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[breathe]

I put this thread in I think the right forum but Fletcher's gang is totally my people so anyone here with advice on this scenario please let me know!  I know I'm not the first one to think of this or be in this situation.

http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/t/26146/1137/

Thanks!  You guys rule!

Nicholas

[Sean Eldon Qualls]

A nearly perfect cube is not an ideal listening environment (quite the opposite, actually), and ABSOLUTELY not a control room. Egg-crate foam sold at the Guitar Denter is not "acoustic treatment" or even proper building materials for any purpose whatsoever (not ENTIRELY true, we used to rip out the back two benches of an E350 and use it as a communal mattress). High frequency absorption at best. That's what these "vocal booths" in magazines actually are...cubes with Auralex.

Short answer? It would probably be one of the worst control rooms you ever set foot in/wasted 8 dimes on.

[breathe]

Sean, I appreciate your passion, but my reality is that my next home studio control room is going to be in a garage, and I need keep sound from bothering the neighbors.  Furthermore, I don't know how long I will be staying at the house where this garage is, so making a substantial construction investment is not going to work.  Having a 'portable' control room seems just the ticket.  IF you have a better idea, or know of a cheap studio-compatible commercial space in Los Angeles, let me know!!!

Thanks,
Nicholas

Sean Eldon Qualls wrote on Sun, 07 December 2008 22:04

A nearly perfect cube is not an ideal listening environment (quite the opposite, actually), and ABSOLUTELY not a control room. Egg-crate foam sold at the Guitar Denter is not "acoustic treatment" or even proper building materials for any purpose whatsoever (not ENTIRELY true, we used to rip out the back two benches of an E350 and use it as a communal mattress). High frequency absorption at best. That's what these "vocal booths" in magazines actually are...cubes with Auralex. Short answer? It would probably be one of the worst control rooms you ever set foot in/wasted 8 dimes on.

[Fletcher]

I'm going to guess that the garage is detached from the "main house"?  If it's not then all you'll have to worry about is your house mates... and they can usually be bribed with beer [etc.]

Unless you're planning on listening at 110+db SPL through many of the wee hours of the morning it shouldn't be a problem.  

Air [as in the space between buildings] is a pretty poor conductor of sound... so, if you have a good amount of air space between you and the neighbors you probably won't have a problem.

If there is a problem then you can address it then... but again, if you're using 'near field monitors' [even with a sub] it really shouldn't be a problem unless you're doing a bunch of live tracking [with instruments in the 110+ range].

Check the city's noise ordinance... chances are you can be at least 80db at the property line most of the night... certainly until 10pm.  So... if you need to do things like "loud guitar" overdubs, start around 7p, go until 9:59p and then either switch to recording acoustic GTR, or DI bass, etc.  If you need to do drums or extended tracking sessions... it's why weekends were invented.

If you're not recording live instruments, then you really have no problem... the walls will knock down a minimum of 20db [if they're made like crap... more if they're made well] and you should be within the limit of the law without a struggle... from there bribery will keep you on good terms with the neighbors or working at a lower level will put you in a place where they don't know you exist.

The problem with apartments is that your floor is your neighbor's ceiling... unless you have a 3 family garage chances are pretty good you're not going to have the same issues you might have in an apartment... rendering the "vocal booth with no HVAC system" a moot point as it will most likely be unnecessary.

You may very well have bass shell acoustic issues but those can be dealt with like any space's internal acoustic properties can be dealt... if all you're worried about is the neighbors... wait until there is a problem before you drop a boat load of coin trying to solve a problem that may very well not exist.

Make sense?

[seedyunderbelly.com]

In LA After 10pm they can even take your gear if you are a repeated nuisance.  What Fletcher said was totally right if you are not so loud at night you should be fine - knock off the loud stuff b4 10pm..  

Do not expect the cops to understand you decibel meter unless you have the written ordinances with you-  But as Fletcher said you get morre bee's with honey considering the neighbors..-j

btw  How has your intro to LA been?

[breathe]

LA has totally been awesome so far, and I don't even have any friends here yet!  Basically I love my job (audio post and also especially forensic audio which I'm really good at), and my boss.  My boss just won a contract to do forensic audio work for the LA Sheriff's dept.  Hopefully we'll be getting a lot more of that kind of work.  At home I entertain myself drinking Jim Beam mixed with Arizona Lemon Iced Tea (fantastic!) and getting reacquianted with Pro Tools both remixing old projects formerly mixed in analog and mixing live multitrack recordings I made in my Portland studio/venue that never left my computer.  As a man, I'm amazed at how satisfied I can feel with my life by doing interesting work without having any social life.  In Portland and earlier residences, almost all of the people I became friends with came to me through music recording anyways.  

Nicholas

seedyunderbelly.com wrote on Thu, 11 December 2008 02:54

btw  How has your intro to LA been?

[Fletcher]

seedyunderbelly.com wrote on Thu, 11 December 2008 05:54

In LA After 10pm they can even take your gear if you are a repeated nuisance.

As well they should!!  Many moons ago I lived in an apartment building that also housed a couple of Berklee students.  One liked to attempt to play sax at all hours of the night.

I don't know if he was a drunk or just a really shitty player... but in hindsight taking the horn away from him probably would have been a better idea [though many of the other frustrated neighbors did corroborate the "he fell" story].

Peace.