A Few Questions About My Garage Studio

Tukkis

Tukkis

New member
I'm currently in the process of building a studio in one half of our garage. It's about 18ft x 11.5ft x 7.8ft.

I've built a double wall with an air gap in between with insulation in the stud wall. This is on two of the sides. On the third wall it's brick and forth it's a sliding door which my dad and mum said we had to put in for resale value. I'll make some panels to put over the sliding door.

We've put furring channels on the ceiling with rubber pads to stop the plasterboard vibrating to upstairs. We've also put insulation in the ceiling.

I put a solid core door with a rubber seal around it and rubber at the bottom.

We are also going to make a drum platform.
Should I make it a wooden floor or carpet? That also goes for the rest of the room, should I put floorboards or carpet?

For acoustic treatment on the walls and ceilings I was thinking about putting some panels filled with fiberboard around.

Because the room is small, should I cover all the walls with these panels and make it as dead as possible or should I just cover some of the room? Should the panels be floor to ceiling?

For lights, we are putting downlights. If I put some of the acoustic panels on the ceiling how do you suggest we fit in the downlights?

Is it worth the effort to put panels on the ceiling above the drums, vocal booth and above the control area? Or won't it make a difference?

Finally just asking again should I completely cover the room with deaden materials and make it as dead as possible or should I only place a few around the room? If it's only a few where should I position it?

Sorry for the long post but I would rather make sure I'm doing it right before I build.

Thanks alot
Tukkis
 
Tukkis,

> We are also going to make a drum platform. Should I make it a wooden floor or carpet? <

If you look at pictures in the magazines of big studios, the floors are always hard (wood). So there's your answer.

> For acoustic treatment on the walls and ceilings I was thinking about putting some panels filled with fiberboard around. <

Rigid fiberglass is good, but it's even better if you space it away from the walls a few inches. Do not cover every surface with fiberglass or any other absorbent material, as that will make the room too dead. Best is a mix of hard and soft surfaces, with no one large area all hard or all soft.

I'm now hard at work on a FAQ that explains all of this, and much more. Stop by my Acoustics forum at www.recording.org in the next week or so and it will be posted there.

--Ethan
 
My desk and speakers have a 2.5 ft window behind them. Should I put absorbers covering the window? if so what type?

Or should I put wooden blinds which have horizontal slats. Would this act as a diffusor?

Thanks alot
Tukkis:D
 
Another thing, I want to make a corner of the room for vocals. Should I put those fiberboard absorbers on the walls around there or do I only need to put blankets?

Thanks again
Tukkis
 
Tukkis,

> Should I put absorbers covering the window? if so what type? Or should I put wooden blinds which have horizontal slats. Would this act as a diffusor? <

It depends on which you need more - absorption or diffusion. Is the room too live or too dead? As I already said, the best absorber material for mid and high frequencies is rigid fiberglass. Absorption is mostly used to tame echoes and reverb in the room, and it's more commonly used on walls that are nearby and parallel.

> I want to make a corner of the room for vocals. Should I put those fiberboard absorbers on the walls around there or do I only need to put blankets? <

Blankets will probably work okay for vocal frequencies if they're thick and heavy.

--Ethan
 
Ok so what about if I put those wooden blinds behind the speakers where the window is as they will act as a diffusor. Then I put some abosorbing panels on the rear wall behind the mixing position. Also a couple on the side.

Would this be ok?

Tukkis
 
Tukkis,

> what about if I put those wooden blinds behind the speakers where the window is as they will act as a diffusor. <

Without actually being there to see what you have I can't say. But I can tell you that a far bigger problem than whether or not to put blinds over the window is the low frequency issues you will surely have.

--Ethan
 
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