Have you considered turning your garage into a recording studio?

Don’t forget the garage door

In 1960, several young men setup their equipment in their garage and hit a note that has reverberated through history. That garage was in Liverpool. And by ‘their equipment,’ we’re referring to their musical instruments. We came to know of them as the Beatles. But they’re hardly the only band to get its start in a garage.

The garage is simply a logical place to start a band. Assuming is relatively clean and organized, there’s plenty of room for drums, keyboards, amplifiers, speakers, guitars and other instruments. In the summer, you can roll up the garage door and share your music with the neighbors. In the winter, hopefully the garage is heated.

That pretty much describes how bands got started in their garages: move the instruments in and start playing. Today, however, a garage can be more than four walls and an overhead garage door – much more.

You can turn your garage into a recording studio

With a little work, you can seriously improve the acoustics of the garage. You can setup recording equipment and record your band’s musical accomplishments.

The first step is to soundproof your garage. If your garage has insulation and drywall, that’s a start. But you may still want to add some soundproofing to the walls. You may also want to soundproof the windows. And then there’s the garage door.

Does your garage door have insulation? If not, you may want a garage door that does. 

What kind of material is your garage door made of? If it’s made of metal, does the metal rattle when you’re playing music? You may have to listen closely to tell.

A wooden or fiberglass garage door is probably better. And that insulation can make a big difference.

Soundproofed, your garage will provide a setting where you’ll have less distortion when recording your music. But soundproofing does more than that. 

It’s just possible that the neighbors may not want to hear you playing your music (they may not realize they’re having a special opportunity to hear that next big band in its formative days. Soundproofing will help you to avoid calls to the police and will allow you to play later into the night. It’s the neighborly thing to do.

If you do a good enough job setting up your recording studio, you can even charge other people to use your garage. And it’s easy. Roll up the garage door and let them bring their instruments in. Then roll the garage door down again so they can start playing, and you can start recording.

Shake, Rattle and Roll – are your garage door and garage door opener in tune?

 Shake, rattle and roll, shake, rattle and roll

I said shake, rattle and roll, shake, rattle and roll

Do you remember Bill Haley and the Comets or Elvis Presley cranking out that hit from the ‘50s? A bit ahead of your time? Rolling Stone magazine lists it as one of the 500 Greatest Songs of all time. Considering, it may work as lyrics for a song but is it the number you want your garage door and garage door opener duo to sing?

When you strike up this band, you expect your garage door and garage door opener to sing an ultra-smooth harmony. You’d rather hear them do a rendition of The Platters hit Twilight Time as you open and close the door following a relaxing evening out with your spouse.

The point is that, if your garage door is keeping a beat while the garage door cranks it up or down, that could indicate a problem with your garage door equipment. And the problem is that a garage door’s shake, rattle and roll might just vibrate something else out of whack. The longer it vibrates, the longer other parts will shake until they rattle loose. 

If your garage door opener and garage door conspire to sing out of tune, you may find the culprit hiding among the symphony of parts that are supposed to play a synchronized melody. To find the problem, you may need to through the orchestra piece by piece while paying special attention to the following instruments:

• Nuts and bolts are loose
• Some of the slides and rollers require some lubrication
• A spring or another of the essential performers is broken
• The pulleys, gears or belts that carry the tune from the opener to the door need adjustment

The goal is to ensure that the orchestral performance of your garage door and garage door opener are prepared to play its well-rehearsed numbers cohesively. When everything is in tune, they’ll play those songs, up and down, with the same vigor for years to come (with due maintenance) while bridging your entry and exit from the garage whenever you call.