GUIDELINES FOR HOME MUSIC STUDIO CONSTRUCTION
First, Go to studio.allbandgear.com and price all your equipment that you will need. Trust me there will be alot if its anything like i built. Okay first off, Install sound insulating room inside existing garage to be used as a music studio designed for: 1. Music practice (drumset, assorted percussion instruments, electronic keyboards, other electronic percussion instruments) 2. Teaching private percussion lessons 3. Recording studio 4. Small ensemble rehearsal facility
Current measurements of garage: 20 feet long, 18 1/2 feet wide, 8 feet tall Approximately 400 square feet
Design walls and ceiling from an acoustical perspective so that maximum sound frequencies will be contained inside room and not disturb family members in the adjoining house, persons outside, or in nearby houses. (Initially I was specifying, ideally, a "soundproof" room. What I didn't realize at that time was that there is no such a thing as a truly soundproof room.)
Design studio so that inside acoustics will be fairly dead sounding. (I desired more of a muffled sound inside the room as opposed to a loud boomy room with a lot of ring. If I desire more ambience than the room offers, it can be accomplished by using different miking techniques and digital reverb.)
Build over current walkway door in garage which leads to porch area. (Take away this door because it would no longer be needed.)
Install separate air conditioning/heating unit for the studio. Use silencers, filters, etc., so that incoming/return air ducts do not leak sound out of studio. Incoming air should be silenced enough to enable activities such as recording, without ventilation noise. (The vents in our house had been a major problem for me when practicing. Persons in other rooms of the house could clearly hear the drums because of sound traveling through the vents. I learned that it would be necessary to install a separate ventilation system of heating and cooling for the studio, apart from the house system. I also wanted a ventilation system which would be quiet, unlike many studios and practice facilities I have been in where the ventilation is noisy.)
Install track lighting such that room will be adequately lighted for reading music and other detailed work, and also in a manner that will be silent (i.e.- no fluorescent hum, etc.) for recording applications. (I wanted to avoid lights that hummed and caused electrical noise in conjunction of use with electronic instruments.)
Install two sets of acoustical sound doors: One door going into house at utility room; One door going outside to driveway. Doors should be lockable. Doors should be able to accept a wireless port which incorporates into the home security system. Door leading outside should be big enough to get a 32 inch timpano through. Doors should have appropriate acoustical seals in order to contain as much sound as possible inside the studio. (The doors ended up being a major hassle. Commercial practice room doors start at a minimum of $1,500, and even then aren't good enough for containing all of sound that a trap set produces. More on the doors later.)
Inside wall on driveway side should be able to accept a wireless motion detector which incorporates into the home security system.
Install several sets of duplex (grounded) electrical outlets along each wall. Outlets should be installed to be used with electronic musical instruments which are sensitive to electric current fluctuations and noise caused by: refrigerators, air conditioning, household appliances, lighting, local radio and TV frequencies, etc. (I wanted to have plenty of electrical outlets. It seems like there is never enough outlets for electronic instruments. It is also important to make sure that the outlets are not on the same circuit as refrigerators and other appliances which periodically turn on and off and introduce noise into critical musical work such as recording.)
Install telephone outlet, cable TV outlet, thermostat control panel, and lighting switch. (I made up a diagram of the studio showing where I wanted each outlet, telephone connection, etc. for the electrician. That made his job a lot easier.)
Build sound wall around existing hot water heater and acoustically treat pipe inserts into the wall so that sound will not leak through. (The water heater for our house is located in the garage and there is no other logical place to locate it. So, we had to figure a way to build around it. The challenge came in building around it to prevent sound from entering the house where the pipes go into the wall.)
Install custom shelves (after sound walls are installed) on water heater side of studio with moveable shelves and swinging doors. (This is so I would have a place to store my cases, mallets, various instruments, and an assortment of other musical things, so that they would be concealed from view inside the studio. The shelves also serve as an additional acoustical treatment to the wall because they are located against the wall which connects to the rest of the house.)
Building a studio in the house or garage technically comes under the heading of "remodeling". I once heard a saying about home remodeling. It went something like: "When you remodel, you'll find that it takes longer than you thought it would, it costs more than you thought it would, and it's harder than you thought it would be". I thought: "Now, that's a cute little saying but it surely won't apply to me when I put in my own studio". Little did I know, I was in for a big surprise during the next several months...make that many big surprises!
Jason http://www.allbandgear.com line6.allbandgear.com fender.allbandgear.com studio.allbandgear.com
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