John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Good Day and thanks for Reading

I am currently in the process of building my dream home with my wife. We have decided to take our 2 car garage and turn it into a music studio. I am well informed with the technical side of how a music studio works, and operates, but I am not really a hands on do it yourself "Construction" kinda guy. I have roughly around 470 sq. ft. to work with, and I would love some help with maybe design ideas, or even tips of what to stay away from etc etc. I plan to download the tool posted to design your own from scratch but even then I am not sure if i will get it right.

I am attaching a picture of the modeled garage and the dimensions of its size. I've also purchased gear, and a mini split a/c unit. Any tips, or helpful ideas are greatly appreciated, and any knowledge you have for me, i would gladly love to learn.

Thanks!

Hi there "jcaldwel0721". Please read the forum rules for posting (click here). You seem to be missing a couple of things!

I am well informed with the technical side of how a music studio works, and operates, but I am not really a hands on do it yourself "Construction" kinda guy.

That's great, but what about your knowledge of small room acoustic design? It's one thing to understand how a studio runs, and how to wire all the gear together, but it is quite another thing to know how to design a control room so that it provides the correct neutral acoustics that meet ITU, EBU, AES and other similar international standards for control rooms.

I have roughly around 470 sq. ft. to work with, and I would love some help with maybe design ideas,

First, we'd need to know that you are wanting to do. I have designed studios where there are 4 compete rooms inside a 470 square foot space: control room, live room, drum booth and vocal booth. And I have also designed studios where the live room all by itself was more than 470 square feet. So it makes no sense for me to be giving you ideas when I don't even know what you want.

I've also purchased gear, and a mini split a/c unit.

That was probably a bit premature... how did you determine what type of mini-split ti buy, when you don't even know how the studio will be built? Hopefully the unit you bought will be usable, but it might not. It is normally better to wait until the complete studio is fully designed, in all details, before purchasing any materials or equipment for it.

Any tips, or helpful ideas are greatly appreciated, and any knowledge you have for me, i would gladly love to learn.

I'd suggest that you buy and read two books: "Master Handbook of Acoustics" by F. Alton Everest , and "Home Recording Studio: Build it Like the Pros", by Rod Gervais. The first one will give the basics about understanding how acoustics works, and the second one will give the basics regarding how to go about designing and building your studio.


- Stuart -

First of all:

Soundman,

Thanks for your reply. I am sorry I did not read the rules of posting. I was so deep in reading what people post, i did not even look to see if there was a rules page. For that I apologize.

I have zero knowledge in Room acoustics and I thank you for adding those books as reference points. I am also not very hands on when it comes to construction work.

As far as what I want to do in the space, my initial design was to have a 4 room design. Control room, ISO room/mic room, drum room, and a live area. (Maybe I confused my words, but when referring to the mini split, I meant that i had found a company who could put one in). My house is still in construction, and not yet full complete.


The dimensions of the room are 19' X 24' X 10' and i would like to keep the noise very minimal going out, and very minimal coming in. (If this makes sense)

Some questions I have are listed below:

Is 30,000 USD enough to budget a job like this?

Does my drawing, even though extremely rough, make any liable sense?

Is concrete flooring a suitable flooring, or should it be changed?

I'll be watching this thread because I am basically doing the exact same thing with a similar budget.

Except I've actually got to build the whole building rather than soundproof an exist one.
Luckily, I worked in construction for years both as a cabinetmaker/trim installer and as a professional painter for 7 years, so a lot of the finish work and framing I can do myself.

As far as what I want to do in the space, my initial design was to have a 4 room design. Control room, ISO room/mic room, drum room, and a live area.

OK, with 470 ft2 that is do-able. It will be a tight fit, yes,but it is possible. The next thing you need to determine is how much isolation ("soundproofing") you need for your studio. Isolation takes up a lot of space, and the more you need, the more space it takes up. Or it can take up less space, but the cost will then soar, as you would need more exotic, higher density construction materials. But either way, that all depends on the level of isolation that you need.

The best way to figure that out, is with a hand-held sound level meter, and a trip to your local municipality's web site, to find out what the legal limits are on how much noise you can make.

The dimensions of the room are 19' X 24' X 10' and i would like to keep the noise very minimal going out, and very minimal coming in. (If this makes sense)

That makes sense, yes, but you need to put real-world numbers on that, in terms of decibels. There are equations and tables and construction guides that you can use to determine what type of isolation walls and ceilings you will need, what materials to make them from, and how to build them, but all of those are based on the number of decibels of isolation that you are aiming for, and the frequencies that you need to isolate, so that should be your next priority: buy a good quality sound level meter (if you don't already have one) and use it to figure out those numbers.

Is 30,000 USD enough to budget a job like this?

It's a good start, but likely your final total will be somewhat higher than that, especially since you won't be doing the build yourself, and will need to hire a contractor. 30k for 470 ft2 works out to about US$ 64 per square foot, but it will probably run more like 80 to 100 per square foot, by the time you are completely done: To get a more realistic estimate of how much this will cost you, call around a few local contractors and ask for their "flat rate" per square foot for converting a garage into a home theater, music room, or even a "granny apartment", then add about 20% to that number. That will give you a ball-park idea of actual costs. (Don't tell them it is for a recording studio, as they likely wouldn't have a clue how to quote that anyway).

Does my drawing, even though extremely rough, make any liable sense?

You mentioned four rooms, but there's only three on your sketch: the Drum Booth is missing...

Is concrete flooring a suitable flooring, or should it be changed?

It's perfect! It's about the best possible studio floor you can get. If it is in good condition, you can leave it just like that, or maybe polish it or stain it. If it is cracked, pitted, flaky, marked with oils stains, or otherwise in poor condition, then you can put down laminate flooring, or maybe ceramic tiles as your final floor. But nothing that has an air gap under it.

Overall, I would suggest that you should probably hire a studio designer to design your place for you. Send John a PM (Private Message) to ask him to quote for designing your place. Getting him to do it will guarantee that you'll have an excellent studio, and it will probably save you time and money in the long run.


- Stuart -