Ideas for creating a small garden recording studio with limited access

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Workspace Solutions needed!

I’m stuck so I thought I’d consult the hive mind who are infinitely more intelligent than me to see if a solution to this issue can be found.

I am an audio producer and voice artist. I record a lot. However, since I have moved, I have lost my dedicated workspace and it is driving me around the twist. I don’t even have a place to leave my kit set up anymore.

I was looking at having a simple blockwork shed built into my garden that I could adapt into a studio for me - however, since having a builder around today, I’m now terrified that it’s going to be extortionate. The only access to the garden is through a room of the house. There is no other outside access and this is where the builder made lots of not reassuring noises.

So, can any of you guys think of any solutions to this issue? I’ve looked at prefabricated pods etc - but again we hit the access issues.

It doesn’t have to be a large space, it’s only for me but it has to be built with sound quality in mind - so something solid to block out the wilder British weather!

Grateful for any suggestions to this dilemma

It will be hard to build anything if you have to go through the house, as it limits what machinery they can use.

Instead of trying to build a proper soundproofed outbuilding, is there any way you could build something like a normal shed/garden room and move some stuff from the house out to there, then take over a room in the house for your work? Eg if you have a box room/junk room, that stuff could do to a shed, if you have a playroom that stuff could go to a garden room?

Unfortunately, that won’t work - the office has been taken over by DH and it’s minuscule so no room for us to budge in and share, and excluding my bedroom, the only other room is my daughters and again, it’s tiny. We were slightly stuck when it came to choosing houses and now can’t afford to move on annoyingly.

Is there any better access via a neighbours house and you could take off a fence panel? Or a back alley with similar?

There are lots of prefab self build kits you could use. Perhaps not ideal for heating during winter though. All you would need is a solid base. Look doable for a handy someone.

Your DH could have a garden pod as a home office - it won’t be completely sound proof but it’s unlikely it needs to be? Mine is fully insulated, has a heater and lights etc, it’s totally usable as an office all year round. Garden pods/garden rooms usually come in pre-fab kits and require much less in the way of heavy machinery to build them, so it should be possible to put one of those in the garden.

How bad is the access? We have craned in garden pods to gardens with bad access before. (I work in landscaping) May be the cheaper options and it's possible that a garden pod seller might include this as an option in their package.

Yep craning it in is a good option - my friend has a three storey house and recently craned in a hot tub, the crane parked on the street and lifted the hot tub right over the house, it was impressive!

We live on a narrow rural road with walls around the perimeter of the plot. I know it sounds like I’m making this up but the access is appalling. Behind us is a field owned by a farmer who is a vile person anyway who is regularly hostile to anyone who asks for access across his land. Couldn’t make it up 🙄 I don’t even know if a crane would fit in this situation

@Luckydog7 the access is through a standard ish back door, through our utility room (about 8ish foot wide) and then out through a double patio door.

If you can find a local garden pod company they can prob come out and view/measure the access and tell you whether or not the crane could fit, that’s what my friend’s hot tub company did.

Is the garden access level (no steps)? If so, it is easy for your builder to run a protective mat along the route and wheel all the materials through with a trolley or wheelbarrow. It is a bit more work but quite possible.

do you need your shed to be insulated? I assume yes if you work there in winter. Look for options where you buy the insulated panels and slot them together into a shed.

What, precisely do you need to record?

Just voiceover? Or other instruments too…

What is the overall ambient noise level of your area? Any busy roads or train lines nearby?

I’ve built quite a few studios so have a fairly good idea about the ins and outs.

This one might work.

https://warwickbuildings.co.uk/garden-pod/cheap-garden-office-pods/

@Lonelycrab Voice mostly. I’m a narrator, voice actor and singer. No busy roads, and very rural. Marauding sheep might be a problem but I’m sure they can be persuaded to help out somehow

@parietal it is level to where we need to build - only door lips to get over? One of the builders did a ‘builder face’ at the door and said he didn’t think a barrow would go through? We got an American fridge freezer through (with some persuasion) so even I raised an eyebrow at that

lol sheep are really quite a pleasant noise problem to have. I can think of a lot worse.

For V/O you won’t need a huge space as long as it is dead/treated. You’ll never get a pleasant acoustic from a small space anyway so you’ll need to be close to your mic (which you probably are anyway)

If it was me in your poor access situation, I’d probably look at an off the shelf garden room type affair (dunster house etc) and then install a good inner skin inside using decent off the shelf sound proofing products. Not the stuff you buy from eg BnQ, actual proper decoupling products. Can link but basically soundproofingshop.com and the like.

The limiting factor is what you can get through the doors of your house. That might be tricky.

One way round this is to go completely bespoke and build it from timbers, but you’ll need a good joiner/builder.

I guess the question is: if you were to buy an average medium sized shed, would you be able to get the bits through your house?

If not then you’re going to have to build it piece by piece. Ie out of individual timbers and sheets.

@Lonelycrab you make completely valid points - the literal pinch point is that one door - it’s so frustrating. I mean I’ve considered purloining the 5 year olds Lego because I know it’ll fit through the bloody door 😂

thank you so much for that website though - so helpful

You’re welcome.

Although a block work build will give far better rejection at low frequencies, it’s probably overkill for a garden studio for vocals that isn’t near eg heavy traffic or train lines. So a timber construction should work. You might need to build it from bits though as it sounds like a pre built job will not fit though your house.

Good luck.