I'm currently planning to build a studio in my sisters garage, consisting of only one small soundproofed room (just big enough for a drum kit if possible), and my computer plus whatever equipment ill need which will all sit outside the glass window.
I have zero knowledge about any attributes of home recording and basically need advice on how to set it up - especially in the actual physical construction of the recording room. It's a garage on a concrete slab, with a crappy corrugated alluminium roof and space is very limited because im also planning on living in the remaining garage once it's completed. I just need basic info on HOW to build the walls/window/doors etc, and exactly what size the room must be for the drums not to suffer any ill effects from it's smallness.
Any links to relevent information anyone could give me, or any actual advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Newbie : Building a recording room, I need help
Moderators: Aaronw, kendale, John Sayers
-
TerrorFiend
- Posts: 52
- Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2004 2:32 am
- Location: Sydney, Australia
- Contact:
-
John Sayers
- Site Admin
- Posts: 5462
- Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2003 12:46 pm
- Location: Australia
- Contact:
Mate - I'd soundproof the whole garage and live and play and record in one big room.
Go here and read up on construction and acoustics.
http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html
cheers
john
Go here and read up on construction and acoustics.
http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html
cheers
john
-
TerrorFiend
- Posts: 52
- Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2004 2:32 am
- Location: Sydney, Australia
- Contact:
You reckon that would work?
Its got 2 windows (which i need for light) and I'm going to have to literally build 2 walls - one to replace the double garage door thats coming out, and one to partition off my brother-in-laws workshp (don't worry, he rarely uses it). Just regular wooden frames with veneered plywood on the inside, fibro on the outside and insulation in the middle.
The rest of the garage is brick, but I think it'd be very difficult to soundproof those two custom walls and 2 windows, not to mention a corrugated alluminium roof.
What sort of a sound would you get for drums in, say, a 5m by 5m garage with limited sound-proofing? I've been told that (discounting outside noise) the actual soundproofing of the room plays a big part in what sort of sound you would actually achieve - for all instruments but especially for those troublesome drums.
Also, can you do the mixing using good quality headphones as opposed to $4000 monitors? and what software would you think would be best? (Saw Studio has been recommended to me, but there's also the option of a cheap version of cubase or pro-tools)
thanks
Its got 2 windows (which i need for light) and I'm going to have to literally build 2 walls - one to replace the double garage door thats coming out, and one to partition off my brother-in-laws workshp (don't worry, he rarely uses it). Just regular wooden frames with veneered plywood on the inside, fibro on the outside and insulation in the middle.
The rest of the garage is brick, but I think it'd be very difficult to soundproof those two custom walls and 2 windows, not to mention a corrugated alluminium roof.
What sort of a sound would you get for drums in, say, a 5m by 5m garage with limited sound-proofing? I've been told that (discounting outside noise) the actual soundproofing of the room plays a big part in what sort of sound you would actually achieve - for all instruments but especially for those troublesome drums.
Also, can you do the mixing using good quality headphones as opposed to $4000 monitors? and what software would you think would be best? (Saw Studio has been recommended to me, but there's also the option of a cheap version of cubase or pro-tools)
thanks
-
dymaxian
- Senior Member
- Posts: 357
- Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2003 7:21 am
- Location: Madison, Wisconsin
I agree with John. Do it all in one room. Less walls to build, more floor space for sound to move around in.
Building walls to separate your space from your brother's workshop won't be hard. If you want the workshop to be silent while you're pounding the crap out of your drums, it'll take a little effort, but nothing too shocking. I'd think you'd want to have good separation there, in case he fires up some power tools while you're tracking.
BTW if you have any influence over the electricity, get yourself a different circuit than the workshop, or you'll hear it thru your gear every time he turns something on. That's a separate issue.
If you don't have control over the electricity, then IMO you'll need to work out a schedule where you're not recording when he's working in there, and vice versa. And in this case, it really wouldn't matter too much how thick the walls are between the studio and the workshop- you'll just need to keep sound from getting to the rest of the house.
Soundproofing affects the sound of your room greatly, but I think you're confusing sound isolation with acoustic treatment. Your sound isolation (soundproofing) will keep your sounds in the studio, and everyone else's sound out- at least in theory. Acoustic treatment will affect the sound that stays in the studio. Having solid sound isolation means that you will have more sound "stuck" in the studio, bouncing around the walls, floor, and ceiling, and you'll have to deal with it somehow or your room will sound muddy. This is where acoustic treatment comes in.
Unfortunately, there aren't many materials that are good at both. The trick is to integrate the two.
And we go into this in great detail elsewhere, so I won't type it all up. There's a sticky post in the Construction forum called Complete Section; if you haven't read it, go do so. Let us know if you have more ?s.
Good luck!
Kase
www.minemusic.net
Building walls to separate your space from your brother's workshop won't be hard. If you want the workshop to be silent while you're pounding the crap out of your drums, it'll take a little effort, but nothing too shocking. I'd think you'd want to have good separation there, in case he fires up some power tools while you're tracking.
BTW if you have any influence over the electricity, get yourself a different circuit than the workshop, or you'll hear it thru your gear every time he turns something on. That's a separate issue.
If you don't have control over the electricity, then IMO you'll need to work out a schedule where you're not recording when he's working in there, and vice versa. And in this case, it really wouldn't matter too much how thick the walls are between the studio and the workshop- you'll just need to keep sound from getting to the rest of the house.
Soundproofing affects the sound of your room greatly, but I think you're confusing sound isolation with acoustic treatment. Your sound isolation (soundproofing) will keep your sounds in the studio, and everyone else's sound out- at least in theory. Acoustic treatment will affect the sound that stays in the studio. Having solid sound isolation means that you will have more sound "stuck" in the studio, bouncing around the walls, floor, and ceiling, and you'll have to deal with it somehow or your room will sound muddy. This is where acoustic treatment comes in.
Unfortunately, there aren't many materials that are good at both. The trick is to integrate the two.
And we go into this in great detail elsewhere, so I won't type it all up. There's a sticky post in the Construction forum called Complete Section; if you haven't read it, go do so. Let us know if you have more ?s.
Good luck!
Kase
www.minemusic.net