Garden Music Studio Design & Installation

At Yellow Technology, we have been consulting on the design and build of garden music studios for well over a decade. With the music industry moving homeward in recent years, there is more demand than ever before for a quiet, private space to compose, record, and mix - bespoke garden recording studios are often the perfect solution. 

For many audio professionals, having a dedicated, separate workspace just a few yards away from the house is not only a game-changer in terms of productivity; but also in terms of quality of life. 

As with our conventional studio design services, we’re able to provide professional, unbiased advice right from pre-design and planning stages, through to installation and commissioning. Whilst we are able to collaborate with your preferred building contractor, we are also able to offer an industry-leading turnkey solution in conjunction with our own preferred building and architectural partners.

Building materials and techniques can differ greatly between a standard domestic cabin structure and one that is built to provide favourable acoustics and isolation. Similarly, considerations like lighting layouts, glazing choices, door selection, ventilation and air conditioning can all affect the sound, workflow and aesthetic of a finished studio. We’ll help you navigate all of these crucial design decisions to produce a garden room that is uniquely optimised for professional composition, recording and mixing.

The construction budget for a soundproof garden music room is typically heavily dependant on the degree of sound insulation required. Keeping out the noise from major roads, flight paths or train lines can require considerably more complex construction techniques than just reducing the noise from nearby birdsong! Similarly, a requirement for being able to record loud drums without neighbours hearing is likely to incur higher construction costs than a space that’s primarily used for mixing at moderate sound levels.

Get in touch with us today for more advice and information.

“Thank you to you all for looking after me in 2020 and
creating this wonderful writing space for me”
— Julie Cooper (Composer)

Garden Music Studio FAQ

  • The answer is usually yes! However, size and position usually have a significant bearing on whether the building requires planning permission, and if it does, whether that is likely to be granted. With experience in a wide variety of planning scenarios, we're able to advise on your specific circumstance to come up with an appropriate solution.

  • If you're aiming for high levels of acoustic insulation then the studio will likely end up fairly airtight and thus, unless your workflow involves you getting up to open the doors and windows fairly regularly, it's likely you'll need some kind of mechanical ventilation system.

    Our team will be able to advise on specifications. It's worth bearing in mind that ventilation systems can have a significant bearing on the sound insulation performance of a space and careful design and system specification is required to ensure your studio remains soundproof and quiet!

  • This is fairly dependent on how much space you'd like on the inside of the studio: Do you require a separate live room or vocal booth, or are you happy working in a single production studio space? Is there a need for a dedicated machine room? Bathroom and kitchenette facilities are also common considerations.

    The amount of space dedicated to wall build-up is closely related to the levels of acoustic isolation one is trying to achieve, but this "loss" of internal space is worth keeping in mind; it's also worth remembering that the internal studio footprint will need to accommodate acoustic treatment.

    Finally, the distance of the structure from your property boundary can affect planning permission requirements so often needs to be factored in here. With a wealth of experience in considering all of these codependent factors, we can help advise on the best size and position for you.

  • We have dealt with a range of options concerning heating, although underfloor heating or air conditioning systems (with heating and cooling) tend to interfere less with internal acoustic treatment compared to conventional radiators.

  • We’ve designed and built a number of garden studios that fall under Permitted Development and thus don’t require Planning Permission. However, Permitted Development does more stringently limit the position, size and often crucially, the height of the studio.

    That said, Planning Permission need not be a significant deterrent to building your studio. Our team are able to advise on, prepare and administer the application as required.

  • It’s sometimes possible to make moderate improvements to the sound insulation performance of an existing garden room. However, typically “off-the-shelf” garden rooms have been built with lightweight materials and are often unable to support the kind of loads required for significant soundproofing measures.

    Remember that even if the scope for sound insulation improvements is limited, it’s nearly always possible to improve the internal acoustic treatment of an existing space and get it sounding brilliant for recording and mixing on the inside.

  • Probably not. Acoustic plasterboard, iso clips, resilient bars and other acoustic building products can be a part of a soundproofing solution; however, it’s never as simple as simply adding them to a standard wall or ceiling build up to convert a standard garden room into a studio. We’ve actually encountered a number of scenarios where using these products in isolation have actually made a studio perform worse! It really is an area where specialist acoustic design is required to avoid disappointment in the long run.

  • Not necessarily, although if it does we’ll be able to specify the right door for your design.

    Often the required acoustic performance can be achieved with careful positioning or perhaps the use of a lobby area.

  • Rooflights and skylights can be a good method of letting natural light into a garden studio. Although we’re careful to ensure that they’re positioned in areas that don’t require overhead acoustic treatment.

    Furthermore, as with all windows, there may well be a requirement for particular types of acoustic glass and/or secondary glazing.