John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hello,

Thank you for this amazing forum! I know very little now, but thanks to this great forum and several of the resources recommended therein, I know a heck of a lot more than I did when I started my research.

I'm moving from a house to a duplex here in San Diego, California. I currently use two adjacent bedrooms of the house I live in now for my studio - one as a control room and one as a tracking room. I'd like to build a studio in the garage of the new duplex using a variation of The Garage Studio 2 plan provided in the recording manual. I am currently in the research phase, and I would really appreciate some guidance on a few basic issues.

Obviously since it is a duplex, my primary objective is to create a space where I can track and mix without disturbing the tenants of the other side of the duplex. But the houses are also very close together on this street - approximately 12'-15' apart - so I am also concerned about disturbing the nearest neighbor on our side (who works from home, as luck would have it :-/).

I primarily record acoustic/indie style music, so a lot of acoustic & electric guitar, bass, percussion, vocals - and occasionally live drums. (You can hear a few examples at http://fantinomusic.com) I would like to be able to record live drums in the new studio, but I'm realizing that may not be realistic given the situation, which I'll describe in detail below. The duplex is undergoing renovation now, so I haven't been able to get in to take measurements, but I would anticipate the loudest levels to be recorded at around 110db for live drums. This would be rare and most other instruments would be at lower levels.

I would like the control room to be as accurate as possible for mixing and mastering.

The usable portion of the garage at the new place measures 23' 10" long x 19' 10" wide (very close approximations), with a ceiling height of 8'. The wall closest to the house is painted cement block, the two side walls are studs + drywall and I haven't been able to confirm whether they have insulation yet. The front wall is the garage door.

The ceiling is drywall and there are two 6" x 6" beams that lower the usable height to 7' 6" where they are present. They are spaced 11' apart. These beams and the overall low ceiling height are presenting the biggest challenge for me right now as I try to come up with a workable design.

My plan is to build a wall in front of the closed garage door and build a room within a room (provided permits allow this). At this stage I am trying to decide whether to build in between the two beams to gain the extra 6" of height or to build something under 7' 6" so I am not constrained to such a small area.

After framing and 2-3 layers of drywall, the 11' wide area between the beams won't leave much room. On the other hand, having to build within a 7' 6" height limit would be challenging too.

What would you recommend? Is an extra 6" of height worth sacrificing space? Is there any practical way to build around those two beams? (I'm familiar with the idea of building in between the existing floor joists, but here the joists are not exposed - there are just two big beams sticking out of the ceiling.

A sketchup is attached. The positioning of the closet door and stairs is approximate, as is the location of the beams, but the distance between the beams is accurate as are the relative dimensions of the usable area of the garage.

On a side note, I had hoped to purchase a Daikin Ururu Sarara or two to take care of A/C and ventilation and avoid building a separate ventilation system, but they are not sold here in the U.S. Do you know of any other brands that ventilate? I've contacted several A/C contractors and they are pretty clueless.

One additional question I had was this - since the garage is my outer leaf I'd planned to drywall only the inside of the studio to create the second leaf. But what should I do with the outside of the new walls? I understand they could remain exposed when the new walls are only a few inches from the existing walls, but in my case at least one of the walls will be exposed far from the existing walls.

Please let me know if more information is required. Thank you very much in advance for any help you can offer!

Bump?

Have I done something wrong to cause my post to be ignored?

Hi there "vmazz77", and WELCOME!

I'm really sorry about the lack of response, and no, you didn't do anything wrong at all! You are not being ignored: it's just that there don't seem to be any other moderators or members answering questions lately, and I have a whole bunch of threads lined up to answer: for some reason, your thread slipped by, and I didn't notice it.

I really wish other forum members would join in to help answer questions: especially those who have already completed their studios, and got a lot of help here to do it: it would be nice to return the favor, and help out others! I hope a few of them see this message, and decide to "give back some of what they got for free"....

Anyway, on to your thread:

My plan is to build a wall in front of the closed garage door and build a room within a room

That's a good plan, but also seal up that door completely in place, and remove the opening mechanism, tracks, etc. They take up a lot of usable space.

provided permits allow this

That should be your first order of business: pay a visit to the local municipal offices, and find out what you can and cannot do in there, legally. If they don't get what a "recording studio" entails, tell them that it is basically the same as a music room or a home theater: a big room that you want to isolate acoustically, so you don't disturb the neighbors.

At this stage I am trying to decide whether to build in between the two beams to gain the extra 6" of height or to build something under 7' 6" so I am not constrained to such a small area.

How about just soffiting around them? Make that part of the room. If you design carefully, you can use them to your advantage.

What would you recommend? Is an extra 6" of height worth sacrificing space?

Try to keep your inner-leaf ceiling as high as possible. So yes, 6" is worthwhile going to some extra trouble, in my opinion.

I'm familiar with the idea of building in between the existing floor joists, but here the joists are not exposed - there are just two big beams sticking out of the ceiling.

Depending on how much isolation you need, and how far you are prepared to go to get it, you might need to take off that drywall on the ceiling anyway...

On a side note, I had hoped to purchase a Daikin Ururu Sarara or two to take care of A/C and ventilation and avoid building a separate ventilation system, but they are not sold here in the U.S. Do you know of any other brands that ventilate?

Those units only provide a limited amount of ventilation, and frankly it's better to go with proper ducting for that, then just use a more simple mini-split system. The ducting doesn't have to be complex: just some duct, a couple o silencer boxes, and a fan.

One additional question I had was this - since the garage is my outer leaf I'd planned to drywall only the inside of the studio to create the second leaf.

Right, but it is already two-leaf in some places, so if you need very high levels of isolation at low frequencies, then you'll need to do something about that. You said: "the two side walls are studs + drywall ", so that drywall might have to come off, leaving only the sheathing on the other side. What is that?

But what should I do with the outside of the new walls? I understand they could remain exposed when the new walls are only a few inches from the existing walls, but in my case at least one of the walls will be exposed far from the existing walls.

Even better! The amount of isolation you get from a 2-leaf wall depends mostly on two factors: how much mass you put on each leaf (in other words, how heavy it is per square foot of wall area), and how large the distance is between the two leaves. More mass = more isolation. More distance = more isolation.

So just put up your stud framing for those new walls and the new ceiling, then put drywall on only ONE side of that framing. You might need to put up two or more layers, but all of the layers go on the same side of the studs, on top of each other. The other side of the studs has nothing. Just insulation in the stud bays.

- Stuart -

Thanks so much for your response, Stuart! You've helped me get past my initial design conundrums - so now I'll take some time to draft an initial design and then post it here for feedback. After I suss out the permit situation, that is.

Really appreciate what you are doing here!

What I read I really liked it. Thank you for your information!

What I read I really liked it. Thank you for your information!