The Design Community Hub

c/backyard-studios

3

jade618•2d ago

Switched to pine tongue and groove for my studio ceiling, huge difference in 3 weeks

Had that old drywall ceiling that just soaked up sound in my backyard studio in Denver. Zero liveliness. Swapped it out for pine tongue and groove boards, took a weekend with a buddy. Now the acoustics feel warmer, less dead. Has anyone else ditched drywall for wood and gotten better recording results?

22

webb.xena•3d ago

Three weeks to figure out a ground loop issue in my backyard studio

Built a little recording shack last spring. Plugged everything in and got this constant hum. Thought it was cheap cables. Replaced them all. Nope. Turns out I ran my power and audio lines in the same trench. Three weeks of swapping gear and googling before a buddy in Austin told me to separate them by at least 3 feet. Anyone else buried their problems literally?

15

veraramirez•5d ago

Shoutout to the hardware store clerk who ruined my soundproofing plan

I was at Lowe's in Akron getting materials for my backyard vocal booth, and the clerk talked me into using rigid foam insulation panels instead of proper acoustic panels. After three weeks of setup, the room sounds like a tin can and my vocals have this awful echo that I can't fix. Has anyone else gotten bad advice from a big box store that set their studio back months?

1

casey_campbell•5d ago

Had a bird fly into my studio mid-recording session

I was tracking vocals in my backyard studio last Tuesday when a sparrow somehow got through the screen vent and just started circling the mic stand. I froze for a solid 10 seconds while my friend Dave kept playing guitar in the next room yelling "what was that noise?" Ended up catching the little guy with a t-shirt and letting him out, but now I really need to figure out how to bird-proof this place before summer hits. Anyone else deal with unexpected wildlife crashing a session?

9

blaker75•7d ago

Someone pointed out my monitor height was killing my neck after months of back pain

I've been working in my backyard studio for about a year now, and I kept having this nagging pain in my upper back and neck. Thought it was just getting older or sitting too long. Then a buddy who does ergonomics consulting stopped by last weekend and immediately said my monitors were way too low. I had them sitting right on the desk, which I guess is pretty common. He showed me how to stack some old textbooks under them to get the top of the screen at eye level. It feels weird at first but after three days my neck pain is almost gone. Has anyone else dealt with weird aches from their studio setup that turned out to be something simple like this?

12

patricia385•22d ago

My roof leak killed my recording setup over Memorial Day weekend

Had a small leak in my shed roof I kept ignoring. Then that big storm hit on Saturday and water poured right onto my mixer board. That old Behringer Xenyx is toast now, fried the power supply and everything. I spent Sunday pulling carpet up and drying out the place with a shop vac. No idea how much to fix it yet, probably another $200 for a used board. Anyone else deal with water damage in their studio and have a quick fix that worked?

19

ninam86•23d ago

Overheard my neighbor's band through the wall and realized my soundproofing is a joke

I was setting up mics in my shed-turned-studio last Saturday when I heard my neighbor's garage band practicing crystal clear through two layers of drywall and Rockwool. Turns out I forgot to seal a gap around the door frame and it's basically a megaphone for noise. Anyone else find a cheap fix for dodging the low-end bleed-through in a backyard build?

14

noraj79•24d ago

I finally swapped out my old desk fan for a silent PC fan in my recording shed

After 2 years of fighting fan noise on my vocal takes, I spent $15 on a Noctua fan last month and wired it in myself, and now I can actually record without that constant hum in the background, has anyone else tried this mod for their booth?

20

mitchell.shane•24d ago

A voice actor client told me my DIY vocal booth sounded like a 'wet cardboard box' and I had to rethink all my acoustic panels

I swapped my 2-inch foam tiles for 4-inch rockwool traps after he sent me a frequency chart of my untreated room and now I'm actually getting clean takes instead of that boxy low-end mud, anyone else had a professional call out their setup and force a total rebuild?

