Costco prefab storage shed..instant studio

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jrsgodfrey
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Post by jrsgodfrey » Fri Feb 17, 2006 9:10 am

Along the same lines, check this:

http://www.johnlsayers.com/Studio/Mainpage/MP-Mark.htm

And, can you still get Gov't surplus quonset huts?

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shedshrine
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Post by shedshrine » Mon Feb 27, 2006 1:08 pm

Okay,

the inside of the shedshrine, in all it's pvc glory:

Image

...and then I woke up. Okay, turns out the ribbing The Tater gave me was warranted. I've researched the bejesus out of studio design lately, and the square plastic room aint gonna do it. I was hoping for something somewhat portable, but the construction will be so heavy and bulky that it would have to be destroyed in the event of a move. Therefore, I am now drawing up designs to utilize the full height of the garage rafters and frame in a section within the garage...

Yes, I have my Costco receipt :)

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;ivlunsdystf
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Post by ;ivlunsdystf » Mon Feb 27, 2006 3:30 pm

shedshrine wrote:Therefore, I am now drawing up designs to utilize the full height of the garage rafters and frame in a section within the garage...
Which is what I did a couple of years ago with our extra garage stall, and my quality of life has hovered around 9.98 out of a possible 10 ever since. I can rock in peace without disturbing the wife and dogs.

The remaining 0.02 'quality of life' points will accrue when I expand into a larger part of the garage. I think I'll need to get rid of the 1970 Dodge full-size pickup first though. Darned finite space!

Anyway, when I took over the space I made sure not to build any walls parallel to one another. It's not big enough for real acoustics (10' x 16') but it's close enough.

Have fun sawing away!

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shedshrine
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Post by shedshrine » Mon Feb 27, 2006 3:38 pm

Oh man, a 1970 dodge full-size! The cabs on those things make excellent vocal booths! WHisperroom be damned!

How thick did you make your walls? did you do the double wall thing? WHat angles. etc...do tell!! How'd you go about sealing the door.. etc. etc...Is there a thread about it here, or in the sayers forum?

I'm not going to kid myself about the available space I'm going to end up with when this thing is done. It will not be a drum room. (I've resigned myself to v-drums for now) I just want enough room for two slantback faced,wheeled racks, a little desk with the Digi002 and a shelf above for the krk V8s. Beyond that, space permitting,a couple shelves for unrackables and supplies, and a small table for setting up little impromptu signal chains. Oh, and the v-drums. Oh, and, and a synth stand.

Much of the tracking will be direct, or very low volume miced stuff. Of course the sound isolation will be most important for mixing at various volumes, and my searching attempts at getting the vox together, specifically the more extreme stuff. I wouldn't want to submit anyone to all that trial and error!! :D

M
Last edited by shedshrine on Mon Feb 27, 2006 10:14 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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;ivlunsdystf
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Post by ;ivlunsdystf » Mon Feb 27, 2006 4:34 pm

Okay, since you asked - I had a 16 x 10 space to fill, with no posts in the middle to work around. There are two exterior walls and it is a rectangular garage to start with. Those walls already had studs at 16" on center. I added the other two walls myself. For those walls, I used masonry bits/screws to anchor a 2 x 4 around the perimeter on the ground, then did studs at 16" on center which supported more horizontal 2 x 4s which in turn support 2 x 6s that span the ceiling (the 2 x 4s sit on solid vertical studs at the other end so they do not rely solely on my screws/nails for vertical support).

So, the space has two main walls (10' and 16') which are naturally at a right angle to one another because they were originally part of the garage. The three other walls, which I added, make a vaguely coffin-like shape so as to avoid too much buildup of standing waves. I figured a coffin would be appropriate since I spend so much time here at the TOMB. Ha ha.

Here in Minnesota the winter is rather icy. I used the standard yellow foam insulation in the walls and ceiling and covered the interior walls in that cheap lauan 1/4" plywood. I am pretty handy with lath so I used that to cosmetically cover the seams in the plywood.

My dad had a bunch of varnished shiplap softwood which exactly covered the ceiling. It's beautiful, that ceiling. There is a small part of the ceiling that is actually white canvas from an old wall tent with the theory that this area of the room could serve as a 'vocal area'. It seems to work well for my jv home recordings.

I had a good solid cement floor upon which I placed the cheapest parquet from Home Depot ($1.00/square foot).

The garage stall conveniently did NOT have a big garage door at one end, which was handy. It did have a well-sealed year-round door on the side which was also handy. I put in two salvaged exterior windows from a local nonprofit salvage shop.

For reasons I cannot quite explain, I did not make a passage between the house/garage and the music room. Therefore I must actually walk outside of the house to get into the music room.

I was lucky in a few respects: 1. Our house is basically a tear-down because it's not historically interesting, it is in poor condition and it has a dreadful floor plan. 2. There was no garage door. 3. My wife didn't understand how long it would take me to finish when I first got her okay to do the project (about six weeks of 2-3 hours every weeknight and about 15 hours per weekend)

I was unlucky in some other respects: 1. I didn't have enough space to get really bitchen acoustics; 2. The cement floor is porous enough that last summer the floating floor totally buckled up and had to be redone; 3. I am totally cramped for space by the time I have my drums, a couple of keyboards, a worktable, etc. all moved in.

I'll figure out how to post some pictures soon.

Your wife will probably fully support you in this venture once she figures out that she can always send you to "your room" if she needs some alone time. It works for us. It is WAY easier than trying to record in a spare bedroom with other things going on in the house.

