This is a blog on the building of my reletively new recording studio.
Hopefully it will be of interest to some of you. It is a modest 1400 sq’
space but the challenge was that it is situated between two other
businesses that share a wooden floor therefore I needed to achieve
at least 65 db of noise reduction for it to work. A challenge indeed.
Stay tuned for further developments.
Here is our building. Karen will convert the 1400sq' corner space for her photo studio & I will convert the next space over. We also plan on renovating the exterior of the whole strip.
Exterior of building after renovation. July 2011
This is the space for the recording studio.
Here are some rough sketches (Google sketchup) of the general idea and layout of the rooms. It will be interesting to see how close to this we get. The live room will sit on a concrete slab and have a floating floor atop of that. The control room will also have a floating floor on top of the existing wooden floor. I am not sure if the collapsible iso booth thing will work 100% but it would be great for flexibility.
Angled south view of the studio.
Top south view of studio
Demolition is the first order. One of my goals is to re-use as much of the existing material as is feasible. It can slow the process down a bit but it’s definitely worth it some of the time. Apart from re-using as much of the timber framing as I can I plan on salvaging the lath and using it as a decorative finish.
This was a hair salon. I plan on re-using some of the mirrors and donating the rest.
Down to the studs. Being a 100 year old building, all the walls were lath & plaster. I am keeping the lath to re-use as a finish. Not sure how yet.
None of the centre walls are load bearing so they will be removed.
Some of the material we are saving. Going to be interesting to see how we end up using the lath. Maybe as diffusers or a cool finish on one wall. Open to suggestions. Note the old Knob & Tube wiring system. The knobs could make interesting handles for cabinet doors?
I might use the lath as acoustic treatment or decoratively under the awnings.
Happy about saving the mirrors.
Ancient knob & tubing wiring
1st stage of the demolition is pretty much done. Notice the cool transoms (windows) above the windows and door. You can’t see them from the outside as they have been hidden by the awful siding job from about 50 years ago. We were so excited too find these when the walls were first exposed. We knew they used to be there after seeing the historical photos, but assumed they had been removed. The original glass is even intact. The second phase of this project will be restoring the the outside. We are hoping to bring back the look shown in the historical picture (circa 1937). Probably a good time to mention the fact that we are working on Karen’s space at the same time. She has the space on the South part of the building. Notice her transoms wrap around west & South. We are hoping the extend the windows down the south side of the building. First things first… got to get the interiors done.
Uncovered the transoms (small windows above the big windows). They were hidden for the past 30 years or so.
I considered keeping the original transoms but they are too far gone and not energy efficient so I will donate them.
A view of how the transoms were covered up.
Photo of the building in 1937. We plan on using a lot of the original features when we remodel the exterior.
Karen's space & transoms.
Another view of Karen's space.
Next job is to flatten & strengthen the roof and ceiling joists so that it can bear the weight of the new suspended ceilings. Sadly we also have to remove the skylight. It would have been great to have natural light in the live room but noise leakage would have been a problem. The method we are using to strengthen the joists is to tie them together with plywood all the way across the span. Another detail is to soundproof the pony wall above the ceiling line. Most of the sound leakage from business to business was through this area.
Sadly the skylight has to go.
Starting the joist strengthening.
More of the same.
Pony wall insulation to lesten sound travel from space to space.
Pony wall blocked in to further improve sound insulation.
Begining the skylight removal.
AProgress on the skylight removal.
Done.
Salvage The Antique Flooring Nov 24th 2010
Another opportunity to salvage and recycle. We are pulling up the old fir floors and plan on re-using them by simply turning them over and nailing them back in over the new floating floors.
Turn them over & they look like new.
The pile growing. Just need to de-nail & store them for later.
Make 27' x 22' Hole In The Floor Nov 27th 2010
Next job is to create a 27’ x 22’ hole in the floor. This is where the live room will be changing the ceiling height from 11’ to 14’. First we remove the sub floor, then the floor joists, divert any plumbing that is in the way then prepare the ground for the concrete slab to be poured.
Removing the subfloor. They used Fir planks 100 years ago not plywood.
Sub floor removal done.
Time to start the removal of the floor joists.
The 27’ x 22’ hole in the floor is done. You will notice we have removed all the floor joists bar one. That is because I can’t decide whether to increase the control room by 18" to make it a W 21’ x L 15’ 6" x H 11’. This will of course reduce the length of the live room by 18" making those dimensions W 21’ x L 25’ x H 14’. Let me know if any of you have any thoughts on that.
