Taylor and I were searching for a new house, one of the key features had to be a space for all the drums.  Also, I had to have a place where I could play them day or night. This meant finding a property with a detached garage or guest house in the back. After much hunting, we found a property in a nice nook of Sherman Oaks that had everything we were looking for. The detached garage in back of this house had 3/4 of it already converted into an office with a raised, carpeted floor. It was more  than an old greasy garage with a concrete floor and cracks of light beaming through old construction.  My first step was to contact the people at Auralex Acoustics in Indianapolis. They manufacture all sorts of products for sound proofing, sound enhancement, isolation, etc.-----everything in the acoustic realm. As fate would have it, the consultant I spoke with was a guy named Jeff Hedback. He's a fine bassist I had met several years earlier with whom we had mutual friends. I faxed him the dimensions and layout of the room and we began discussing a plan that would work, but also not cost as much if we were building Capitol Studios 2!

The basic idea is that you have to build a room within a room, leaving some air pocket gaps between the two drywall layers. Auralex makes a product called Sheetblock which is a heavy vinyl type of material that comes in rolls. It is a very dense material that is a key element in keeping unwanted noise from escaping to the outside. The ceiling, floor, and walls had to have a layer of Sheetblock between the two separate drywalls.

The floor had to be floated to keep the vibrations from leaking outside. Specific RC-8 Auralex hat channel was used for air gaps between the two walls. Doors are always a main problem of sound leakage, and Jeff suggested double solid birch doors with the knobs opening in opposite directions. They had to be Sheetblocked, foamed, carpeted, air gapped, with heavy rubber seals around both inner and outer of the four frames. Also, a split duct air conditioner unit would be needed to keep it cool, and to keep me alive! Without it, you could literally use up the oxygen in an air tight room and pass out A split duct unit hangs on the wall and has a rubber foamed tube that goes through the wall to an apparatus that sits outside of the structure. A wall A/C unit would leak sound, as would central air. One could use central, but it would be incredibly expensive to take steps to sound proof it that way in a 320 square foot garage. Now that we had a plan, the next step was to find a builder/contractor that had experience with this sort of operation, or at least one that would follow Auralex's plans to the letter.

After some searching, my old friend PJ Hanke who's a talented writer, producer and musician gave me the name and number of the contractor who did his studio. Steve Keegan at KLS Woodworks in Los Angeles was called and we discussed the situation. I faxed him the plans and we talked price, and a date was set. The happy crew of KLS began to work, and it was exciting to see it develop step by step into the room that was a culmination of a long time dream. These guys were great, and it was a pleasure to have a crew that seemed really into making this room a reality, and making me, the customer, satisfied.

Next step was to get some new carpeting. I decided to carpet the back wall as well as the floor for esthetics. After that I had to line the other walls and ceiling with Auralex Acoustic foam, which absorbs sound and controls the actual sound of the room. At this point the room was finally completed. There was nothing left to do except organize all my gear, spares and surplus, and set up some drums and have some fun. I've always dreamed of being able to go to the drums at 11:30 at night and be able to work on an idea that popped into my head---and I can finally do it.

This process certainly wasn't cheap, but it was worth doing it right the first time. You can't cheat too much with sound proofing or it won't be worth the work at all. I hope you enjoy the pictures of the completed drum room, and my collection of drum gear. Thanks to all the great folks who were involved in this process If you're a musician looking for sound proofing, sound control or acoustic enhancement, I recommend checking out Auralex.com, or calling Jeff Hedback at 1-800-95-WEDGE. If you're in Southern California and you're looking for a contractor, you can reach Steve Keegan from KLS Woodworks at 818-402-0610.

Click on thumbnails to the left to see more detailed pictures and descriptions.