Unleashed Drum Studio Construction/Build (Garage Conversion)

I'm pleased to share the construction story of my newly built Unleashed Drum Studio in Lake Balboa, CA. Completed 6/10/21, the 6-week (25 working days) construction process is detailed in this vlog. It was the biggest project that I've managed, but thankfully we only encountered a few minor hiccups. I look forward to responding to your thoughts & questions about the build in the comments section. Thanks for watching.
Unleashed Drum Studio v.2021
Features
• Virtually total sound isolation from the outside world
• Acoustically tuned recording environment: energetic yet controlled
• 30, 60, 90 minute drum lessons available in person or on FaceTime
• 5-hour drum recording masterclasses available in person
• Recording sessions offered remotely or in person
• Personal monitor stations for rehearsing & recording groups up to 4 people
• Great selection of vintage & modern instruments by the great companies I endorse: A&F Drum Co, Sabian cymbals, Remo heads, etc.
• One of the highest quality recording & teaching studios in Los Angeles
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Blake Paulson is a consummate musician: a session drummer, music producer, bandleader, educator, and author. www.blakepaulson.com
As a recording artist, Blake has performed on over 500 songs in the studio with artists including: Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato, Joey Yung, Last Unicorn; Movie studios: Netflix, Disney, Paramount; Producers, songwriters, & composers: Aris Archontis, Chen Neeman, Drew Lawrence, Rob Kleiner, Miklos Malek, Jerry Streeter, Zack Ryan, Josh “Igloo” Monroy, Todd Bergman, Andrew Furze; and many independent singers, songwriters, & producers.
As a touring musician, Blake typically performs 50+ shows a year with noted artists including: Hayley Orrantia, The Dales, Hoku, Coffey Anderson, Brennley Brown, See Green, Porcelain, Stephanie Quayle, and many independent artists and bands.
From 2007-2015 Blake co-founded and co-managed an innovative team of twelve LA session musicians, the Backliners. In 2014 Blake founded a world-class drum recording & teaching facility, Unleashed Drum Studio. In 2016 Blake co-founded and continues to co-manage a high-end collective of popular Los Angeles musicians, the LA Session Group. www.losangelessessiongroup.com
As an educator, Blake has helped hundreds of drummers of all skill levels improve their drumming through his inspirational Private Drum Lessons, 5-Hour Drum Recording Masterclasses, and the five award nominated Drumset Method Books he has written: Drumset Coordination (Hal Leonard); Drumset Overlay (Self-Published); Linear Drum Fills (Alfred Music); Drumset Supersets (Alfred Music); and Groove Fundamentals (Hudson Music). www.blakepaulson.com/drumset-...
Endorsements
Blake Proudly Endorses: A&F Drum Co. (Drums); Sabian (Cymbals); Remo (Drum Heads); Mogami (Cables); Humes & Berg (Drum Cases); Snare Weight (Drum Dampeners); is an Ultimate Ears Ambassador (In-Ear Monitors); and Vic Firth Educator (Drumsticks). In addition, Blake works directly with Drum Workshop (Hardware, Pedals); Avid (Recording Software); MakeMusic (Notation Software); FabFilter (Recording Plug-ins) and Sennheiser (Microphones, Headphones).
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[@skyko]

Great job documenting this! I did this 19 years ago and it's one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life. Congrats! Oh, and I'm a neighbor of yours... : ) : ) : )

[@blakepaulson]

What’s up neighbor 🤘

[@jgooch99]

looks great 👍

[@montearnstam6827]

This project must have been so exciting!!

[@richardliles4415]

The Studio came out very nice.

[@adamalesidrums]

so great to see the process. I lived in Northridge for many years, I knew all about the Salsa and Beer!!

[@mattemmett6471]

Really awesome video! I have a mid-1950’s house with a very similar garage setup…furnace in there, too. Curious, was it a big process to move it up to your attic or any complications with that? Also, would you sharing ballpark how much that part of the project cost. Truly awesome video and really appreciate you putting it out there! 👊

[@gavinr7505]

Hi, is the ridge board supported at all at the centre of the rafters? Was it just the collar ties used to hold the roof together? Thanks

[@peterrjbergin]

Awesome video! Also if you could pass my info along I’d like to hire Catsy Jr

[@blakepaulson]

Haha 😂

[@lewissmith1124]

Great job. This is awesome. I'm looking to do the exact same build on my property. What are the dimensions of your space?

[@blakepaulson]

Starting dimensions were 20 x 20

[@gabrieltravassos9065]

Hey Blake, I loved your project my friend, congrats. I am about to make the same at my house that I just both. My doubt its what kind of acoustic should I use and why... each person say something different and makes me unsafe to choose. could I have your help?

[@blakepaulson]

Drop me a DM brother

[@swirle13]

Damn, this looks like a $50k job, is that close?

[@blakepaulson]

My conversion cost $60K, would have been $80K if I hadn’t done the contracting myself. 👍

[@Beatwilder]

Great studio, i am planning to make a drumstudio in my garage aswell. How soundproof is your garage? Are you statisfied with the result? Like to hear from you 😁

[@blakepaulson]

Yes luckily it turned out well with around 50 dB of reduction. Sitting in the studio every day, it’s virtually silent.

[@SeanPlaysDrumsyeah]

I'm interested in doing this in my garage, it's also a 2 car garage around 20x20. It sounds like you got amazing results with your sound reduction, way better than anything else I've seen online outside of fulling framing a room-within-a-room.
Did you do all the research to come up with a design yourself? My budget would only be around half of yours, so I was thinking about a combination of DIY and contracting myself like you did. Details like electrical / HVAC and ventilation I'm not confident I'd be able to learn enough to instruct a contractor on what to do without a solid design plan. I'm afraid spending a bunch of money and being unhappy with the result 🥲

[@jeanpaulawoundza6644]

Hey great video please tell me how much this project costs to you...??

[@blakepaulson]

My conversion cost $60K, would have been $80K if I hadn’t done the contracting myself. 👍

[@mattmarkus4868]

prohibitive ha. Look at how many people and how much work + materials. It's not less than 75K I bet.

[@deadverseRecordings]

Great space! Would you mind sharing estimated project cost for something like this? Looking to do a similar build on the east coast for a project studio.

[@thepeginator2556]

THIS.
Why does everyone leave this out? It’s literally the most important piece of information… because ultimately if you’re wanting to do this, you need to have a ballpark figure before you do ANYTHING.
If you’re budget is £1000 and you find out a realistic figure is £10,000… then you can save yourself all the time of planning it because you know it’s not going to happen.
I’m guessing this guy wouldn’t have got any change from $20k with the amount of labour he employed… I wouldn’t be surprised if it was double that.

[@blakepaulson]

My conversion cost $60K, would have been $80K if I hadn’t done the contracting myself. 👍

[@ADDG880]

Beautiful. How quiet is it outside?

[@blakepaulson]

It’s about -50 dB either way so barely if it all audible outside 🙏

[@nobit3000]

congrats to your studio! but man, we drummers have to go through so much pain, just to be able to play our instrument. I mean this construction equals like at least 20 top of the line guitars…

[@blakepaulson]

So true!

[@HalcyonGuitars]

How did you determine the spacing of the slats on the face of your absorbers?

[@blakepaulson]

Those face plates are made by LA panels, so it’s their formula.

[@darinz1]

What was the final size of the room?

[@blakepaulson]

320 sq. feet / 2895 cu. feet