One area of your home that may be transformed into any particular room is the garage. People convert their garages into photo studios, auto repair shops, small offices, and even gyms. Converting your garage into a music studio is one of the most exciting ways to do it, especially if you’re interested in learning and improving your instrument-playing skills. Many boy bands have started from garages.
If you don’t have a proper workspace, composing and recording your music might be challenging. A personal music studio is something that many musicians aspire to own since it allows them to write, practice, and record music anytime they want. You won’t have to bother looking for a proper studio to work in. If you have an empty garage, your goal of having a music studio can quickly come true.
Planning for Turning Your Garage into a Music Studio
Make Some Room
Clearing space must come first, no matter what renovation you have in mind for your garage. Many people commit a mistake by trying to fit their project into the available space without moving or relocating any extra stuff. For instance, before setting up your music studio over here, you should first transfer small items, such as a small cupboard, random furniture, or any other small stuff, out of the way.
This will just last a short while, so don’t worry. All these objects can be reinstalled on the extra spots once your music studio is set up. This will ensure the music studio is secured even with the garage items. You must make a lot of room available before creating a good music studio. As a result, once the music studio is set up, some items cannot be placed back in their original place. To achieve perfection, get rid of all the extra things.
Create A Floor Plan
After clearing your garage, you may begin designing the layout of your music studio. The first step is to design a functional floor plan that will allow you to evaluate your space and consider various factors like ventilation, size, the layout of the room, etc. On paper, you can write down all the required measurements and a floor layout. The room’s design is very important for a music studio because it can impact the sound. The best acoustics will typically be found in a large garage that isn’t a perfect rectangle or square and doesn’t have many design curves.
Consider Your Budget
When you decide to convert your garage into a music studio, you first need to determine how much you can spend on it. Some people’s budgets are smaller, but it does not prevent having a music studio in your garage. All the requirements for your garage music studio have affordable alternatives that are simple to find.
The garage music studio’s budget could be as low as $1,000, but the larger it is, the better it will be. The $1000 can purchase flooring, lights, soundproof panels, one or two musical instruments, and some basic recording equipment. The initial investment is based on the instrument you are initially willing to use. For instance, a set of drums is more expensive than a guitar. As a result, if you decide on a guitar, you won’t need to spend much money, but if you choose drums first, you’ll need to invest a lot of money in this project.
Starting Small
One characteristic of enthusiasts is that they frequently go overboard. This isn’t necessarily a good thing, especially if you want to convert a small area like a garage into a music studio. We advise starting small rather than immediately aiming high. Even if they were thrilled about a project when they started it, many people only worked on it for a few months before giving up.
Going big on purpose has some risks. First off, there would be a significant financial risk involved. Second, not everything is necessary at first. If you are passionate about being a drummer, you don’t need other instruments initially. Get a drum set and a recording setup to begin with. After you master the drums, you might wish to pick up another instrument, such as the guitar or piano. Gradual development will enable you to acquire various abilities while never putting a strain on your finances.
Sound Proofing the Garage
You might love music a lot, but your neighbors might not. They still wouldn’t enjoy the loud music coming from the garage next door, even if they were. It is important to understand that you must soundproof the garage before setting up your music studio. Since the garage cannot be completely disassembled and rebuilt, soundproof panels are one method of soundproofing. They come in a variety and are sold in the market.
Sound is kept inside the garage by the sound panels, which serve as barriers. Besides, the studio sound capacity improves as the sound is recorded. This is because the sound does not reverberate throughout the space. The best thing about soundproofing is how affordable it is.
Install Flooring
Typically, the music studio is not set up on a standard concrete floor like those seen in most garages. As a result, remodeling and modifying the floor are also important to converting your garage into a music studio. We advise using tiles, especially PVC tiles, as they would be very useful in giving the garage an authentic look of a music studio. You can also choose to carpet, but bear in mind that this will require more maintenance and that you will need to get a good vacuum cleaner to regularly clean the carpet.
Install Lighting
Most music studios typically don’t have a lot of lighting because the studio needs to look modern and elegant. On the other hand, you can learn the different types of notes if you are just starting to play an instrument, such as the guitar or the piano. The music book is used to learn these notes. As a result, you would initially need a good lighting setup in the music studio. Instead of using the white light, we advise choosing the orange one since it contributes to the room’s aesthetic appeal while also meeting lighting needs.
If you are good to go on the instruments, the lighting would be pretty different than what we mentioned above. You must build a stunning environment as a top-notch recording studio would. However, remember that the ideal approach is to have natural and artificial lighting work together as seamlessly as possible. By natural lighting, we mean you should check that the garage has an appropriate sunlight inlet. Remember that the windows should be placed so direct sunlight can enter the garage during the daytime.
Flashy lights, disco lights, and other kinds of LED lights could be a part of artificial lighting. You could also use strobe lights, enabling you to instantly turn your music studio into a dance floor.
Install Proper Ventilation
Your music studio could feel a little stuffy since all the doors and windows must be sealed to achieve the best acoustics. Additionally, high moisture levels could harm your equipment in the lack of proper ventilation. Therefore, having a top-notch ventilation system is important for your studio. But you also need to insulate your vents. Therefore, you should put it in an acoustic box with acoustic foam insulation.
Install Acoustic Panels
While soundproofing your garage music studio, you may find that your music now reverberates off the walls. To absorb some sound waves and enhance the acoustics of your garage music studio, you’ll need to add a few things.
The best way to improve sound quality is to surround the room with many objects known to block sound waves. You could wish to add a big sofa or install heavy curtains, for instance.
If your budget allows, you could upgrade the room with acoustic panels. You might be able to buy these panels, which are made to help some of your sound waves be absorbed.
Keep in mind that these panels might not be inexpensive, especially if you need several of them to completely fill your space. A combination of these choices might be something you want to think about.
Choose the Equipment You Need to Get Started
Consider the necessary equipment after converting your garage into a recording studio. You should consider your needs, the kind of music you’ll record, whether you’ll collaborate with others, and other factors when purchasing music equipment because it can be pricey. Nevertheless, some basic equipment units include a computer, microphones, a digital audio workstation (DAW), studio monitors, and a drum machine to replace drums, instruments, etc.
The Benefits of Turning your Garage into a Music Studio
If you’re a musician, you know how important it can be to have a dedicated space to practice and create music. However, if you do not have the luxury of a home studio, your garage might be the best alternative.
Turning your garage into a music studio has many advantages. First of all, it can help you cut costs. Converting your garage is more cost-effective than renting or building a separate studio.
The ability to tailor your garage to your specific requirements is another advantage. Soundproofing, insulation, and other features can be added to create the ideal environment for music-making.
Lastly, having a garage studio can assist you in improving your workflow. You will be able to concentrate more on your music and less on assembling and disassembling your gear when everything is in one location.
There are numerous excellent reasons to convert your garage into a music studio.
Conclusion
Although it may sound complicated, converting your garage into a recording studio is not difficult at all. Before your music studio is fully ready to rock and roll, there are just a few things you need to take care of. You can transform your garage into an outstanding music studio by implementing the above suggestions. Before anything else, evaluate your resources.