John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hi all, a lovely and rich forum you guys have here! I've been meaning to post for a long time but I've been nervous not to waste anyone's time, i'll try not to!

Onto the studio build then... I'm a keen drummer and practice daily in my concrete sectional garage in Manchester, UK.
It's internal dimensions are roughly 9.33ft x 17.33 ft (2.84m x 5.28m) and it has a sloping flat metal corrugated roof, it is 6.92ft (2.11m) at it's highest and 6.42ft (1.96m) at it's lowest, the base is solid concrete. I am 6'3" (1.91m)
I'd like to insulate this garage as it is used heavily for drum practice and get's very cold in the winter. There are currently three side windows and an end window which is very worn/weathered and potentially
should be removed altogether. Finally it has an up and over door and a side door. These are both currently wooden and therefore offer little protection. The main garage door has sizeable gaps at every edge,
and the wood has swollen to leave a 1cm gap at one location.

I'd like to build a studio within this garage to isolate the drum sound so i can play without dampening pads, and potentially play with other musicians or teach.

Here is a schematic of my garage layout as it stands: And my closest neighbours: And a few reference shots: My current thoughts are that i should build a studio out of breezeblocks roughly half the size of the garage, in the taller half; and surround this with rockwool;
However i also wanted to line out the rest of the garage, But then this would potentially create three leaves, i'm not entirely sure.
I am a quite capable diyist, but this is definitely out of my comfort zone, in terms of knowledge at least.

My budget is low. I'd like to keep it at or below £1,500 but i'd consider more expensive builds if they offered a significant benefit.

I have understanding neighbours that support my drumming and haven't had a single complaint despite playing daily for over a year now, usually around 12-1pm and 6 - 8pm with mute pads on... and occasionally without the pads on for no longer than 45minutes at a time, maybe 7 times total.

My Goal is to be able to play without drum pads anytime within reason.

My current questions/concerns are:
Ceiling height
How to seal off garage up'n'over door
What about the windows?
What about lighting?

Thank you in advance for your time!

A nervous drummer? Welcome.

Get hold of a loudspeaker, small PA. Play music through it and listen all around the enclosure to identify weak spots where the sound is pouring out.
This will encourage targeted action. Don't forget the roof. By all means measure while you are at it. Use Z or C weighting, i.e. full range. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/noise/app.html


Ceiling height
What can do. Check with a builder, manufacturer of that roof stuff, structural engineer. Build onto outside if the strength is there.

How to seal off garage up'n'over door
Bricks or whatever the walls are made of.

What about the windows?
Ditto.

What about lighting?

Go cold, LED, as you gradually seal and treat it will get very warm.

Thank you for the reply and sorry for the delay in getting back to you, i thought i'd wait until i had bought a sound meter and edited a video together. This took longer than anticipated!

Here is a video of the sound levels at a few different spots around the garage, included on the minimap. I've put time signatures in the description for fast skipping around.
The hi-hat and splash don't had pads at all so i didn't focus on them when doing the "pads off" testing. This was a slightly windy day which may have influenced the readings in places. I left most of the ambient space in so you can see the sounds levels.

https://youtu.be/yskAXgP8IEk

I found this conversion and wonder how suitable it would be to my scenario:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ais0ExC ... annel=KevH

It's a very similar garage except for the roof

Anyone want to weigh in? next steps? Similar builds?

Hello & how do' Dave?
I watched the photo montage that you linked to with interest. It doesn't reveal much detail about the build, but I can think of two reasons not to base your own project on it immediately. Firstly, I can't tell what materials were used to build the inner leaf ceiling but I doubt it is as dense as the breeze block walls, so I suspect the overall isolation of the studio is probably not that good. Secondly (and most importantly) there appears to be no ventilation at all. A few minutes drumming in this space will use up all the fresh air in the room and leave you gasping. In the long run it will become mouldy and vermin ridden - fresh air is not an optional extra! Please excuse the brevity of my reply but I'm writing this on my phone (long story) there is a long garage build thread by a member who lives in N. California. I'll post a link when I can find it. Good luck and if you haven't already read it - read Rod Gervais' excellent book on Studio design. Best wishes, John.

John Steel wrote:Hello & how do' Dave?
I watched the photo montage that you linked to with interest. It doesn't reveal much detail about the build, but I can think of two reasons not to base your own project on it immediately. Firstly, I can't tell what materials were used to build the inner leaf ceiling but I doubt it is as dense as the breeze block walls, so I suspect the overall isolation of the studio is probably not that good. Secondly (and most importantly) there appears to be no ventilation at all. A few minutes drumming in this space will use up all the fresh air in the room and leave you gasping. In the long run it will become mouldy and vermin ridden - fresh air is not an optional extra! Please excuse the brevity of my reply but I'm writing this on my phone (long story) there is a long garage build thread by a member who lives in N. California. I'll post a link when I can find it. Good luck and if you haven't already read it - read Rod Gervais' excellent book on Studio design. Best wishes, John.

Thanks for this John, I absolutely plan to make an inlet and outlet, possibly two separate baffle boxes but either way thanks for highlighting the need. I'll grab rods book and have a read, it comes highly and repeatedly recommended. I also see your linked thread and will give that a read through now thanks.