Garage Studio plans

ipoo2

New member
Hey,

Long time lurker, first time poster :)

I am looking to turn my freestanding brick built garage into a place to practice drums and guitar. I have done lots of reading and would like to do this on a budget, but so the sound is dampened (I realise it won't be soundproof!)

Please see my rough sketch of what I would like to achieve

The black outline is the exterior brick wall.
The black 'squares' are brick supports.
The blue is air/space, approximately 5 inches.
The gray is a stud wall, with a dry wall for the interior. In between this I am thinking of foam insulation.
The brown is a double door system
The red is the garage door

Garage Studio.jpg

Would this be enough to dampen the exterior noise? Should I look to rockwall instead of foam insulation. Are there other products budget products that are better, or do I just need to get acoustic material to fill the stud wall?
Are the brick supports, where there is no 'air' between the stud wall and exterior wall a significant weak point? Could I bring the stud wall closer to the wall to get some more space?
Is the garage door a significant week point? If so, how best to address this without bricking up?

Any other comments greatly appreciated!
 
Double walls with rockwool and an airspace between them is what I've seen on the web (with test measurements to back up). It would mean tearing out the existing wall and losing some interior space, but if you want more isolation, short of filling the gap with sand, that's what I'd do. There's no "budget" way to build sound isolation AFAIK.

It does depend to a large degree on how much sound you're trying to keep out. If you're next to a trolley line or airport, it's one thing (ceiling/attic/roof next!), and you won't prevent LF stuff from coming up through the floor, but if it's not a commercial business, it's not a big deal if you just go have a smoke when the garbage truck rolls by once in a while.
 
Thanks Keith

I am looking at doing a similar thing to the roof.

In terms of the amount of sound I want to keep out. The drums will be the problem. I have neighbours and want to keep them happy! Slight noise is fine. If it sounds like they are out open in the garden, thats not good!

What about the garage door (the red line) would this be a weakness?
 
...
In terms of the amount of sound I want to keep out. The drums will be the problem. I have neighbours and want to keep them happy! Slight noise is fine. If it sounds like they are out open in the garden, thats not good!

What about the garage door (the red line) would this be a weakness?
Ok, you want to keep sound *in* more than out - not that different of a problem, but it depends on what you mean. If you're going to plan to use this place in the middle of the night, you might as well remove the garage door and brick and double-wall that, too. (A friend did that but he was building a real studio in his garage, with no expectation to use it ever again as a garage.)

Someone else had a similar problem with the garage door, which they needed to keep working. Not sure how they solved that. It depends on if it's going to be semi-permanent or the door needs to always be usable. The garage doors they put in around here wouldn't remove more than a couple dB of sound.

And, once you start sealing a place up, you have to start thinking about ventilation and cooling, so you really need to plan for that from the start.
 
Yeah, sound in, its a practice space (rather than any recording).

I would prefer to have the option of using the garage door in the future, but would look to seal it for this purpose. I might double the stud wall this end as it is a weak spot.

I am looking to add to ventilation fans along one of the longer walls. One might be enough.
 
Somme people do use rockwool between studs (behind the drywall), others use standard fiberglass (fluffy stuff). I would think the heavier stuff is better. A double stud wall (stagger the studs) built right up to the front door will be the best solution to keep the door as is.
Also consider that you are going to have all sheetrock walls inside - you need to absorb some of that inside sound or its going to sound loud and badly reverby.
 
If you are putting in a new wall and especially a double wall I would consider just keeping some of the rock wool not covered with dry wall.
 
If you are putting in a new wall and especially a double wall I would consider just keeping some of the rock wool not covered with dry wall.

Thats a great idea. Could I cover it with a thin wood layer (e.g. mdf or plywood) to make it look nicer, or would this have the same effect as drywall?
 
Thats a great idea. Could I cover it with a thin wood layer (e.g. mdf or plywood) to make it look nicer, or would this have the same effect as drywall?
Anything solid would basically be the same as drywall. You could just staple some fabric over the front and back sides of say every third or fourth 16" gap (if using Roxul's Safe'n'Sound, for instance - designed to fit between 16" studs). Or build fabric-covered frames for those spaces so you could make it look more finished. Or build/buy a lattice of wood or some other material, though you'd want fabric behind that, too. It could be interesting.

