Studio in Garage

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chili
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Chili

Chili

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Moved into our newly built house and we finally decided to put the studio in half of the 3rd car garage. The room will be used for tracking vocals and acoustic guitars, then for mixdown with monitors. Everything else will be DI or ITB. Sound isolation won't be an issue, because that part of the garage is almost not attached to the house.

I have two concerns and am looking for feedback from you guys.

1) The space will essentially be a cube, 9'x12' with 10'ceiling. I have a 10 panels of johns manville equivalent to 703; 2" thick and 2'x4'. I know bass traps in all corners will be recommended. Has anyone ever cut 703 into triangular pieces and stack them into the corners? My thoughts are to cut teh 2'x4' panels down to 1' squares, then cut those diagonally in half to make 16 triangles. Stack those up and figure out how to mount them in the corners. The stack would be 32" tall. Would this be beneficial?

2) This is Texas and air conditioning is a way of life. However, I won't have access to the house HVAC system, so I'm thinking of punching a hole in the wall and mounting a window/thru-wall unit. Has anyone done or seen this done?? My concern here is keeping it quiet. Any suggestions??

Did I leave out anything out?? Is there something else I should be thinking about??

Thanks,
 
Hi, Chili!

Let me know if I understood (with my crappy english...):D

You want to cut a 2x4' piece to make 16 small triangles and put in the (wall/wall?) corners? Sorry, at least in my experience is a too small area for an effective absorption .Better with 8 triangular pieces (much more expensive)or the standard gap (altough 2" is not the way, you know...).

I make some ,"exactly" the "16 triangle pieces" as you said for some wall/floor corners , and they are doing a great job.For the standard "wall/wall corner", not sure as I said.

If you want serious treatment (just another "IMO...") for a room that size (like mine):
at least 14 2'x4'x4" panels.More, better:cool:

Damn english:D:D:D

Hugs

Ciro
 
Hi Ciro, Thanks for responding. Your english is fine, it's my portuguese that is completely lacking.

I think you understand what I am talking about. You confirmed what I was thinking; surface area will not be enough. The front would be about 15" (38cm) across. If I cut them into 8 triangles the front face would ~33" (83cm). I can buy more panels and they can be 4" thick. That woud be better, but would it be enough??

I am planning to do the wall to wall corners and wall to ceiling corners. Do I need to cover every inch of the corners or just in plane with the monitors??

I will also put panels in other areas of the room; first reflection points, maybe a cloud, etc...

Thanks much.
 
Chili said:
You confirmed what I was thinking; surface area will not be enough. The front would be about 15" (38cm) across. If I cut them into 8 triangles the front face would ~33" (83cm).
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If you cut into 8 triangles they will be ~24" in the front face.

Chili said:
I am planning to do the wall to wall corners and wall to ceiling corners. Do I need to cover every inch of the corners or just in plane with the monitors??
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The more, the better.Then, "every inch",not only the in plane with monitors (at least vertical front wall/wall cornes).Full triangles-superchunck type-or standard panel.If "standard type" with gap, 4" minimun.6" is better (note that 4 6" panels cutted into 8 triangles each one will covered all L/R vertical front wall corners in a 8' height room- same money, better absorption)).:cool:

Chili said:
I will also put panels in other areas of the room; first reflection points, maybe a cloud, etc...
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That´s the way.In a room that size you´ll need a good amount of absorption in the rear wall too (and thick let´s say, 6" with gap) to tame the nasty nulls.

A cloud (just my personal experience here...) is a must.
The thicker panels I have in my room (2) are above my head and centered in the front wall/ceiling corner (another great point to treat).
I had "ultra nasty" peaks, that´s why I did then thick (8" and 12").

Ciro
 
Thanks guys, I didn't know that was called super chunks. I heard the term before. I now have a plan for treatment..... buy more panels. :)

Anyone have info on a wall unit a/c?? Silencing?? I'm thinking of a false wall in front with ducting to separate the exhaust from the intake and to slow down the air.

peace.
 
Well, we lost some posts here. No biggie. Thanks to Fitz, Ciro and DogBreath for the help and suggestions. Can't give rep again.

To recap, my plan is to use superchunks in all the corners of the walls and ceiling opposite side of the room from the monitors. I'll put 703 panels behind the monitors, at the first reflection point and as a cloud. I might put some halfway down the room also, but it's not a big room.

For the a/c unit, I will try a false wall in front of the unit with 703 on the side facing the unit. I will use ducting of some kind to separate the intake from the exhaust and to slow down the air movement (to make it quieter). I don't have firm ideas of how to do all this, but will make it up as I go along.

Any more comments are welcomed. Thanks!!
 
Chili:
I read your post talking about (what "sounded" to me) as a possible lack of symetry in the front or side walls (sorry if I read or understood wrong).

Try to keep with symetry the best as you can (in the front portion of the room is a must IMO)

Different distances (not 3 or 4", much more) from the spekaers to L/R walls and the individual speakers response and image will suffer a lot (take a look in low end response,L first, after R, if it happens here).

Everything IMO/E.

