Garage Control Room/Booth Design for CHEAP!

Stick · Post by **Stick** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 3:50 am

Hi Guys,
So, here's my first crack at this... It's going in my garage, 8 feet of vertical space, so no floating floor, and this is all about low budget. I need this to cost as little as possible, in construction difficulty/time and materials (I'll be hiring this out... so the faster and easier to build the better). So, that's why I'm thinking of leaving off the soffit mounting for now at least.

My current plan (again first attempt here) is to build on the current wall of the garage- top and right side of the drawing- (the outside is stucco) since I'm not going to be doing live drums. I'm mainly trying to keep my mix level (80-95 SPL) volumes away from the neighbors, and keeping the neighborhood noise as much out of the booth as I can. As I understand it, without going to a double wall, I should fill the studs with insulation of some sort, then a layer of drywall, a layer of vinyl whatever that stuff is, then another layer of drywall, but a different thickness than the first.

Here are my main questions for now:

1. Do bass traps (like the space next to the equipment closet) need to be symetrical? What should that wall of the bass trap be built like (drywall on studs? fabric over pegboard? 703 (is that the stiff stuff?))

2. The front/back walls and the floor/ceiling are parallel at the moment... how might I address this in construction? Remember... CHEAP! I'm also planning to address the majority of the acoustic treatment after the building phase, but if there are big wall sized pieces that should be built with the walls, or if it's cheaper to just build in some angles in the back wall... that's what I need to know.

3. I'm planning to run one of the ducts from the AC into the top of the equipment closet... where should I vent it out to? Into that bass trap? I'm sure I don't want a hole out into the garage... that would kill the sound seal, but I don't want to hear my noisy CPUs.

4. Where do I put the wiring into the iso room, or over to the equipment room? It's the current cement slab in the garage, and I don't want to mess with that.

5. And what about power? I assume you don't really want to cut holes in the nice sound walls for sockets...

Hmmm, I'm realizing this might be better off in the Construction forum... feel free to move me once we get the design elements under control.

Well, that's all I can think of now... I'm sure there'll be more.

Thanks for the input.
Brian Steckler

Post by **John Sayers** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 7:40 am

Your design elements are fine. cool setup - you'll enjoy it. Run the aircon into the equip room but you'll have to put air access into the door - it's a good idea as it cools the puter but more importantly it creates a posative air pressure in the equip room thus stopping dust etc. getting into the gear.

your outer stucco wall is fine - I'd run RC on the inner wall before the first layer of drywall, seal, then add the thinner second layer, seal again.

The bass trap you refer to should be a slot resonator wall. You really need to go and brouse around the construction site.

http://johnlsayers.com/Studio/index.htm

cheers
john

Stick · Post by **Stick** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 1:56 pm

Thanks John,
Yeah, I've read most this site, but as with all new things, it takes me a few trips through to grasp it all... I'll go back and find all the slot resonator stuff.

What does that air access in the door look like for my equipment room? I don't really want to hear all the noise in that room, so a hole in the door sounds like a bad idea. Maybe it's something like the back of the Iso rack things, where the air has to go around a corner or two, eh?

So, the RC goes on the studs? Then the drywall. Is the vinyl stuff that Brian Giles likes (TP-4 GAF Tri-Ply rubber roofing roll) in between the drywall layers needed, or will the two layers of drywall be enough?

Thanks a bunch... I'll shift to the Construction forum and pick those guys' brain.

Brian

Post by **John Sayers** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 6:51 pm

If you can't put an air vent in the door then don't put your aircon in via that room otherwise you it won't work.

I'm not familiar with Bryan's vinyl sheeting.

cheers
john

Stick · Post by **Stick** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 10:42 pm

John (or anyone),
Should I be thinking about putting a bass trap in the iso room? Maybe I should square up the wall with the door, and angle in the wall opposite that with a big slot resonator or something? And should the ceiling be covered with something to absorb (the floor will be wood or laminate), or another slot resonator at an angle?

I don't have any idea how live that room is going to be (actually, that's true of the control room too!). I don't really want it to be too live... I'd rather control my ambience later.

Sorry, I've read this site a lot, and controling the acoustics is still very fuzzy to me (fuzzy... is 703 fuzzy?)... I du muzic...

Thanks for the help,
brian