Garage Conversion

[divingduck]

Greetings to all. Any advice on the following project would be hugely appreciated; at embryonic stage, and just starting to educate myself to the required level. Hoping for friendly Gearslutz to help me along....

Ok, we're getting an extension put on our house; proper architect design. I had previously entertained the idea of converting the garage into a mixing room, but thought it would be too much hassle.

The architect is excited by the prospect of doing it, so I'm giving it more thought. Would like suggestions from anyone as to suitability/previous experience with similar/encouraging noises!

1. Dimensions currently are: 11' x 15', with a sloping ceiling c. 8'.
2. We are in the landing path for Heathrow airport (as is Olympic Studios down the road- and they seem to cope!)
3. I would plan to use the room mainly for mixing stuff I've recorded live (classical&jazz mostly), for writing, and for tracking single instruments/vocals etc if possible in the space.

More detail:
1. The walls can be torn down (currently part brick, part breezeblock, and useless windows) and rebuilt; external dimensions could be bigger to accomodate double walls, within planning permission. Roof would be replaced and reshaped.
2. Lots of soundproofing required to keep out planes, keep in sounds, and obviously acoustic treatment for reflections.

Any suggestions for tentative first steps? I've been checking out as many threads as possible on such things, and will delve into Ethan Winer's site when I get the time. Or can anyone recommend a good studio designer in London who may be interested in a relatively small project?

Photo of the garage attached (I hope).

Budget=whatever it takes!

Many thanks for any help/interest in advance, and respect to the forum from habitual lurker!

Pete

[PhilE]

Hi Pete,

I currently have my mix room at my house in a converted garage- 15'x10' and it is SO cramped! I don't know how much gear you have but I really would kill for an extra 6' of width... so I guess my advise is to see if you can squeeze more width to your room.
My situation is temporary so that keeps me sane but I would hate to have spent a lot of money on it to find myself this cramped.

[divingduck]

Thanks for the reply Phil. I'm looking at this probably being my setup for 4 or 5 years. I figured that with some good design, I could fit in the space ok - mixing ITB at present, but intend to go "real" further down the line.

Do you have a console in there, is that why your room feels cramped? Do you find the room size gives a good enough monitoring environment? Thanks.

I may still abandon the idea and try to find a cheap (ha!) room nearby...

Cheers.

[PhilE]

Yeah I have a console in there and I am very much an otb kind of guy so a few racks of outboard too... I feel the room is small for monitoring (and I have always mixed fairly quietly anyway) but things do translate well enough... maybe thats more that I am used to larger spaces.
I will be in this room for around another six months to a year while my new place is built.
If you are ITB then you will find no problem in that space and if you have money to spend it will make life easier too- I have been very reluctant to spend on permanantly changing my room as it was always a temporary solution.