Here is a closer look at what will be the live room. The centre beam still to be removed, some plumbing, diverted and the ground to be graded in preparation for the concrete pour. I am standing in a small hole in the ground. No idea why that is there but it won’t be this time tomorrow.
A big day today. A lot to achieve. Started work at 6 am. 1st job is to grade ( flatten) the earth and create a trench around the perimeter for the footings. Once that is done we then build the forms for the concrete pour.
Here are some pics of the grading & trench. Just click on the pics for larger images.
In case you are wondering what the white polystyrene shapes are all about. We have decided to pour the concrete slab around the existing footings but want to avoid any noise transferring from the new slab to the existing structure. To achieve this decoupling we glued ½" polystyrene to act as a barrier and between the two.
Here is a close up of one of the footings covered in the ½" polystyrene. We also sealed all the edges with spray foam. The foam also helped glue the shapes together and keep it sturdy.
Once that is done we are ready to lay down the plastic sheeting to act as a vapor barrier between the dirt and concrete.
Here is a 100’ roll of 6 mil plastic sheet.
Plastic sheeting stapled in place. Making sure there is plenty of slack in the corners to allow the concrete to flow into them.
Now we are ready to create the re-bar cage which will strengthen the concrete slab. I have never seen this part before so was keen to see how it is done.
Below is the re-bar that will need bending and wired together to form the cage.
We had these hoops pre-made to save time.
Here shows the beginning of the wiring together of the cage
Tomorrow we plan on finishing the cage. I’ll get some close ups of that when it is done.
That was a long day. I’ve had enough. Going home now
Re-bar Cage For Concrete Slab Dec 3rd 2010
So this is how the re-bar cage looks when done. Basically 2’ squares wired together to add tensile strength to the concrete slab.
Some detail of the corners.
Some detail of the trench hoops.
You will notice the 2" bits of brick dotted around here and there. These are used to raise the re-bar 2" off the ground so it will be situated in the centre of the 4" concrete slab.
Keefer & Billy. Instrumental in the wiring together of the cage. Turns out they both dislike tomatoes in their sandwiches.
Ian Jones owner of “Treebird Construction” and lead contractor on this project. Best way to describe Ian is that he is a rather unusual contractor. He always shows up, is always on time and always on budget. Really lucky to have him leading this project
The Concrete Floor Dec 4th 2010
Cement and pump truck arrived at 7:30 am with 11 yards of concrete on board. At 3300 lbs a yard that is over 36,000 lbs of concrete. Jeez!
To the left is the pump truck which can pump concrete over 800 feet straight up.
They start by filling the trenches.
Being carefull not to step on the risen cage.
Leveling the edges as they go. They will work on half of the floor first.
The dialog… Cozzi: “Do you think they know what they are doing" Ian: ”I hope so" Just kidding, they were brilliant. Ian has been wanting to work with this company for ages.
Roberto filling towards the centre.
The drummer spontaneously combusted.
Leveling with a 12’ 2 x 4. Not exactly hi tech but the result is perfect.
1st half done and roughly leveled.
Smoothing the 1st half while they start filling the second half.
Leveling up the second half.
Job done. The crazy thing is that it only took 1 hour to do the whole floor.
One of the benefits of being married to a great photographer is that I get great pics. Here is a link to the gallery of all the pics of the concrete pour should you be interested http://moskowitz.com/cement_pour/.
Live Room Floating Floor Dec 10th 2010
First job was to lay another vapor barrier on top of the concrete slab. Although it’s been 5 days since the pour, the slab is still evaporating it’s moisture.
Next the perimeter foam had to be spray glued in place. The foam will act as a noise barrier between the new floating floor and the existing structure. It will also provide earthquake protection as the floor will be held in place by the foam.
Here is the glue used to hold the perimeter foam in place.
BWhile the perimeter foam is being glued in position the “Model RIM” (roll out isolation material) is placed in position. We are using 3" model KIP isolators to create an airspace and decouple the new floating floor from the concrete slab. We expect STC rating of 73 IIC 70 with this system. Maybe one of you techies can explain that to me :o)
Another view.
The KIP isolators (3" cubes) are interesting as they compress slightly but in only one direction. If the cube is placed wrongly (ie: on it’s side) then they would be rendered useless as a decoupler. The test is to stand on the cube and if you feel a little give then you have it placed the right way up or you could always just place it with the letter T (for top) facing up ;o). If you want the specs on this material and any of the other stuff I will be using then follow this link… http://kineticsnoise.com/
Completed. The spacing of the cubes are very specific for a couple of reasons.
