My wife and I are purchasing a house, and we're buying it enough under our budget that we're going to build a garage with a recording studio above it in the backyard.

So, any suggestions on hiring architects, general contractors, etc. (especially in the Kansas City area)? I want to have a separate control room and recording room with vaulted ceilings (like 15' or something). I know it would be best to hire someone to design it who has done recording studios before.

We're thinking $15,000-$25,000. Do you guys think that is reasonable/sufficient?

Bart, I would probably plan on the 25K figure given the cost of building materials these days. Also, the first person I would ask advice from would be Ethan Winer. He's a Sonar user and a forum member here. You could probably get in touch with him through his website www.realtraps.com. He knows his stuff, is a great guy, and I'm sure would be the source of much good information regarding this project.

Best of luck with it!

You're in that range if you do all the labor and design yourself. One thing that you must budget for is a separate central air conditioning and heating system for the studio. I've done one home studio with it and one without it and the one with the separate unit wins every time. If you are going to have a two room home studio then don't cramp yourself in a closet sized control room and put the talent in the big room. I put my mixer in the larger room and I have a barely adequate iso booth. However I can make it work comfortably. Check out my studio page. I spent your budget and I had to do everything but the AC system myself. IMHO, if you don't have the equivalent space to a 2-1/2 to 3 car garage, I wouldn't do a two room space. Maybe control room/vocal booth.


My studio: http://web.tampabay.rr.com/cmodiset/webpage/Studio/Views%20Page.htm

Click on the floor plan pics for better views.

Mod Bod,
It looks like your project is similar to what mine will be. I have 3 questions if you don't mind.

1) My cousin works for a lumber company and I will be able to get a lot of materials really cheap. The problem is I know next to nothing about building stuff. Plus, I'll be starting new a new job as an attorney (just graduated law school), and am afraid that, due to both my time limitations and ignorance, if I had to do this stuff, it would take me 20 years.

How much do you estimate for contracting out?

2) What is the point of an isolated drum booth? Is it just so that you can record drums at the same time as other instruments? Wouldn't recording drums in your bigger recording room sound better?

3) In response to your comment to use a bigger room for the control room, isn't it generally important to have the recording room as big as possible for sound quality purposes?

Thanks!

ORIGINAL: barthowk

Mod Bod,
It looks like your project is similar to what mine will be. I have 3 questions if you don't mind.

1) My cousin works for a lumber company and I will be able to get a lot of materials really cheap. The problem is I know next to nothing about building stuff. Plus, I'll be starting new a new job as an attorney (just graduated law school), and am afraid that, due to both my time limitations and ignorance, if I had to do this stuff, it would take me 20 years.

How much do you estimate for contracting out?

2) What is the point of an isolated drum booth? Is it just so that you can record drums at the same time as other instruments? Wouldn't recording drums in your bigger recording room sound better?

3) In response to your comment to use a bigger room for the control room, isn't it generally important to have the recording room as big as possible for sound quality purposes?

Thanks!

Let me ask you this. Could you do a barter offer for some local contractor? Maybe a little contract work on the side.

It's hard for me to estimate what it would cost for labor. I'm not a carpenter but my plastics fabrication skills and my ability to research DIY sites were enough. I can say this. There is a lot of 5/8 drywall and 3" rock wool in those walls. I wouldn't be surprised if I wouldn'd have to pay $30,000.00 to $45,000.00 for the build out including the AC if I was hiring someone else to to the build. I imagine that the design work would cost 2-3k.

2) Yes the booth is for drums and it's mainly for my sanity. I also use the space for band rehearsal and having the drummer tucked a bit away is nice.

3) A large live room is wonderful for the sound of instruments but since you've already aluded to your lack of time, I will venture a guess that you won't be doing a whole lot of band recording. I find I spend most of my time alone or with one musician and a guest. Also the size of a control is very, very important for making decisions in mixing. Having the boundaries of the room far enough away from the mix position gives your brain cues that allow it to determine what sound is your mixing space and what sound is your recording. It keeps you from having to overly deaden the room.

Don't get caught up in trying to make your space a small version of a large studio. You'll probably just be chasing a pipe dream. I'm no expert at recording live drums but my last tune is using live drums in my booth. I've also had great results by hiring Frank at Live Studio Drums (www.lsd.com) to do my track. Anyway, you can judge for yourself by this recording if it is good enough for a weekend warrior's purpose. There's also room in my control room for some musicians to go direct or into amp modeling boxes.

Barthowk,
if you subcontract the work yourself you won't have to pay the extra 30% to a general contractor. I would calculate the total material cost (retail) and then take 80% of that for labor. Add the two numbers together for your budget and then add a 20% contingency on top of it. Depending on what part of the country you are in, something like this can go for $60 to $120 per square foot and that is without any equipment or sound treatments. Hopefully you're going to do all of the A/V wiring yourself and at least save that labor.

Of course, now that you're a lawyer, you could sue a general contractor and settle out of court for the work

Of course, now that you're a lawyer, you could sue a general contractor and settle out of court for the work

Hey Bart. PM me. I might be able to help you out with the design work.

Paul

I hope you're going to have a elevator if you're on the second floor. I wouldn't want a client to fall down the stairs carrying something in and sue me.

Also remember the possible need for a bathroom. Even if this is a personal studio you might like the ability to go wee wee without walking to the house. ;)

I wouldn't mind helping either. PM me for a phone number if you like.

I did something like this from the slab up - maybe on a slightly larger scale, but the basic ideals are the same.

http://noisevault.com/studio/studio.html

I did have the help of an architect, and a contractor, but I was heaviliy involved with the whole project. Also it was 100% legal with all the inspections and permits required, though I didn't make too big a deal out fo the purpose of the place. The framing inspector looked at all the odd angles and signed the green ticket saying it looked well built, but he wondered if the guys were drunk when they put it together. ;)

cAPS