John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum

I hope this is the right place to post picks of our studios. I have resized them as John said.


Oh the red bits are the doors

This is the view from the back entrance.

Once you have passed through the three doors from the back entrance this is what you see.

As you swing to turn back, you can see the “control room” The control room is actually built inside the recording area. The computers have been placed on the other side of the sound lock to eliminate any fan noise. You may see there is a lot of wide band absorbers (the yellow stuff, the dark blue in the previous picture and the light blue stuff on the ceiling. I have yet to tune the room for bass traps (in the corners) or resonators. These I hope to place on the ceilings


I have made previsions to be able to use the front area work shop and entrance area to monitor by headphones if needed but as yet I have never needed to do so.

As you swing around to your left you can see the rest of the studio space.


I have two TV’s so I can watch while I am practicing drums etc.

Turning more to the left..

Further to the left. I missed a section but meh..

You can see that I also have a PA in there and there is a few of my instruments on display.

The computers on the floor are just there while I fix them, they do not have anything to do with the recording computers. The recording computers are in the front area or "outside" the studio

As you walk through the sound lock and head to the front. You may see the variety of wires (left) that connects the computers all the bits eg mouse, keyboard etc. I will eventually fill the sound lock with a wideband absorber from floor to ceiling.

The door that I made from an old school toilet door and I built it up t be more solid

The work shop and yes it is also messy at the moment

There you go. It’s not a professional studio and I still have a few things to get and do but it is my own playpen and very sound proof.

None of the walls or ceilings touch the original structure (garage). The walls are either Double thickness MDF or Plywood on each side with batts inside.

If there is a hurricane or the such, I’m hiding in here because it is extremely solid. It was built for eh? Roughly $15000 but I have few dockets so it would be a guess. Some material was also scrounged up for free.


I hope this inspires other people to post who haven’t got million dollar studios to post here too. I have never regretted building it not for one moment.
It’s secure air-conditioned soundproof with TV, video, DVD and all my toys. Soon to install a sink in the back and facilities for coffee and tea and beer.

Comments, criticisms or questions are welcome

You hid those bass traps pretty good! I can not even tell where the wall stops and the trap begins. Pictures, you must give construction pictures or people will doubt you.

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Brien Holcombe
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Sound: You can't stop it, you can only try to contain it.

Thanks mate the only true bass trap is in the third post down. The bass trap is behind the dark blue material with the swirly gold patterns on it. I made the shelves come outward in a roughly 45 degree angle. It is located in the corner wall (directly behind the light). I decided that the area there would be a place for heaps of problems (sound wise) because of it’s asymmetrical shape.

The other panels are wide band absorbers (mostly yellow). Further bass traps will be located where the florescent lights are in the sixth post. The ceiling is the last to fully treat and that is when I will try to “tune” the room.

Looks great, but as you mentioned, it could use a bit of tidying!

We each have different needs and different goals, and there is not one-size-fits-all studio. I had a lot of great advice when I was building my place, and I also had a lot of advice from "pros" to do things that were way beyond the scope of what I needed for my little hobbit hole.

I will mention that most of that over-the-top advice did not come from this forum.

That is great that you are able to do what you need to do, are happy, and are getting things recorded! That is the whole reason we do this, right?

And if I am ever down-under during a hurricane, I am dropping by your place!

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James

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"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."
Napoleon Bonaparte

Don't know why, but am I the only one that can't see any pictures in this post? I would love to see what you did, but any computer I have tried from (Mac, XP, Vista) I get nothing.

Do I need to get my eyes (or head) examined?



Andy

edit: Forget it. As soon as I posted this I was able to see the pictures. That's just weird. And I'm an IT guy....