1. The load the floor needs to handle. I forget the specs but it’s something like 200lbs per square foot.
2. Being as the floating floor is going to be made up of 1 layer of ¾" tongue & Groove OSB then 1 layer of 5/8th sheet rock then another layer of ¾" tongue & Groove OSB then finally ¾ hardwood flooring. Then the cubes need to be spaced so that it will meet the seems of the 4 x 8’ sheets. This will be more obvious when I post tomorrows blog as we will be putting the layers in place then.
That’s it for now. Till tomorrow.
Floating Floor Assembly Dec 11th 2010
Close up of the 3" KIP Isolator.
1st layer is the ¾" tongue & groove OSB.
Note how the edges are positioned half way across the cubes.
Also note how the corners are positioned.
Progress.
1st layer almost done.
1st layer done. Note how it butts up against the perimeter isolation. Every subsequent layer will do the same.
2nd layer is 5'8" sheet rock. Not much to say about this other than this layer is positioned so that none of the seems will match the seems of the layer below.
This will reduce noise leakage and improve the strength of the completed floor.
2nd layer done.
3rd layer is ¾" tongue & groove OSB. Again making sure none of the seems match.
Next all of the layers were screwed together with 2 ½" screws 4 screws every 1 square foot.
Tomorrow we start on framing the walls which is always fun as they go up super fast
Framing The Live Room Dec 13th 2010
Lifting the back frame of the live room. These frames are over 13’ tall so weigh a bit.
Starting on the North wall. It should be noted that these frames sit on top of the floating floor and will not make contact with the outer walls other than with some earthquake isolation clips. This will ensure minimal sound transfer.
North wall done.
Hard to see but you may notice the rope in the foreground. This is my mock up of the control room window. This was a good way of telling how the sight lines are going to work.
South wall done.
West wall and live room done. Meet Mario & Mike. Amazing carpenters/framers.
They got this whole room and a bunch of other stuff done in less than 8 hours.
Next up, the control room floor and walls. cheers M
Earthquake Proofing the Framework Dec 16th 2010
Often overlooked but important part of building a recording studio is to make sure it has some earthquake protection. Below are some of the products we will use.
Close up of framing brace. All of the braces strongly hold the frames in place with little sound transference.
Close up of a another clip.
Frame bumpers.
The blocking between the studs are for the clips.
Close up of a clip in position.
Another view.
The control room wall has to be somewhat anchored to create some stability for the live room wall so we used some other products (wall mat isolation & rubber grommets) to help create support but still minimize sound transmission.
The grommets used.
On all four sides of the wall.
Hard to see but between the two floor plates is where we put the wall matt insulation.
The Control Room Floor And Walls Dec 18th 2010
The control room floor is pretty much identical to the Live Room floor except we used 2" cubes instead of the 3" 1st layer of OSB almost done.
1st layer done.
2nd layer 5/8ths sheet rock.
Control room window from the Live Room side.
Windows and door framework
Control Room window frame.
A shot of the bathroom frame. Please excuse my crappy iphone pictures. Karen isn’t always available to take the shots.
Another shot of the master framers Mario & Mike… Again the Control Room floor walls and a bunch of other stuff took them just under 8 hours. Crazy fast.
Some debris on the Live Room floor gave me an idea.
Looks like the beginnings of a diffuser. Might have to pursue that idea.
In case you were wondering why I haven’t blogged for a while, it’s not because of the holidays but because we have been so busy. Lots to talk about.
Let’s start with the Lath. It’s officially getting in the way so time to de-nail and stack.
Miguel & I have a load to do.
Starting on the pile of 4’ lengths.
The beginnings of a stack. 50 per bundle.
A little more progress.
A larger stack.
Making headway.
A bigger stack. Wondering how many I will end up with.
A day & a ½ later and done with the 4’ lengths.
The final stack of over 3,000 lengths. Not quite sure yet how I will use all of these. Any ideas would be really appreciated…
Before we can sheet rock, we need to install the de-coupling systems on the walls & ceilings.
With the earthquake proofing done we can go onto the grid system to hold up the walls then the spring system to hold up the ceilings. We start with the walls.
Here is the ICW Clip I will use to hold the Hat Channel in place.
Here is the Hat Channel. I am using 20 gauge and it comes in 12’ lengths.
Because I am going to have 3 layers on the walls then I need to place an ICW clip every 32" on the horizontal and every 24" on the vertical.
