a renters rocking garage

[losthighway]

I have the perfect space to record in my basement.......but my girlfriend wants us to find a place together. So I gotta move. Everywhere I look (affordable 2-3 bedroom houses) has either no basement or six foot ceilings in a 10x10 room.

Many places in Denver have stand alone garages. I know a room within a room is the only way to keep everything from getting out, but I'm gonna be renting. If I built some huge (six feet tall) gobos and blocked off the garage door, and then treated windows as needed, could I contain the noise a bit? With renting, I won't go further than easily removable sound treatment (dense fiberglass, carpet, studio foam and moveable gobos). Could I prevent neighbor complaints?

Sure, this is pretty loose guess work and not proper studio construction, but I'm renting. I guess I need someone to convince me I can give up my space and still be able to record.

[trodden]

I have the perfect space to record in my basement........

Don't move in with GF.

I have the perfect place as well, GF wanted me to get place with her, pointed out that could not happen. Life goes on.

[crookedsound]

And if you aren't going anywhere for at least a couple years...why not buy a house. The market is so low right now it is a pretty much a buyer's market.
Then your money is going IN to something other than a landlord's pocket. Hopefully, the market will improve and you will have yourself and investment.

Plus, if you own you can do pretty much whatever you want to the place.

I rented for years, and then bought a house when I was making next to no money as a bookstore manager. There are tons of first buyer programs out there that can really help.

Also, if you do this...then YOU can buy a house and let the girlfriend move in with you. If it doesn't work out you'll still have a house and a studio, and likely be paying less in a house payment than you were gonna in rent (that is how it worked out for me).

Just a thought...even if it is a big step.

[The Scum]

As the owner of a freestanding garage in the Denver area:

Doublecheck how well it's made. Older masonry ones are usually pretty solid, but there are also flimsy little "carriage houses" that aren't much more than a garden shed that's big enough for a car.

Doublecheck the roof & ceiling. Since they're not residential structures, they're not always as well made as those on houses. They also don't get the same maintenance & repair that houses do...the roof on my house was new in 2001. The garage roof has 3 layers of shingles, and is nearly rotting off, and is very likely a weak spot if I were going to soundproof it.

Gobos won't do much to keep the sound from escaping. They'll help inside the room, but you're looking at building real walls to keep sound from getting out the garage door.