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shedshrine
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Post by shedshrine » Mon Feb 27, 2006 4:55 pm

Thank you sir, notes duly taken!

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Randy
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Post by Randy » Mon Feb 27, 2006 7:24 pm

ShedShrine-

What studio is that photo from? Good thing I'm typing, my jaw is on the floor.
not to worry, just keep tracking....

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shedshrine
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Post by shedshrine » Mon Feb 27, 2006 8:42 pm

Oh, that old place :shock:

I was checking out a thread at that site about gear and the sluts who own it, and it was about who has the biggest, um, studio collection.
They were pretty much in agreement that this guy won.
That is a picture of his studio in Columbia.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some fiberglass fibers to breathe... :D

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Electro-Voice 664
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Post by Electro-Voice 664 » Sun Feb 15, 2009 5:43 pm

tonewoods wrote:I'm building a pre-fab steel building studio as we speak...

I'll spray-insolate the whole interior to create a bat-cave...

You can see a pic of the building I bought (for $4K delivered!) here...

Should be up and running this summer sometime....
Bruce, I know this is an old thread, but I'm just curious about your steel building. Do you have any pictures? Did you end up making it a bat-cave? Is it working out well for your needs? Thanks....
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Post by RefD » Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:35 pm

backtracking for a moment....

"How Buildings Learn" was also made into a really interesting series which i saw on BBC World Service while i was living in NZ back in '97-'98.

soundtrack by Brian Eno, too.

*re-reads last few posts*
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ThePaloverdeBeetle
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Post by ThePaloverdeBeetle » Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:58 pm

I dream of something/anything I can use for an actual space. I have a house but also
a family and can't set up a recording studio inside it. I set up my laptop/sound interface and a microphone or two in the rare event that my family leaves the
house and I don't. I've been known to drive out in the desert and record myself
inside my Honda Accord with my laptop and spare 12v battery. I've looked at
articles about shipping containers as dwellings (would be hell in Tucson in the
summertime), steel buildings and the like someday....
Equipment ain't beans without the space. Anyone make a studio out of a
manufactured thingamabob of any sort?

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Post by dino » Mon Feb 16, 2009 5:08 am

There?s got to be a million of us who have been unable to have a dedicated workspace for recording. Beetle put it well when he said that the gear doesn?t matter without the space. Even if you have a house, remodeling specifically for a studio has to be secondary to the needs of your family. With any reno project, you can be out 10k before you know it. There are so many other things that need attention in an older house that building an addition for a home studio languishes in the conceptual, wishful thinking stage. Zoning issues, building permits, air handling and filtering, and the need for isolation, all add up to be more than the average working Joe, or Jane can deal with. As soon as you bring in a contractor, you also begin to discover all the hidden costs of any reno. It becomes complicated and expensive real fast. This all makes the shed idea intriguing, although I don?t think any but the largest prefab models would suffice for a recording space. Still, the concept of having a studio space delivered on a flatbed truck that you could assemble yourself in a week is fun to think about. However here in Virginia there are strict zoning regulations limiting the size and height of any storage building. Exceeding those limits constitutes a new structure and then it must meet all the same code regulations as a house.

In my case, I have an open carport and you wouldn?t believe the trouble I would have enclosing it for a studio. The neighbors already complained that I keep my lawn mower in there! Satisfying the building codes will be staggeringly expensive and involved, when all I want is an enclosed space. If I didn?t live in stinkin suburbia this wouldn?t be a big issue. I?d slap some quick plywood walls up and get to recording. With the neighbors around here aggressively protecting their property values, I can?t blame them for not wanting a plywood shanty next door.

The shed thing is well worth looking into further. I just think it will be too limited for all but solo performer stuff.

dino
I'd gladly trade everything I have now for a nice sounding room and a bucket of 57's

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Post by llmonty » Mon Feb 16, 2009 7:58 am

I am in Richmond VA and sorting through the same things now. Have a nice old house that would be great for recording other than having a wife and son and a baby on the way also living in it! So been looking at building an outbuilding where my current 18x18 shed/garage sits. While I am handy I just don't have the time or extra hands to take on something this big. So looking at contractors etc. to figure it out. It DOES get expensive fast. Even with reusing some materials, taking on some interior finishing myself, not installing plumbing or hardwood floors, etc. it adds up FAST. I am trying for $60-70 a square foot, and that seems hard.

So looking at all the options -- moving to a house with an existing outbuilding, renting commercial space with a partner, etc.

a nightmare so far.
richmond is a really cool town - supafuzz

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Post by kayagum » Mon Feb 16, 2009 8:26 am

If you pick up any recent issue of Dwell magazine, there are tons of ads for prefab outbuildings- it's the current craze.

Here is a blog entry that will link you with some of the better known brands:

http://www.dwell.com/daily/blog/17361204.html

I already claimed my basement (which is fine by my wife), and it's a little cold in MN for having an unheated outbuilding, but the prefab outbuilding/shed would be a great solution for anyone with a little backyard space.

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JWL
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Post by JWL » Mon Feb 16, 2009 10:21 am

I'm in the same boat. I've been looking at various options -- including and especially the shipping container route -- but I think the least expensive way to get myself a room that I can work in (listen, mix, overdubs) is to build a tiny little soundproofed, 11x9 room in my garage.

Working on a detailed plan/sketchup of the small space.... it's (far) smaller than ideal, at about 700 cubic feet (less than half the 1500 rule-of-thumb) but I'll be able to work without bugging anyone trying to sleep.

Biggest 2 expenses will be getting electricity out to my detached garage building, and getting a minisplit that can handle the HVAC.

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