I used ½" self tapping metal screws to bind the hat channel together where it overlaps
The north wall of the control room is done. You will notice that we have put in the insulation. More on that later.
East wall of the control room.
South Wall of the control room.
West wall of the control room.
North wall of the live room.
East Wall live room.
South wall live room.
West wall live room. Please excuse the crappy iphone pics. Karen hasn’t been available to take pictures for the last bunch of entries.
For the awkward corners of the room next to a doorway I needed to adapt the Hat-Channel a bit using an angle grinder.
The adapted Hat-Channel. Cut to length, and bent a portion 90 degrees.
This way you use less Isomax clips and at $5.50 a pop it helps.
Tomorrow We start on the Ceiling spring system. Stay tuned.
The ceiling spring system is one the more unique parts of this project. The system boasts an STC 76, IIC 62. It is also designed to maximize ceiling height as it works with your existing ceiling joists.
Here is a detail of the system showing the Spring, C-Channel & Hat Channel.
There are several different spring strengths indicated by the different colours.
24 Blue 12-24 lbs
50 Green 25-50 lbs
100 Gray 50-100 lbs
210 Brown 105-210 lbs
Had to grind down some nails that were getting in the way of the springs.
A view of the spring arrangement. Every 4’ in one direction and every 32" in the other
Another view.
Once the springs were in place we put up the C-Channel making sure we left enough room at the ends for the walls that will be built out of 1 layer of 5/8 OSB and 2 x layers of 5/8 sheet rock. After the C-Channel was in place we then screwed the Hat-Channel perpendicular to the joists.
The hat channel is what we will attach the ceiling to. Again the ceiling will comprise of 1 layer of 5/8 OSB and 2 x layers of 5/8 sheet rock. We attached the Hat Channel to the C-Channel using ½" self tapping metal screws. It’s bizarre to think that these screws will hold up a ceiling weighing almost 4,000 lbs, but they will with no problem.
Another view of the Hat Channel.
With the first phase of the electrical completed we can start on the sheeting. The first layer of sheeting on the North wall of the control room is done. We used 5/8" OSB. The reason for this will become apparent later. Also used 1 ¼" self tapping fine thread screws, (long enough to penetrate the Hat Channel but short enough to not hit the studs behind )
North wall of the live room almost done.
Control Room West wall done
Live room East wall done.
Starting on the Live room West wall. A quick note about the insulation. Instead of using two layers of R13 insulation for the walls I ended up getting R30 and split it down the middle to create I suppose two layers of R15. Much cheaper and more effective.
Live room West wall Done.
The Live Room & Control Room South walls are not going to be sheeted yet as I have to run a bunch of cabling in there for video, Alarm system, Ethernet etc…
Just a quick update. Sheet rocking is scheduled for next Monday so we have frantically been finishing up on all of the infrastructure stuff that will be buried behind the walls. For example all the electrical, Plumbing, air filter system, air conditioning, video wires, Ethernet wires and so on. I will get into more detail with pics after Monday when things calm down a bit.
The control room & live room south wall contains most of the infrastructure wiring.
Here is a close up of the electrical, alarm, H-Vac condensation tube etc… running east to west through the south wall. This pic was taken before we added the video and surveillance wiring.
Control room power for the TV, door bell light and camera system.
Close up of the kitchen wiring
More in the kitchen.
7 am delivery of 226 sheets of 5/8" 4’ x 12’ sheet rock, approx 12 tons in weight.
I should mention that this is for Karen’s studio as well as mine.
Starting on the live room walls. Normally they would start with the ceiling but not so with the live room and control room. This will be explained later.
Progress
It was interesting the method they used. Often covering the openings and cutting them later.
Starting on the 4th wall of the live room.
Live room walls complete with 1st layer.
Time to start on the second layer of sheet rock. Once the second layer was done it was time to prepare for the ceiling. The perimeter has to be lined with these foam strips.
These strips will act as a barrier between the walls and ceiling. It will also allow the ceiling to move under its own weight and settle in it’s position as it hangs off the spring system. This is why the walls had to be completed first.
Close up of the foam barrier.
Starting on the ceiling with the first layer (5/8" OSB) It is important to butt up the sheets to the foam barrier to create a bit of a seal.
The OSB layer is followed by two more layers of 5/8" sheet rock.
Repeat process for control room.
Hang out room almost done.
With the sheeting done it is time for the mudding and taping. Not much for me to do here so I am forced to take a few days off while they finish. Good time to catch up on the blog, ordering material, pay bills etc…
Hang out room.
Control room North wall.
Bathroom & storage area.
