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.