6

grace926•25d ago

My cheap mixer couldn't handle a 2 hour tracking session

I was recording vocals in my backyard shed last Saturday. Took about 2 hours to get the takes right. My $80 Behringer mixer started crackling bad by the end. Found out from a Sweetwater article that budget mixers overheat if you push them that long. Anyone else hit that wall with cheap gear in a small space?

11

sullivan.john•25d ago

Found out my neighbor's $200 shed conversion is quieter than my $1,500 build

He used acoustic caulk on every seam and rockwool inside the walls, nothing fancy. Did I just waste all that cash on expensive soundproofing foam that barely works?

6

the_piper•27d ago

My drum track got RUINED by a bad ground loop mid-session

I was tracking drums in my backyard studio last Saturday around 2 PM, finally getting a good take on a song I've been working on for weeks. Everything sounded great through my headphones, but when I played it back on my monitors, there was this LOUD 60 Hz hum that totally buried the kick drum. I spent like 45 minutes unplugging every cable and isolating gear one by one. Turns out it was my cheap power strip daisy chained into an extension cord running from the house. I swapped it for a Furman power conditioner I got used for $60 off Craigslist, and the hum disappeared instantly. Has anyone else had major noise issues from their power setup in a detached shed or garage studio?

25

luna_wells57•1mo ago

Borrowed a buddy's Ryobi inflatable paddleboard vs my hard board for the lake last weekend

The inflatable was way easier to haul to the water and took like 8 minutes to pump up, but my hard board carved through the wind way better once I got out there. Anyone else ditch a rigid setup for something more portable in their backyard build?

18

taylor_moore•1mo ago

Finished my backyard studio build last week and found a killer fix for ventilation

I was struggling with the summer heat in my shed conversion. It would hit 95 degrees by noon. Tried a couple box fans but they just moved hot air around. Then I cut a 6 inch hole low on one wall and another high on the opposite side. The natural airflow cooled it down by 15 degrees easy. Cost me $20 for the vents and a jigsaw blade. Anyone else do passive ventilation or am I overthinking this?

4

logan_schmidt•1mo ago

Tried acoustic foam panels vs cheap moving blankets for sound dampening

I spent $200 on those wedge foam panels from Amazon for my 10x12 shed studio and they barely stopped any echo. Then I hung some Harbor Freight moving blankets I already had and the difference was night and day. Anyone else find that budget materials work better than the stuff marketed for studios?

32

sarah_johnson46•1mo ago

I used to think soundproofing meant buying expensive foam panels

Last month I had a buddy over who builds recording booths for a living, and he laughed at my studio walls covered in those wedge foam squares. He said I was basically just stopping echo, not actually blocking sound from getting out. Then he showed me how he uses mass-loaded vinyl and double drywall with green glue in between to really isolate the room. I spent about $400 on materials last weekend and added a second layer of drywall over the existing wall in my backyard shed. The difference is night and day - my neighbor actually texted me asking if I stopped playing guitar. Has anyone else switched from foam to real mass-loaded solutions for their studio?

16

mitchell.shane•1mo ago

Am I the only one who stopped using acoustic panels and went back to heavy blankets?

I lined my whole studio with those foam acoustic panels back in 2019, spent like $400 on them from a place in Phoenix... but after a year I realized the room still sounded dead and boxy on recordings. Swapped them out for thick moving blankets I got for $30 total, and now my vocals actually have some life in them without weird echoes. Has anyone else found that cheap stuff works better than the fancy gear?

4

josephf10•1mo ago

I finally realized my mic placement was killing my vocals

Been recording vocals in my backyard shed studio for about 8 months now, and I could never get that rich, full sound I wanted. Everything came out thin and boxy. Last week my buddy who mixes for a living came over and watched me record one take. He stopped me after 30 seconds and said "why are you standing 2 feet back from the mic?" I told him I thought that's what you do to avoid plosives. He laughed, walked over, and moved me to about 6 inches away, angled the mic slightly off axis, and told me to just use a foam filter instead. The difference was night and day. All those months I was basically recording my room echo instead of my actual voice. Has anyone else had that moment where a small adjustment to their recording setup completely changed their sound?

