John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

First post here...I've been reading through lots of great info on the forum and I was hoping I could get some advice about what's possible for my space.

We recently purchased a place in the country, and I have a detached 3-car garage with an additional 24 ft. x 24 ft. open room that used to be a marijuana growing operation - which is legal in Colorado, believe it or not!

I finished out the open room a while back (drywall, paint, carpet, etc) and did some basic acoustic treatment (corner bass traps, absorption panels and a small ceiling cloud over my desk). I need some ideas to take it to the next level and build out the space to possibly include the following:

-Control room
-Small vocal booth
-Small amp room
-A "live" room big enough to record drums
-Storage for mics, stands, cables, etc.

This is just a small personal studio (roughly 570 sq. feet), for my own recording projects. I don't have any close neighbors to worry about, and it's quiet out here so the only isolation needed would be between the control room and the other sections of the studio. Two things that factor in: the ceilings are low (7' 6") and there is a 4"x5" load-bearing post in the exact center of the room.

Here's a basic diagram of what I have to work with: I found this design for a small square space elsewhere on the forums, and I think it would work with a few adjustments...the only problem is what do I do about the post in the center of my room? I could also close in the connected garage bay (11' x 24') along the North wall to add extra space (including a 11' 6" vaulted ceiling), but would prefer to avoid this to keep expenses to a minimum. My budget is only around $2,500 USD, but I have the skills to do most of the labor myself and friends who could help with the rest.

I'm new to studio design, but I really want to learn how to do this right. Any recommendations and advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hi there "fndrbndr", and Welcome to the forum!

That's probably the oddest thread title that we've ever had here on the forum!!! I recall people building in some strange places, but I think a drug-growing operation is a first...

I finished out the open room a while back (drywall, paint, carpet, etc)

What was there before you did that? Unfortunately, the drywall and carpet might have been mistakes. The carpet almost definitely is a mistake, and that will probably need to go.

and did some basic acoustic treatment (corner bass traps, absorption panels and a small ceiling cloud over my desk).

Photos! It would really help if you post a couple of photos of how the place looks right now, so we can get a better feel for it.

I need some ideas to take it to the next level and build out the space to possibly include the following:

-Control room
-Small vocal booth
-Small amp room
-A "live" room big enough to record drums
-Storage for mics, stands, cables, etc.

Summary: You have about 580 square feet of floor space available, and you want to fit in a full four-room studio plus storage. That is possible, but it would be tight. I have done studios like that in tighter spaces, but I'd suggest that you might want to re-think your plan. Do you REALLY need each of those rooms? Can you get rid of any of them?

Consider that for excellent acoustics your control room needs to be about 200 ft2, and the live room should have about 5 times the volume of the control room...

so the only isolation needed would be between the control room and the other sections of the studio.

So it never rains Colorado Springs? No thunder? Wind? Hail? No aircraft flying overhead? No roads? No dogs barking, or other animals? No noises from the house, such as TV, radio, vacuum cleaner, etc? No people talking? Phones ringing? Or any other of about a million and forty seven possible sounds that could trash your once-in-a-lifetime perfect recording? If you can honestly say that none of those sounds will ever occur while you are tracking, then I'd agree that isolation is not a priority. On the other hand, I suspect it might be...

Besides, you can't isolate one room in a studio from another room without also isolating both of them from the outside world. That's a physical impossibility.

You need to re-think your isolation plan.

Two things that factor in: the ceilings are low (7' 6") and there is a 4"x5" load-bearing post in the exact center of the room.

The post is likely not a problem; with careful design it should be feasible to work around that. But the low ceilings are a big problem. With only 7'6" to work with, I'd say the first thing you can do is forge the drum booth, as you won't be recording drums in there. At least, you won't be recording them acceptably. Your overhead mics would be almost right up against the ceiling, and therefore suffering from terrible comb-filtering, phase cancellation, and SBIR issues.

Is there any way to raise the ceiling?

My budget is only around $2,500 USD

Ummmm.... I think you skipped a zero off the end there! 2,500 for 580 square feet works out to four dollars and thirty one cents per square foot... You couldn't even buy enough drywall to make a single layer of ceiling with that. Or enough laminate flooring to complete all of the the floors in each of the rooms. Even the HVAC system would cost you twice that much. So I'm really assuming that you missed a zero off the end there, and you meant to write "My budget is only around $25,000 USD". Even that would be tight for an ambitious build like this.

I'm new to studio design, but I really want to learn how to do this right. Any recommendations and advice would be greatly appreciated!

I'd suggest two books: "Master Handbook of Acoustics" by F. Alton Everest (that's sort of the Bible for acoustics), and "Home Recording Studio: Build it Like the Pros", by Rod Gervais. Those two will give you the basics you need to know to successfully design and build a studio.

- Stuart -