Dealing with very high ceiling and large insulated garage..

[jmpizzoferrato]

Hi.

Our studio is moving to a new space soon. We have a place scoped out and hope to seal the deal soon.

The ceiling must be about 14' high. It doesn't sound "cavernous" just a little too echoey.

My instincts are telling me to make panels and hang them from the ceiling. I'm also thinking about putting area rugs all over the room. After doing this I'd assess the situation and treat corners as needed. I assume that filling the room with cabs, amps, mic stands, keyboards, etc. will also help diffuse the sound.

Does anyone have any other tips on this type of thing?

The other issue that I'll have to deal with is a large insulated garage door. It's has 3 small oval-shaped windows. I imagine a little bit of sound will enter/escape from this door. Any ideas on how to deal with it? I'm assuming we'll never "need" the garage door so some sort of semi-permanent treatment would certainly be an option.

Any thoughts on this matter?

Since it's a rental, we don't want to drop too much coin but we're willing to put in the elbow grease.

thanks.

[JWL]

For treatment, I'd start with traps in the corners, a solid Reflection-Free Zone at the mix position, and as many traps as you need on the ceiling/walls to kill flutter echo.

Regarding soundproofing, there is no "treatment" you can put in to achieve soundproofing, which always requires mass and some sort of construction to work properly, especially at bass frequencies.

The high ceilings will help you.

Good luck!

[Bro Shark]

High ceilings. I think that's one of those "good problems"

Good luck with your space.

[jmpizzoferrato]

thanks for the responses. i think i'm gonna roll with the high ceilings. i'll dig it, for sure. i'll probably hang things from the ceilings to create "tighter" spots in the room to mix it up. i'm all about working in spaces that aren't conventional-sounding or treated rooms.

i'm mostly worried about the large garage door. it's insulated and relatively new but isn't lock tight. we can't bother the neighbors. that's the big thing. i'll probably make plywood and greenglue sandwiches to place over the small windows but the garage door is a bit daunting.

any tips out there? thanks!

[Jon Nolan]

we can't bother the neighbors. that's the big thing.

how close are the neighbors?

what is the building made of, for the most part (excluding the garage door)?

are the neighbors business peeps, or residential?

have you talked with the neighbors, and have they already voiced concerns, or are you just taking preemptive measures?

[jmpizzoferrato]

hi.

the neighbors are almost all commercial or industrial aside from one little residential apartment across the alley from us. they're about 30 feet away. we have two small windows facing them.

the building is an old wood building but the inside has a new layer of drywall up with some pretty dense foam insulation so it's pretty tight. in fact, when a truck would drive by i could only hear sound coming from the windows of the garage door..

we're bringing a drum kit down there tomorrow morning to do a test while someone walks around the building and listens. we haven't signed a lease because of these reasons - why just want to make sure we can conduct business without bothering our neighbors, of course.

[roscoenyc]

Your test is a good idea.

Soundproofing a garage door can be near impossible.

[Jon Nolan]

Your test is a good idea.

Soundproofing a garage door can be near impossible.

agreed.

you might ask some of your neighbors if you can have a listen from *inside* their space, as well. maybe pick up a decibel meter from radio shack. get a bass rig in there while you're at it, if you can. bass is the hardest to "stop."

as for the garage door, perhaps it would be best to frame a mudroom/entry way around it?

[Gebo]

Im working on this project with Justin, we opted to NOT move into this space... I think we found some better options, fingers crossed.