Music recording studio v. Stage

[expat101]

Hopefully I’m posting in the right board…

any musicians here who can advise if a music recording studio is easily converted (using the same equipment), into an open air stage?

neighbour has built one on their property and I was told it was specifically for recording music and would be insulated. All of which should have been fine, but it actually opens up as a covered stage which they host amplified performances from.

Last one I was told was for a 50th birthday party. The “function” ended up having a couple of other professional musos turning up and staying o/n in RUV’s with a group of people o/nighting under a main tarpaulin used for commercial purposes elsewhere.

I’m trying to work out if the neighbour was p…..g down my leg when she told me it was for recording purposes. It’s roughly the size of 2 - 3 shipping containers when open.

In theory sure, you could open doors on any garden room you were using as a music studio and call it a stage but for it to function in a proper way as both would be…. unusual.

Are your neighbours in the music business and/or quite wealthy? How much do they use the studio? Can you hear it?

If it converts into an open stage, there is clear intention for that to be for performance.

Can you check the conditions of the Planning Permission? It seems odd that permission for this would be granted in a residential area.

Parents/land owners Main income from former employment and possibly an inheritance, not from music. Closely associated with the local drama theatre and its people but not enough to have all of their performances held there although she has done the odd song there as part of a walk in spot.

Retired to another property but are up often enough.

adult son who is the primary user, lives back on site FT works in an unrelated industry. Drummer.

Oh yes we hear it very clearly as amps are used.

Adult son has been asked to keep the sliding doors closed but we were told he feels it’s his right to have them open while practising of an evening /night time. Stepping up the practice sessions these days which normally leads up to another concert. Brother who we get on with will leave the property when he feels it’s all starting to go downhill and says there is no reasoning with his brother.

Certainly not famous but they do have guests who have made a name for themselves in the domestic market (not uk).

and no it’s not in our district plan as an allowable activity.

the more I write the more I think it isn’t a recording studio at all…

Formally (and still is in parts) farmland with small holdings up on the other side of us and the road, houses/shedding have been all built fairly close to the original homesteads and boundaries, so the building isn't ''up the back 30 acres somewhere'' but very close by... the property layout and this music room look directly at us, so the noise is direct.

Sounds like it’s both really. Or, more so, like they’ve built a stage that can be enclosed to use for practise if the weather’s no good….

Are the sliding doors glass? If so then it’s not much good as a recording studio, especially for drums. I think it sounds quite cool (my husband would adore it) but guess maybe not so much if you’re the neighbour

Get onto the council that is not acceptable noise

So you aren't in the UK which will limit the amount of useful advice mumsnet people can give. But what are the local planning and noise rules? I'd have thought outdoor amplified performance would be considered a nuisance in a lot of countries.

Well the equipment could physically be used in either setting, but I don't know if a professional musician would use different equipment for recording vs performing. Some will, some won't.

But that's not the issue here, any sort of amplified music, whatever the source and 'reason' in a residential area is likely to break local noise nuisance regulations.

In the UK, it would be a matter for the Environmental Health department at the local council, so you probably need to look for your local equivalent.

In the meantime, perhaps make a note of when the noise occurs and make some recordings.

Yes they are glass…

when mum runs the concerts they are at reasonable times and infrequently. However the son abuses the use of the equipment (mum has been told) so in the past we have had his children screaming down microphones at night, guitar whines (I think it’s called) and all sorts of scratchy instrument noises coming through the amps.

plus the guy can’t sing for shite, but we all have to hear it..

Thanks for the thoughts and yes I would think so too. My main intention of asking the initial question, not being musically talented, was the likelihood of a purpose built room, supposedly sound proof, having dual use potential as a semi enclosed/covered stage area.

from the pictures I have seen of recording studios, I wouldn’t have thought so, and as the poster up thread said, having glass sliders would make it less than ideal for a sound proof recording studio.

Pre covid they had a group of guys turn up in the daytime and do a full “performance” (nothing that I recognised) and the property owner, when told, claimed they were returning from performing somewhere and decided to drop by unexpected, not knowing people were home nearby. Who leaves that sort of building unlocked? Not such as a surprise I suspect…

so I think it’s all been a bit of a con from the property owner to begin with. Prior to that construction, they still had the same amplified equipment set up elsewhere on the property and equally as loud.

Doesn't sound like a recording studio to me. The fact that it converts would diminish any efficiency of sound proofing.

Music studios - especially specifically for recording - need to have excellent sound proofing. Although you can purchase special gas-filled glass for any windows I would have thought you'd want to minimise the amount of glass in a recording room not just for sound proofing but for acoustics too. Do the walls/floor/ceiling have any specifications (from what you can gather) to make them for a recording studio? Recordings don't want too much reverb (hence, if it were me I'd be taking out the glass).

Professional Acoustic Consultant here. An enclosed room can be "soundproofed". An open air (or partially open) stage cannot. Simple as that. Your local planning / noise regulations will define what is deemed acceptable.

Thanks everyone, your feedback is appreciated