13

oscarwilliams•1mo ago

Threw $300 at a soundproofing foam kit from Amazon

I bought this 50-pack of acoustic foam panels for my backyard studio back in March, thinking it'd kill the echo from my concrete walls... turns out those cheap panels barely do anything for low end. Now my mixes sound like garbage and I'm out cash I could've saved for real rockwool treatment. Anyone else learn this the hard way?

6

jordangibson•1mo ago

Had a framing nailer jam at 7pm on a Wednesday and it wrecked my whole build schedule

Last week I was working on my backyard studio framing and my pneumatic nailer jammed up right at the worst possible time. I was trying to get the last wall section done before dark and the thing just stopped firing. Took me a solid 45 minutes with a screwdriver and a hammer to clear the jam, and by then the light was gone. I ended up having to work the next morning in the rain to catch up, which meant the plywood got wet and warped a little on one sheet. Honestly I think people overhype these big brand nailers. They all jam eventually. I'm thinking of going back to hand nailing for the smaller stuff since it's more reliable. Has anyone else had a tool failure cost them a whole day like this?

25

elliot_harris25•1mo ago

Got into a heated debate with a neighbor about whether treated lumber needs to be sealed. What side are you on?

I mean, I've been building stuff in my backyard studio for like 6 years now. Two weeks ago my neighbor Dave came over to check out the new planter boxes I put in around the studio. He's been doing carpentry for 30 years and he looked at my pressure treated wood and said 'you know that's gonna rot out in 5 years if you don't seal it.' I told him I've always heard treated lumber is fine on its own, that's the whole point of it being treated. He laughed and said the treatment just keeps bugs away, not water. We went back and forth for like 20 minutes. He finally pulled up a video from some building inspector in Oregon who showed moisture readings on unsealed treated posts vs sealed ones. Now I'm second guessing everything. Has anyone else run into this disagreement? What do you do with the wood around your studio space?

6

ericjackson•1mo ago

My neighbor's backyard studio flooded last month - check your drainage now

I was down in my workshop last Tuesday and heard water running, turns out my neighbor's DIY studio 2 doors down got 3 inches of water inside after that heavy rain. He had built it on a flat slab without any slope and the run-off from his roof just pooled right against the back wall. Cost him $1,200 to replace the MDF shelving and two cheap amps he stored on the floor. Has anyone else dealt with water intrusion from a poorly planned slab?

22

wendysmith•1mo ago

Finally got my backyard studio roof sealed after a big leak scare

I was in the middle of recording a demo at my place in Austin last Tuesday when I heard dripping behind the acoustic panels, turns out a seam had split right above my mixing board. I grabbed some flex seal tape at 2 AM just to stop the immediate damage, but now I'm looking at maybe 200 bucks in repairs. Has anyone else had a roof issue pop up on a prefab shed conversion and how did you track down the exact spot?

14

josephb35•1mo ago

Dropped $300 on a cheap studio shed kit and now I'm patching leaks

Last spring I ordered one of those flat-pack shed kits from a big box store to turn into my recording space. Looked fine on paper but the roof panels warped after two months of summer sun. I've already spent another $150 on sealant and flashing trying to keep the rain out. Has anyone else had luck with a specific brand of backyard studio building that actually holds up?

11

mitchell.shane•1mo ago

My neighbor built a studio with zero soundproofing and it's hilarious

Guy next door spent $3,000 on lumber and drywall for a backyard recording studio but used no insulation or acoustic treatment at all. I can hear his terrible beatboxing from my kitchen window clear as day. Has anyone else had to explain the difference between a shed and a studio to someone?