Garage into Studio Conversion

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rjdinsmore

New member
Hey everyone,
I am planning on converting my garage into a studio. I would love some input on materials, techniques for making this a great space. Here is some info.
Budget- $1k
Dimensions- 19'10" (L) x 13'3" (W) x 9' (H)
Concrete floors. There is a metal garage door. We will bring in heating/cooling through a unit (plugged in in garage)
I want to record and mix in this room (including drums). I really, it will also be a nice room for my family to hang out in and watch movies etc...
Thanks for any suggestions. Feel free to ask questions to help me think through this.
The kinds of things I need to know are (for example)...
*What to do with the floor
*What to do with the garage door
*How to best insulate the room so sound won't escape
*blah blah blah

If $1k is not realistic, I'd still love suggestions on what to prioritize.
 
rjdinsmore said:
Hey everyone,
I am planning on converting my garage into a studio. I would love some input on materials, techniques for making this a great space. Here is some info.
Budget- $1k
Dimensions- 19'10" (L) x 13'3" (W) x 9' (H)
Concrete floors. There is a metal garage door. We will bring in heating/cooling through a unit (plugged in in garage)
I want to record and mix in this room (including drums). I really, it will also be a nice room for my family to hang out in and watch movies etc...
Thanks for any suggestions. Feel free to ask questions to help me think through this.
The kinds of things I need to know are (for example)...
*What to do with the floor
*What to do with the garage door
*How to best insulate the room so sound won't escape
*blah blah blah

If $1k is not realistic, I'd still love suggestions on what to prioritize.
Click to expand...

$1K is not realistic. Is everything going to be one room, or are you dividing it up into isolation booths, etc.?

Do you have drywall up yet?
 
Hi Maestro,
Thanks for your reply. The garage is already drywalled. I will not be separating the room. I will probably be using a portable sound booth from editors keys for recording vocals.
The main things I need help in thinking through are...
*quiet way to heat/cool the room
*appropriate flooring- carpet? Rubber tiling?
*Treating the room for mixing and for keeping noise from bothering people outside of the studio space. I know it will not be perfect, but I am looking to do the best I can with what I have.
Thanks.
 
Here is a specific question I am trying to think through- Would it be best to carpet the concrete floor or to use locking rubber pads like these, for example (we would put a couple of decorative rugs over it)?
 
rjdinsmore said:
Here is a specific question I am trying to think through- Would it be best to carpet the concrete floor or to use locking rubber pads like these, for example (we would put a couple of decorative rugs over it)?
Click to expand...
Neither. A hard floor is best. Leave the concrete floor, you can get some sealer and even make it look nice. But don't ruin the sound with carpet and rubber, etc.....

I would do a lot more reading before spending a penny. You'll find out that there is no way you'll ever treat the room for mixing AND sound-proof it from the other rooms unless you're ready to spend WAY WAY more than $1k.
 
If you are to never convert this back into a garage you should really take out the garage door and frame it in for a wall.
 
You also mention using the room for 'watching movies with the family'. A good studio/music room is not a good family room - things like bass traps and diffusers will eat a lot of room. You've already got dry wall up, you can either tear it down to re-do the walls in a double-wall sound-insulation way, or build a room within a room if you want true sound isolation. AS Henry already suggested, the garage door has to go. Or build an inside wall. Heating/AC? Most likely you'll have to leave it off when recording with mics due to the noise level.
 
Thanks everyone, for your input. I realize 1k is not much considering what I'd like to do. But I hope to make it the best space possible for those things. Again, I know it is not at all ideal. But moving into the garage will be a huge step up from the little closet my "studio" has been in :)
I really appreciate your feedback as it helps me think through what the best important steps might be.
 
rjdinsmore said:
*appropriate flooring- carpet? Rubber tiling?
*Treating the room for mixing and for keeping noise from bothering people outside of the studio space. I know it will not be perfect, but I am looking to do the best I can with what I have.
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Flooring can stay concrete if you like. I'd rather see a hard floor and treated ceiling than carpeted floor. Can you even change the flooring with your budget??

Also, you won't be able to get much isolation unless adding some weather stripping will help with the door - other than that, it will take a much much larger budget to get any additional isolation. Treatment can be done on a small budget if its all DIY and you're very meticulous with placement. Portable absorbers can definitely be used for recording as you've noted.
 
I did my garage a few years back in my last house. Put in an extra wall with a door between the house and the garage door with Soundstop, insulation and drywall, leaving 6 ft for storage. Live room was 20 x 12. Had the control room in the house (in a utility room) and had a double pane window installed. Carpeted the floors with some Berber. Added lights. Put an AC in the new wall with the butt end to the garage door (was in PHX, had to do something). Used Foam by Mail for some acoustic treatment (on walls and floor). Painted.

The good: Great for practice. No complaints from the neighbors (but be aware garage was block construction). Good for recording acoustic guitars, vocals, electric guitars and bass when set at a reasonable volume.

The bad: Decent for recording, but not perfect. Drums and horns sounded a little small. Cranked big amps were not happy in the space. But I did OK in there, recording-wise. Now, one thing to know is there was no airflow, so the room was damn stuffy and hot in the summer (had to keep the AC off when tracking).

I spent 4k and, in the time I had the room (8 years), I saved at least that in rehearsal rental, plus when we sold the house a lot of people liked the room - for a man cave, storage, art room, etc. Couldn't be added as extra square footage, but I think it got us a few extra thousand and we sold in 2 days last year for full asking (buyer was a drummer).

Let me know if you have any questions.
 
Hi agreatheight,
Thanks for sharing about your experience. It sounds a lot like what i am looking to do. My garage is already painted and already has lighting. I am currently living overseas and will be back at my home in July. Your post (as well as other's) is really helpful as I start thinking about this. I'd love to hit the ground running when i am back home and make this happen as best I can.
 
Hey guys- We are getting closer to starting our project in my garage. My budget is now 2k. i am leaving the concrete floor as is. I'd love your thoughts/feedback on the following.
*We are building a room within the room. The only thing which will stay the same is the floor- we are building four walls and a dropped ceiling. - What materials should I use for good sound isolation? I read somewhere that doing two layers of sheetrock on each wall plus three on the ceiling would be good. Should I be looking at different material?
*Would building a drum platform help address some issues which a floating floor would address?
*Know any good/quiet heat/ac room units?
Thanks!
 
I am building my studio as we speak and I did the room within the room in my garage, The metal garage door can give you lots of problems. I already had the traps so the building the wall across the front and dryway were the first big steps. Stained the concrete and put two small rugs down at the mixing desk and where I play. You can get a portable free standing heater/ac unit, but I found I need to turn it off when recording. If your house is newer you find the wall un insulated I drilled holes blew in fiberglass and put 18 inches in the attic big difference
Tim
 
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