Gizmo's Studio build

[djgizmo]

Here's the little adventure that was to become my mix/recording/dj studio.

Goal: Build a room that would be the best possible studio I could build for best translation for mixing audio for post production and music, also so that the room would have a high enough TL that my room audio/music would not affect the rest of the house.

Size of space: 18' x 10.5 x 9.5' available to to use.

Final Design: 16x9x8.5' internal space. Optimized for best available modal response. (at least for what space I had available)

Pics from beginning to end.


(father in law who basically built it with my assistance)








(wifey who allowed me to take over part of the garage to build my room)





(double studded walls beginning to form)


(door frame being built)


(most of the room frame finished)


(first layer of drywall finished on the outside, used 2 layers R13 insulation, 1 for each set of stude)



Was a pain in the ass to remove the single car garage rails for the door w/o ruining the door itself.

[djgizmo]

used 1 layer of R30 insulation for bewteen the inerior of the studio wall and the garage door



Studs on the inner right wall



View from the inside of the studio looking into the garage. At this point, it was a pain in the ass to work in there because of all the fiberglass in the air.



Outside wall (between the studio and garage door) went up and then next was the first set of studs for the back wall.



First layer of drywall up. Yes it was very dusty that day.



Hole for the A/C. Helped cool down the room while working init. Also shows that the electric romex is run across the top.



Finishing touches for the first layer of drywall around the door.



Used a durable sheet to keep the cool air in the room.

[djgizmo]

Door finished being sandwhiched together using green glue and screws.






Door Frame outter door frame - made from left over MDF.







First pics of the door being hung... before we pulled it down for better hinges. But pic gives an idea of how its supposed to work.

[djgizmo]

2nd layer of drywall went up. Dam the green glue is some STICKY stuff.





First coat of paint. I love royal blue!





Door hung with new hinges.





First Layer of paint on the outside wall.

[djgizmo]

Wall Sockets / Covers installed





Network cable coming in



Making sure things are level for the drop ceiling



Painted the white cable covers black.



Electrical Subpanel installed with its own dedicated grounding rod.





Long bars for the drop ceiling and 3 boxes of panels

[djgizmo]

Drop Ceiling Installed with AC vent cover. Eventually moved the vent to the back of the room.









Lights installed - for 4" lights, they sure do make the room BRIGHT. Pattern is: 4 in front - 2 on the sides (outside the mix position) and 2 in the middle in the rear. 8 lights x 40watts each = 320 watts of power being used to light my room.





Starting to laydown the laminent floor. First Time I've ever done this. Glad that my father-in-law was there to help/do it.

[djgizmo]

Floor all laid down! Looking great! Looks different depending on how much light the camera had available to it.







Floor Trim Installed along with cable covers for network cable.





Door *edit* (almost) Finalized with door closer. I love the closer. Door got a lil dirty trying to find out the right pressure for the seals / lock. We did put the trim on the hinge side of the door now. Looks better.



Well these are all the pics I have at the moment... until I clean up the studio from my move in and mount my absorption panels. Big props to my father-in-law for helping me build this, as some days he was able to work w/o me there.

I'm still finding home depot, lowes, and other misc receipts everywhere. Total build out material cost was ORIGINALLY estimated at $1300, however all the lil things started to add up. Better hinges, green glue, extra long cement screws, subpanel, better lighting, nice paint, better laminent, total material cost I suspect is around $2500. I paid my father in law as well for his labor, which was another $3000 or so.

[Colonel Blues]

Good job ! Can't wait to see the gear inside !

[mobius.media]

Ya but now what about the car.

[djgizmo]

Originally Posted by mobius.media

Ya but now what about the car.

e, Good thing we have *had* a 3 car garage. I converted only a single car portion of the garage.


Here's some more pics

pic of the vents in their final position.



Here's a pick of the door with the trim around the hinges.

[metrognome]

Very cool, can't wait to see it with acoustic treatments.

-Sammy

[Rossome]

Looks good! Did you join both of the walls of the double wall together in the door frame?

[baslotto]

No insulation?