The open spaces wouldn't even have to be floor-to-ceiling but should be made so the sound can get through so it really gets trapped in the space between the outer wall (solidly covered with rock wool).

Add some deep bass traps in the corners and do the same thing with the ceiling (less so, but some I'd think) and it would be well treated.

I'd think this might help provide some way for air to move a little through the space - a single fan at one end is not going to do a lot of good if it can't pull air quietly from other entry spaces. Seal it too tight and you'll hear some whistling.

Full disclosure - I've never done anything like this, so just tossing stuff out there. But, you will need a lot of treatment and mass for soundproofing, and if that leaves nothing but hard surfaces everywhere, you'll need more treatment. Seems like there's got to be a way to use some of the soundproofing material/construction to help with treatment. Admittedly, removing some drywall/mass will diminish the soundproofing effectiveness, so you might find you have to cover those gaps in the end anyway - depends on how "proof" you really need.
 
Thanks all, lots of food for thought, but can get to some serious planning now.... will post some pictures.

As for the gap, I am thinking of a canvas picture to fill the space instead of drywall :)
 
Thanks all, lots of food for thought, but can get to some serious planning now.... will post some pictures.

As for the gap, I am thinking of a canvas picture to fill the space instead of drywall :)
If the picture is printed on fabric it should be Ok, but if you use a dense canvas (as for an oil painting) and thoroughly cover it with paint it's going to be more reflective than plain fabric, which is what most of us use on rockwool panels.

The rule of thumb test is whether you can breathe through the fabric. If not, it's not what you want.
 
If you want to reduce the sound from inside to outside or vice-versa, particle board on the inside then do a layer of drywall over it. The gap in between fill with fibreglass as dense as you can afford. The carry out the sound treatment fixed to the drywall. When fixing the particle board to the outside wall use isolating fixings. This kind of thing. Do the same with the ceiling.

Alan.
 
witzendoz;4509648 The carry out the sound treatment fixed to the drywall. [/QUOTE said:
What sound treatment do you think I would need?

p.s. loved looking through the pictures of your studio, really nice setup!
 
You can get this stuff...https://www.locksonline.com/Decorat...MIzZzhu9Lb4AIVxrTtCh2SOA5DEAQYASABEgLt2_D_BwE
To cover part of the rockwool, comes in various patterns and you could glue a thin fabric on the back to hide the wool further.

Also, don't forget to put in lots of 1.1/4" PVC wastepipes to carry audio and data tie lines. Or/and, my fave technique I have seen? Drop mic lines in from the ceiling to about 7feet, keeps cables off the floor.

Dave.

---------- Update ----------

You can get this stuff...https://www.locksonline.com/Decorat...MIzZzhu9Lb4AIVxrTtCh2SOA5DEAQYASABEgLt2_D_BwE
To cover part of the rockwool, comes in various patterns and you could glue a thin fabric on the back to hide the wool further.

Also, don't forget to put in lots of 1.1/4" PVC wastepipes to carry audio and data tie lines. Or/and, my fave technique I have seen? Drop mic lines in from the ceiling to about 7feet, keeps cables off the floor.

Dave.
 
What sound treatment do you think I would need?

p.s. loved looking through the pictures of your studio, really nice setup!

You almost always need some bass traps in corners, I am a fan fo having a broadband absorber on the side walls, which is basically a thicker version of a normal 2" thick acoustic panel in the fact it may be 4" thick or 6" thick. I would start with the bass traps and broadband absorbers and then see what the room sounds like. The good thing I like about broadband absorbers is that they also absorb highs thus doing 2 jobs at once.

Alan.
 
You almost always need some bass traps in corners, I am a fan fo having a broadband absorber on the side walls, which is basically a thicker version of a normal 2" thick acoustic panel in the fact it may be 4" thick or 6" thick. I would start with the bass traps and broadband absorbers and then see what the room sounds like. The good thing I like about broadband absorbers is that they also absorb highs thus doing 2 jobs at once.

Alan.

Nice. And I could do this in a room with 100% drywall (rather than leave a gap to the rockwall)?
 
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