking/rehearsal room to be as isolated as reasonably possible from the neighbors. I have not yet measured sound levels, but there are sometimes very loud children next door about 15' from the studio. For this reason I'm planning on full room-within-room double walls/ceiling shown in the 50-60db STC range in the books I have. My house is about 20' away from the studio on the South side, and my wife is, despite being a musician, fairly intolerant of constant music going on. So this studio is a necessity for the lifestyle I want (where I play as much as I can). In fact, because our bedroom window is ~30 from the garage, and we sleep with windows open, and she always goes to sleep before I do, my goal is that my wife cannot hear an acoustic group (still pretty loud, though nothing like drums, etc.) playing in the main studio room. That's probably my pickiest neighbor requirement. I've been fortunate to have a well paying day job for several years which has allowed me to save up for this day. I'm not rich, but I've saved up, and I'm ready to make this happen. I'm really excited, but kind of dreading the process. I'm not particularly handy. I wish I could just pay the money and have it done right, but I don't think my budget allows for paying someone else to do it all, even if I could trust a contractor to do it right. I've allocated $20K for the initial build, though I really have no idea if this is a good figure to shoot for. If I can get it done for less, great, I'll buy some nice mics to get me started. If it goes a little over, it's not going to break me. I can't go way over that figure. I plan on doing a lot of the work myself (with friends who want studio karma), and also hiring a carpenter and other professionals as needed. I have almost no building experience, and a moderate fear of large power tools because of my violinist fingers and friends horror stories. Re: pictures of the garage. The previous owner removed the garage door, filled it in with sheet rock, and put down a vapor barrier and pergo on the slab floor. He did a terrible job of filling in the garage door, and I plan to tear it down, and do it over more carefully, and replace the door. My plan is to just leave the floor alone, at least for the first pass construction. I’ll put down area carpeting or something to adjust acoustics as needed. You'll notice there is a post in the middle of the room, and a large beam running the length of the room. My hope is that I will be able to remove the post by reinforcing the beam with steel (and that this can be done for a reasonable sum). I’ve been in garage studios with a post, and I find it breaks up the flow. In some of my early layout attempts I tried working in the full control room, etc. similar to the designs I’ve seen on this forum, by John Sayers and others. Darol Anger ( a world class professional fiddler who moved to Portland about the same time I did) has expressed interest in sharing this space with me. I’m really excited about that prospect, as he has a lot of great gear (mics!) I could use, and he’s had a lot of experience so I think I’d learn a lot. Anyways, he strongly suggested I leave the bulk of the space as a multi-purpose room. His opinion is that when space is your premium the rooms become too cramped feeling when you divide them up that much. He thought one isolation room big enough for drums or whatever else we wanted to use it for would be enough. He’s also recorded multiple albums in a garage about my size that he used to own in CA which was basically one room. He suggested building a ventilated cabinet for the computer if needed to silence it. He said it might not even be necessary given how quiet a lot of the new computers are. It means I can’t monitor while you are recording without headphones, but there are other advantages, such as a much simpler overall design. Anyways, after he suggested this, another good friend said the same thing, and when I read in Rod Gervais book on page 226, where he says he prefers a multi-purpose room given a space restriction, that pretty much sealed the deal. I’m now strongly leaning towards a more open floor plan. The more I think about it the more this makes sense to me, especially since I’ll likely be recording myself, and rehearsing/practicing in the room is the #1 important use scenerio for me. I’m considering a basic layout like the following: A couple of comments on this layout: a) The dimensions are not exact, I’m trying to get the overall layout then have my architect friend get down to specifics. b) Ideally I’d like some natural light in the studio. I understand this compromises ideal isolation. The above layout shows an outside window into the front isolation room. I’m thinking this room could double as my office (with a rolling desk I could roll out as necessary). My architect friend suggested a custom “door” on hinges that would swing and attach towards the ceiling to close the window off for better isolation, but could be left open most of the time, and provide some light through the glass into the