Question:
When I wrote "garage studio layout", I was referring to the
floor plan of the studio - not soundproofing. A bunch of people have
written to me about soundproofing and I sincerely appreciate their
efforts - but I've got a better grip on what I'm going to do with my
outer walls than where I'm going to place my inner walls. I am curious
how others have divided a small space like a garage and come out with a
functional studio. I've read both Everst and Cooper's books, and gone
over the designs, but I have trouble realistically applying them to a
20x24' space that houses control, tracking, machine rooms, as well some
of my particular audio post and musical needs. I have a design (what I
call my collection of compromises) that I think is worthy of taking to a
acoustical consultant, but I'd like to see what others have come up with
first. Anyone want to trade diagrams of their small studio floor plans?
Answer:
In a space this small, you have few options. In my case, I've settled on
a closet for the noisy stuff like computers (aka "machine room"), a
small (8' x 10'?) room with balls-out soundproofing for drums, etc., and
the rest of the space for monitoring/mixing/office use. I don't expect
to get a great sound out of the little room, but with the right
wall/ceiling/flor treatment it shouldn't be truly awful.
My requirements may be different from yours -- I also need this space to
work in for my real job as an infogeek/consultant. If I was going to
devote the whole space to recording, I'd consider just having one big
space with an equipment/machine closet and an iso booth. There is no
substitute for cubic feet.
One thing to check when doing your floor plan is to see how the room
modes work out for your floor plan. The 8x10 figure I gave above is
probably bad because of the mathematical relationship between the two
dimensions (and the 7 1/2' ceiling).
