I am in the late planning stages of my first REAL build. I have one half of my large 2 car garage (set behind the house) available to me. The inside measurements of that side currently before my inner walls are 14' x 25'6" x 8'4" After nearly a year of serious research here and GS forums, as well as Rod's book, I believe I have most of this project figured out, including my HVAC, electrical, the additional braces my roof will need, roof venting, approximate room layout and construction technique. I could not however find a clear answer to last major question i need to finalize a print.
I have decided to go with a single large multi-purpose room. I am a big proponent of tracking when possible or reamping/DI on instruments so iso booths don't seem necessary and I would rather have a bigger room instead of separate live and CR.
This space will be primarily for mixing and tracking (in that order of importance). I work with everything from some modern country to pop to classic rock to ska/punk. So there will be some volume created here but neighbors are 100' away and very accepting due to my self-imposed "No live drums after 9" policy. Isolation is basically to allow me to mix at around 75-80db at night and keep the quiet neighborhood sounds out of my mics when tracking. With my garage the way I found it when I moved it I get readings of about 30-40db when traffic goes by and about 50 when my neighbor mows his lawn. And its easy enough to not record for that 45 min a week.
The first sketch up drawing is basically my garage as it stands. The foundation under the walls was poured separately from the car bays slightly decoupling my floor. Its at least 14" of solid concrete so other than a nice epoxy paint job... my floors are done. There are 2 normal lifting style panel garage doors, but studs will be bolted to the inside of the door on the studio side and plywood toe nailed in between these new studs and then 5/8 drywall glued/screwed to the plywood also between the studs. That will be tied in on either side to the existing walls essentially making the garage door a rigid part of the outer structure and obviously not opening so that the rails can be marked and removed for re-installing if we were to sell the house (not likely in the next 10-12 years). This will essentially cost me 8" of overall length, but I was given the condition of leaving the garage doors. (You can fight city hall, not your wife
)The sheeting you see is currently plywood and 5/8 drywall will be cut to fit between the studs of the existing walls. A free-standing room-in-room design will be built inside with double drywall in the inside of those studs and standard pink fluffy insulation between the 2 assemblies. The window at the back of the room will be removed, framed over, and treated as solid wall. My monitors will be placed on this end of the room, opposite the existing garage door, projecting the long way in the room.
The other side of the garage will basically remain untouched as I still need somewhere to park one vehicle and that back storage area for other standard "garage-type things". I realize that there may be some of a 3-leaf effect happening with the other side of the garage, but I am a little unclear as to what constitutes a leaf if it is still all part of the exterior structure. Worst case I'll open the non-studio garage door when I'm in the studio essentially eliminating that leaf. If someone could clear that up for me that would be nice, but it really won't change my plans to drastically.
My real dilemma lies in the design and shape of my inner ceiling. The roof over the studio and the center wall of the garage have already been built up to take the additional weight hanging between the roof joists and so I can safely remove the ties from the center to the outer wall. I can now utilize all of the space up to just below the existing roof, obviously minus the height required by the inner ceiling's joists. I know I don't want a flat 7.5' ceiling over the entire studio so I have 3 possible ideas on the issue.
Questions:
Option A: Should I keep the ceiling symmetrical and match the roof pitch from the center wall to make a peaked center ceiling? This would give me approx 8' at the edges and 10.5-11' in the center. I would definitely hang treatment in the peak even though it will be greater than an right angle.
Option B: Should I just match the existing roof all the way to the center wall? This would definitely break stereo symmetry above the listening position, but isn't that good for recording as well as that it would really give me a lot of additional volume with one wall at 8' high and the other at 13-14'.
Option C: Should I use a combination of the 2? What about ceiling type A for the first 1/3 or 1/2 or some fraction of the ceiling over the mix position for stereo imaging and ceiling type B at the back of the room where drums and amps will be tracked for the additional volume and asymmetry?
I would also like some advice on what type of treatment should be used in the higher ceiling, if option B is recommended for any part of the room.
The second sketch up drawing (forgive the sloppiness) is option C but illustrates both designs. You can also see how I was hoping to be able to use some of the additional volume for treatment as well.
Thanks in advance for taking the time to respond to this.
There is so much knowledge here in this community and I am grateful for whatever insight you can give.
Jacob
You can see a sketch of it in the other image here.
Some of those guys are worse than conspiracy theorists in their extreme babbling insanity. I've tried to explain to them a few times in a few places how electricity works, but there's just no getting through. They really are convinced that there's some ethereal property to their wizardly wiring that cannot be measured in any electrical way... even though the entire purpose of those wires is to convey electrical signals.
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