How would you spend $5,000?

Unlike other threads, I am NOT building a "pro" studio (I've already got one elsewhere). I am building a "hobby/fun" workplace. I own all the gear I need. Obviously sound quality will not be ideal. Below are the facts:

- 2 car detached garage with cement floor
- Air Conditioning required (not purchased yet)
- No permanent structure change allowed, except for the AC (I'm moving in a few years)
- Avoiding neighbor complaints is the goal
- Space to be used for rehearsals and some recording

Thanks!

-kid music

This should be good....

You need to give more details, What are the inside walls made of? is they exposed 2 x 4? are you willing to put up sheetrock? Would you be willing to put a solid wall over the garage part? You can always tear it down later. How loud is it outside now, and how much do you need to quiet it down. How far away is the nearest neighbor? Sealing the garage doors is critical to deal with sound transmission.

Okay - good questions; I just bought the place; I'll get those answers and post back here.

Any other critical questions?

-kid music

Here are the answers:

- No exposed 2x4's. Drywall (sheetrock?) on 3 walls, metal automatic rolling-type of garage door on 4th wall. Ceiling is drywall under the 2 parts of the angled roof (A-style). There are 2 windows and 2 non-solid-wood doors (besides garage door).

- It is not too loud outside; a few birds and an occasional car. I'm not too concerned about keeping outside noises out, I just want to keep inside noises in.

- I'm on a 1/4 acre lot among many equal size lots; neighbors on 3 sides.

How should I do the AC, and how much will it cost? How should I spend the remainder of the $5k? Extra credit for any solutions I can take with me to the next garage studio in a few years!

Thanks,

-kid music

Kid,
I would imagine that metal doors are not very good for stopping transmission. I would go with a wall in front of the garage doors.

Try to build and modify the construction as if you were building a boat seal everything. Caulking is a big asset. you may want to build a room in a room. this adds an air space that will help stop transmission.

Think of the transformation process as 2 parts

Stopping transmission is the 1st and treating the room is second. You won't be able to take much of the 1st phase (stopping transsmission) with you.

I meant to ask how loud is your music outside when you are playing in the garage. Are you a loud band?

A somewhat labor intensive soulition to stopping transmission would be: Rip out the sheet rock, put reslient channel on the studs and put up 2 layers of 5/8" sheet rock, build a partition in front of the metal door and continue with the resilient channel over that. this requrires reading and understanding how resilient channel works. The resilent channel is a piece of metal that decouples the outer structure from the sheetrock. I have pulled done shades on my windows and then put sheetrock over them.

It would be worth picking up a book by F.Alton Everest "How to Build A Small Budget Recording Studio From Scratch" I am giving advice to you from what I have learned on several forums. I have not completed my latest project with resilent channel, so this is all information passed on from reading this book and reading other forums on acoustics.

Rod Gervias really has a ton of background on structural/ transmission stuff and is a moderator of another forum http://www.recording.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=forum;f=34
It requires you register, but he is the man when it comes to this stuff.

Well...one equals the other!

For complete isolation...keeping in mind that fact that a rock guitar, bass and drums are going to be MUCH louder than a bird chirping or the occasional car driving by...
...you will need a room within a room...and to keep that noise going out/coming in...it will require some pretty solid construction.

This can be tricky. Just an AC unit in a window or wall...will never work, unless you are willing to turn it off every time you hit "Record".

But, a larger unit...one that has an outside compressor...also needs an inside evaporator/return...which usually sits in the attic...and you need to distance both far enough away and then via ducts bring the intake/exhaust to your room...but this will not really work for your garage studio.

However...there are split-type AC units that have a small compressor that sits outside of the building...with a small wall unit that provides both intake and exhaust...and is fairly quite, but you will still have fan noise.
Check these out:
Split-Type AC\'s

I'm sure there is a solution...there is always a solution...if you can throw enough money at it.
Of...and you can forget about taking the AC system with you when you leave...unless you opt for the wall/window unit approach...and just run it between takes.

This may be overkill but...

Build a room within a room. Refer to Everest's books on budget studio construction for wall details. Nothing touches the outside wall. 2 walls on the garage door side. Build frames to seal the windows before adding your wall over these. Use a ton of caulking to make the room airtight. Then... use the split type A/C unit, venting into the room by using the space between walls as a plenum. Use plenty of length from the outside vent to the inside vent, lining the inside of it with 703 board or foam to kill reflections inside, thus keeping the vast majority of bleed way down. Open a door on breaks to "exhaust the room" or build a matching plenum vent on the opposite side of the room for venting outward. I did this, plus a double door sound lock into the house and a dropped double sheetrock ceiling (kids room right above) and it works great. No complaints from family or neighbors.

I beleive that the Split Type units take care of their own exhaust venting...so you may not need to build your own vent for that...but check the specs on some of the units in the link I provided...just to be sure.

Here it is again:

Split-Type AC\'s

That's true, but you need to exhaust the actual room. It's like blowing up a balloon. The room won't pop, but you'll stop getting that nice cool, fresh air. So you vent outward to make room for the input.

Homes don't seal up room to room. There are gaps under the doors, etc. All of those gaps vent back to the central heater return. Usually one big vent located somewhere in the house. With your studio, you're trying to make it airtight. But... you've still got to vent it, so you do so under controlled conditions. Hence the "venting plenum" or the old, "open the door during the breaks" trick.

The plenum merely serves to vent without letting sound back out.