And If I understood wrong, excuse me.:):D


Ciro
 
Hey Ciro. No, I think you misunderstood on this one. No problem. I'm a bit obsessive about symmetry I'll keep the monitors centered in respect to the side walls. I'm not sure yet how far off from the front wall they will be. I will put bass traps on the back walls, then more 703 panels as said in previous posts.

I tried to draw it in SketchUp, but I can't get that thing to do what I want. And I don't have the patience to learn it, I want to get back to working on the room. ;)

Thanks Brother.
 
Chili said:
Well, we lost some posts here. No biggie.
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whew....I just had a chance to sign back in here and thought....huh? I knew I posted some stuff in here...??? WTF?

cool...I'm NOT losing it...................much. :p


Thanks ChiliDude!
 
Resurecting the thread. Made some progress today with pics.

Hope these load up okay.

pic #1 - starting point. The walls were initially drywalled, but they were lacking insulation which was an option I paid for when the house was built. When I started the studio project, I punched a few holes for electrical and found no insulation. So I called the builder and they are correcting the problem. They had a contractor remove the old drywall to get ready to insulate. And because of that, I get my new walls drywalled, mudded and taped, textured and painted for free. Gotta love it.

Pic #2 - I hired some help. It took them 5 minutes to build the header which would have taken me 2 hours to do. 1 hour to think about, 45 minutes to drink coffee and then 5 minutes to do it. The remaining 10 minutes would have been for admiring my work. You can see where we started knocking out the brick veneer wall. One brick at a time or else the whole wall could have crumbled.

Pic #3 - While one guy was working on the brick wall, the other framed my two additional walls. You can see how much of a cube the room will be.

Pic #4 - A little engineering on the fly, but I think it came out great. Some more trim pieces, caulk and paint and it will look great.

I'll have more pics later.

peace.
 

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It's a-CUBE!!!

Made more progress.

I took a building permit out to do this work. I probably didn't have to.. even the inpsectors hanging out at the office were like, maaaaybe you don't have to. But I did anyway. During the framing inspection, the inspector looked at the way the a/c unit was mounted and said it looked like it was meant to be there. Whew, and I was worried it may not pass.

I have 10 panels of 703 I brought from my previous house and just ordered 6 more at $10 a piece. These are the 2x4 panels, 2 inch thick. As soon as I asked if he had any, he said I was going to use it for acoustics. I guess it's pretty popular.

Anyways, here are some more pics.
peace.
 

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Where can you order 703 panels for $10/sheet? I thought they were almost double that.. That'll be a neat little room when it's done, what's your est. completion date?
 
suprstar said:
Where can you order 703 panels for $10/sheet? I thought they were almost double that.. That'll be a neat little room when it's done, what's your est. completion date?
Click to expand...

I'm getting the 2" thick panels from SPI. Their website is listed in the 703 source thread stickied at the top of this section.

I'm hoping to be moved in next week. Not sure when the painter shows up. Insulaters come back on Wed, then I can get final sign-off from the inspector.

Thanks man.
 
I just called the SPI in Omaha NE. I just bought 24 sheets of OC 4'x2'x2" @ 6lb density, for $12 a sheet. :eek::eek::eek: Super excited. :D:D:D
 
I just called the SPI in Omaha NE. I just bought 24 sheets of OC 4'x2'x2" @ 6lb density
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:eek::eek::eek: er...you better cancel that order. No wonder it was so cheap. SIX pound density is NOT for acoustical absorption!!! 3 lb density is what you need. Sorry.
fitZ

btw, I bought mine from SPI also. $600 for 4 sheets, 4" thick, and 2 sheets 3" thick, 4x10 foot panels. It was NOT cheap.
 
Quick update, no pics.

Room is basically done. Painters were last Thursday (they were free!!). Final inspection done on Monday. Inspector loved the room. Everything signed off.

Whew, I tell ya. Just at normal talking levels, that room reverberates something horrible. I'm talking a good 1 second tail that is easily heard. But....

I put in carpet today and started hanging 703. Just leaning the 703 panels against the wall near their intended position makes a HUGE difference. I've got a total of 16 panels for this small cube and I think it's going to be okay. The good thing is, I have access to a $25k Bruel and Kjaer analyzer so I'll know for sure where the peaks and valleys will be.

Turned electric on and tested the in-wall a/c. Yup, it makes a ton of noise. Well, the only thing to do is turn it off while I'm tracking. I do have plans for a baffle plate that will be the topic of another thread, but I will start that in a week or so. I know already it will still be too much noise for tracking. Not a problem, though. I can work around that. For mixing, I think the baffle plate will help a lot. Rudimentary experiments today give me hope.

peace.
 
Chili,
PLEASE tell me that wiring and round hole above the door are for either an "On Air" or "Recording" lamp. :D:cool::D:cool::D
 
Right on ChiliDude!
Yer gonna keep us posted with the pics n stuff, right? The acoustic treatment and whatnot...??

I'm pretty jacked for ya. That's gonna be a cool room for ya.

Later mang.........Kel
 
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