[djgizmo]

Pic of the back absorbers



Right side of the front of the studio


Left side of the front of the studio


Center View


My monitoring system (as shown in the left and right pics) includes HS50's, some pa speakers, and Altec Lansing MX5021 computer speakers. This allows me to A/B/C mixes for an overall translation pretty quick.

Each of the wall panels (including back wall) is floated off by about 2-3"

I couldn't double stack the front corners with absorbers due to a SLIGHT mis-calculation on my side. Each Panel is 4'3" (3" accounts for the frame) and the room is only 8'5.5" (lost close to an inch due to laminate floor).

So I had 3 options...
A) cut the panels down by an inch to stack them.
B) Raise the ceiling an inch
C) Make the best I could with the situation and absorb other places...
I of course chose C.

Going to place absorbers above the mix position at the corner where the wall meets the ceiling. This should help resolve any standing waves that will effect my mix position.

I might toss in a cloud above me or put a panel on the front wall in the corner with the ceiling, but honestly, at the mix position right now, its a very balanced listing experience.


P.S. Yes, I know my desk is a disaster area. lol, been busy with school and helping others fix their computers has been driving me nuts.

[djgizmo]

Originally Posted by Rossome

Looks good! Did you join both of the walls of the double wall together in the door frame?

Yes and no. I have MDF stretched across the gap, and green glued it only to the outside frame, and green glued / screwed it securely to the inside frame.

So its attached, but not so much that it should transmit everything. Honestly, if I had to do a heavier door in the future, I'd have almost no choice but to attach the frame to both sides. Think even Rod Gervais recommends that.

[djgizmo]

Originally Posted by baslotto

No insulation?

I don't understand your question or statement for that matter.

As shown in the build pics and text, I DID use insulation in the walls. (which is obviously shown in the 1st and 2nd post set of pics)

If you meant acoustic treatment, I didn't put them up before your comment so the reason for no pics of them up.

[baslotto]

I don't know how could I have missed that!
It looks great, I have a very similar project in mind and this has been very helpful.
Thank you for this thread. It looks very nice!

Bas.

[djgizmo]

no problemo, feel free to ask me any questions u have.

[AxiomStudio]

Thanks for sharing your very nice Studio Build. Very nice pictures and descriptions.

I know you must be very pleased with your space / studio; I do want to ask what would you have done different looking back, if anything?

Do you have any future plans, ideas for your studio as far as additions to the room / space?

Again, Thanks for sharing.
Ken

[djgizmo]

Originally Posted by AxiomStudio

T
I do want to ask what would you have done different looking back, if anything?

Do you have any future plans, ideas for your studio as far as additions to the room / space?

Again, Thanks for sharing.
Ken

Great questions Ken..

A) I would have allowed for an extra 2 inches of ceiling. lol.
Probably would have planned out the door a bit better. Probably would made a super door (Solid Core laminated with a lead sheet) to make it easier to latch. Wouldn't have used flat paint. Flat cheap paint scratches to all hell. I have to repaint the entire room because I don't think I'll be able to stand having dirty walls when people put their hands on them.
1 additional thing I would have liked to do differently is replaced my 2 monitor screens with a single 30" montor screen. my 2 side by side monitors block a tiny bit of the view of my monitors them selves causing slight issues. but a 30" screen is and probably will be out of my budget for a while.

B) I do plan to expand (e take over the world) into the rest of the garage IF my business pays for the expansion. If it does not, then I won't add anymore on. I would like to add headphone/mic jacks at the back of the studio to allow someone to record vocals easy w/o a hassle of long cords around the studio, but thats for a later date.

[fossaree]

djgizmo , Congrats !

Great job

[666666]

Awesome job! Very cool! Your project reminds me a lot of a room that I'm finishing up now.

I love the MDF door... nice! This is surely the cheapest way to achieve a door that yields decent isolation. I also made my doors from MDF in the same manner and used the same exact hinges. Those T-hinges are a must of course when dealing with MDF.

Sweet!

Originally Posted by djgizmo

[djgizmo]

666666,
Thanks!

Yea, figured it would be the most economical. If I had to do it all over again, I would probably spread some resin on the mdf sheets before laminating them together as they delaminated from the inside a lil bit.