main room. The outside window would be operable, and given the relatively mild weather in Portland, might make it possible to not extend HVAC to this room, thus making the system more affordable. Haven’t decided on that whole subject though. I understand that an operable window greatly impacts isolation performance, but I do like fresh air and natural light, and I think it would make that front room more multi-purpose. I’m hoping that, because there will be a full double wall from the isolation room to the main room, that the main room will remain isolated enough from the outside. c) The upstairs apartment has really amazing vaulted ceilings with angles that look like there were designed for acoustics. Isolating from outside it would be really difficult, but I’d like to plan on trying to get some conduit connecting the two rooms, so later on I could expand upstairs when my wife isn’t using that room. d) The hot water heater shown is for the apartment upstairs. The plan is to “flip” this into the shed, and replace with an on demand electric water heater, since the apartment’s hot water aren’t used often. e) There is a one story shed leaning off the back. It is fairly solid. I plan to use it for any mechanicals need for the studio, and for storage for the studio. It also houses stuff like bikes, camping gear, etc. which would otherwise be in the garage. f) I intentionally put the airlock, bathroom, isolation room on the south side since that’s the direction of my house, and my wife is the pickiest neighbor I am likely to have. OK, after all that (sorry about the long post), here are some questions: 1) Any overall thoughts about my current plans for a multi-purpose room or anything else that might help me avoid mistakes? Any better layouts which meet my goals? 2) The existing garage walls are covered in sheet rock. I believe they don’t have insulation behind them. The exterior garage wall appears to be some kind of particle board, covered in a black felt paper, covered by cedar siding. Our plan is to, as a first construction step, tear off the interior sheet rock from both the walls and the ceiling. This will allow access to existing electrical, etc. We’ll then fill with insulation, and create a double wall system per Rod’s book. From what I’ve read I’ll get better isolation, and use up less space by tearing that sheet rock off, then by leaving it. Does this sound right? 3) The current ceiling height is 9’4”. We plan to vault (6 degrees) towards the center beam a second ceiling which will be isolated as much as reasonably possible (per Rod’s book) from the beam and floor joists it will hang from. This will bring the ceiling height down to an average of about 8’4”. With this ceiling height, and the majority of my space multi-purpose, there is no way I can design according the optimal room ratios suggested by the experts. However, since my room is no longer in Rod’s “Small Room” category, maybe this isn’t quite so critical? The isolation room can be tweaked to approximate one of ratios I think. I will be avoiding parallel walls. Any thoughts on this? 4) There is nothing I can do about the existing beam, short of replacing with solid steel, which probably isn’t going to happen. I’m assuming it will transmit impact noise from above, but that this issue will be much improved because of the isolated ceiling I will add. The beam will be exposed however. Any thoughts on this? 5) The part of this process I’m finding the most daunting is the HVAC system. I’ve had friends with studios tell me everything from, “just open the door when you need air” to “you need the full system”. Someone I play music with just converted his garage (much quicker job then I’m planning on). He just put in a through the wall air conditioner with a door to block it off. This was my first thought after reading about all the complexities involved, and the nightmares people have gone through on this forum. This seems inconvenient, since I want to rehearse late at night, and I’ll need air. It also seems like it puts a huge hole in my isolation I’m going to put a lot of time and money into constructing. I have the large shed behind, which is actually almost like a small 1 car garage. It has a concrete slab. My plan is to use this for any mechanicals necessary. Any thoughts on what might be the most affordable system to provide AC and ventilation while maintaining isolation? From what I’ve read, I don’t need to worry too much about heat. I may just use some electric space heaters when needed. It hurts to think about spending thousands on this part of the studio. From what I’ve read this could eat up a significant portion of my overall budget. I looked at the exchange room concept. I’m not sure the shed is insulated enough for that, and in the long run seems like it would add in a pretty big inefficiency you’d end up paying for anyways. 6) Is my budget realistic? Thanks in advance! I’ve already learned a LOT by snooping around for the last few months. Ben Blechman Violinist/fiddler/software engineer Portland, OR, USA

More pictures and drawings to complete last post.

The first design drawing was done by my architect before I'd leaned away from having a control room. The second sketchup drawing was done by me, and is a possible current design.

I'd add a matching angled wall on the side nearest the shed so you can put your mix desk on the right-hand wall and have symmetry. another option is to alter the wall on the right to achieve a similar effect. the walls should be slat resonator or match the other wall for material but open top and bottom for trapping.

Thanks for your reply. Do I want a symmetrical room for recording? I thought this was good for control rooms, but not necessarily for rooms where extensive recording will be happening, since recording wants to be done in a room with a closer to random response. Anyone have thoughts on this? Or will I be well served by a symmetrical room for both use cases? I actual meant to slant one of the walls, but left it out of that drawing. I was thinking something like the attached. My plan was to create a computer area in the main room with mini-traps, gobos, etc. Is this a good plan for a multi-purpose room?

you're correct symmetry is best for a mix situation but if the space is treated correctly, then the response will be [mostly] "flat" and with flexible treatment, the room will have the right RT60 for a given situation. if you're not really looking to spend a lot of time doing critical stereo mixing then the latest floor plan should be fine.

Thanks again. I will definitely be mixing in the room too. I realize I'm making compromises, I'm just trying to find the best balance to meet my needs. I'm not attached to my current design. I do know that I want to keep the bulk of the space as one room, and from what I've read, I'm hesitant to try to "squeeze" a small control room into the space I've got allocated for the isolation room. The main advantage I would see to a separate control room for me would be that, as Rod Gervais says in his book, it would look more "pro", maybe making easier to hire out the space. If I could fit an decent control room into say 12' X 9', I might reconsider it. I'm assuming this is too small to be viable. Given that, anyone have any other suggestions for arranging the main room? I will be rehearsing, recording, and mixing in this room. I'd like to try to get a good stereo image for mixing, but if I can't get a good recording in the first place I don't see what good an accurate stereo image is going to do me. And it needs to be a comfortable place for practicing, since that what I'll do in there the most. I haven't seen much on this forum on laying out a multi-purpose room, and I haven't found much reading on that subject either. Rod says in his book he prefers a multi-purpose room given about the same amount of space as I have (I think), but he doesn't say how he would accomplish that. I'll plan on using home made gobos and such to adjust as needed, but I'd be interested in basic shapes, and ideas others have found to work. Anyone of ideas about this, or is there any info on this out there someone could point me at? Thanks again! Ben

Glenn, Thanks for the suggestions. I've been processing your design suggestions and comments, and I think your suggested modifications make sense for my situation. Although your comments were brief, they really got me thinking in some new directions. Thanks! I think the main room control room shape especially makes sense since I have an almost equal footprint room upstairs with awesome vaulted ceilings which I hope to someday incorporate. I plan on running conduit up there as a first step, then later work on sound isolation and acoustics upstairs. I'd need to use video to get visibility. This might be a few years down the line, depending on how much the downstairs costs, but I'm trying to plan ahead for it now. With the upstairs, this place will be sweet (about 1000 sq. ft.)!!! I've started to rethink of the main space as the control room, even though I intend to do much of my recording in that room. I'll plan on building some hefty gobos and such to reconfigure the acoustics as needed. I've also had the idea that I could optionally use the isolation room as a control room during recordings by either setting up some kind of external monitor/keyboard, by using remote desktop over gigabit ethernet, or even by building my whole studio desk on wheels which could be wheeled from room to room (not sure how the wiring would work for that). Mixing could later be done in the main room. That way, I could also control things from wherever I am, if I'm playing. Anyone done anything like this, where the control location moves throughout a studio in one form or another? I don't have a lot (some, but not a lot) of studio experience, so I'm not sure that this workflow makes sense, but it seems like I'm trying to design in flexibility, so hopefully whatever the final product, I'll be able to work with. I don't know all the ways the studio will be used. I've decided I'm going to leave the post in the middle of the room. I don't like it, but I think I'd rather spend the money I would have spent on major structural engineering on HVAC, mics, etc. A friend suggested it might be a good thing to hang gobos off of, route a snake down, etc. I've attached a reworked layout. Any comments/refinements on this layout? I'm considering doing the double sliding door thing as I've seen in many designs on this forum in between the main room and the isolation room. Anyone have real life experience with building these? What kind of isolation performance could I expect? Thanks again! Ben

i'll continue to be brief - very nice design. i think it will work nicely for both purposes and my only concern is the pole location but if you dampen that so its not reflective you should be fine. then when you get to build your live room upstairs, you'll be all set :-) as far as adjustments - i'd make the front corner and back wall a bit deeper and add more trapping. over the mix console i'd add a false ceiling to about mid-room with trapping, and clouds over the live space. i'd use slats and diffusion all round to keep the room as alive as possible and then add treatments to get it balanced for purpose.

I got sidetracked for several months by my son being born. I'm now ramping up to begin construction. I've sat with this design a while now, and it feels right. In the diagram Glenn posted it shows in the top left corner a slat resonator. Does that mean I should build the walls square, then add that angled slat resonator after the walls are complete? Or should the walls have that angled shape? Does this apply to the back of the studio (left side of diagram) as well? Should I angle the walls, or build flat and do more drastic acoustic treatment?

i would build flat and add angles via slats, absorbers, etc.