Control room.
Control room East wall. Should start thinking about ordering the glass for the window.
Starting on the frame for the north wall. The plan is to use 3 ½" mineral wool as a sound absorber. Then cover it all with some nice looking fabric. Maybe this…;o)
North wall done.
East wall done.
South wall done.
SWest wall done.
Here is a close up of the door way/walls between the live room & control room. 12 layers with two more to come. That is where I will fit the double doors.
Another view of the doorway.
This is what I am using for absorbing. It’s called Roxul. 2’ x 4’ x 3.5" thick bats.
The plan is to use this all over the walls, effectively take the room reflections away completely from the walls. The theory being no need for bass traps or special diffusers.
This also is an excellent fire retardent handeling up to 2,200 degres farenhright.
Starting on the North wall.
Working on the South wall.
North wall done.
East & South wall done.
West wall done.
Picked up 700 square feet of nice fir flooring to go with the 500 sq/ft I salvaged from my space.
Starting on the control room floor.
Making progress. You might have noticed that I bridged the gap between the outer room with the inner room, creating a sound short. I plan to cut a small gap between the two later (before I put the doors in) Also notice the orange tool I am using to nail the floorboards down * flooring nailer/stapler). I picked it up cheap on craigslist ($100)
Another view.
Getting there.
Done. Still needs sanding and varnish.
I used the skillsaw & sawsall to cut the gap in the floor between the outer and inner rooms.
While we are at it here is a quick look at the floors in the bathroom & storage area.
I really like the look of the old fir flooring, though I could have done a better job of feathering the boards.
Finished the varnish.
Storage area still to varnish.
Notice the rectangle cut out. This is the trap door access to the crawl space below so we can get to the plumbing etc...
A busy day of hanging 10 doors. All 10 doors are solid core exterior doors (very heavy). We used exterior doors because they have a threshold on the bottom with a weather seal all around. At $260 a door it is a much more cost effective way to go. Here is the double door on a shared jam (single jam) between the hang out room and Karen’s studio. We used a single jam as noise travel isn’t as crucial here.
Here is the double door with separate jam between the hang out room and control room. I should also mention that this double door system has a better STL than some of the $3000 custom studio single doors.
Here is the double door with separate jam between the control room and live room. The noise travel is a lot more crucial here hence the double door jam.
Here is the double door with separate jam between the live room and storage room.
Here is the single door for the bathroom. No double door required. Not expecting too much noise from here. ;o)
I am going to concentrate on the control room first. This is the fun part for me. First job is to build a soffit around the ceiling perimeter. This will double as a housing for the can lights and also act as a ceiling bass trap.
Pre-cutting the studs.
Assembling partially on the floor.
Screwing the parts on the north wall.
North wall soffit done.
Starting on the south wall.
West wall done.
Starting on the east wall.
East wall done.
Can lights installed in soffit.
Starting on the finish treatment on the soffit using the salvaged lath.
Another view. Just a quick wire brush on the lath to clean it up a bit and it’s ready. Going for the rustic look with the modern.
West wall done.
Soffit Done.
Another View. It took longer than I thought to finish but I think it is worth it.
Starting on the drop ceiling. The plan here is to create an angled cloud absorber/diffuser. I will use Armstrong tiles ( with a 75% absorption quality along with some 2’ x 2’ space arrays for here and there for diffusion.
Decided to use the lath on the ceiling. Takes a while but worth it.
Another view.
Just a bit of wire brushing and a very light sanding and the lath is ready to nail to the ceiling. It has a natural finish.
Turns out it was was too labor intensive to clean and prepair the lath by hand so
I ended up using stacked 8" wire disks on a buffing machine which sped up the process no end. (Karen's idea)
A look at the lath after brushing & sanding.
Finished ceiling. Took me just under 2 days but worth it I think.
Starting on the floor. I am using the flooring I salvage from the live room area.
Closer look.
Progress.
I ran each board through the planer a couple of times before laying them down.
Done. I will still need to lightly sand before varnishing.
Starting on the live room soffit. This one is a challenge with all the odd angles.
West wall.
View of South and West wall.
East wall with the odd angles.
The tricky part.
John Fotheringham proudly pointing out his great work.
Live Room soffit done. Tomorrow the can lights go in.
The cans are in now we start on the lath finish.The tricky corner done.
Closer look.
Pretty much ready for the glass. The window size is 7’ 10" x 3' 3 ¾. I am going to use 1 x 11/16ths “ laminate glass on the live room side and 1 x 9/16ths ” on the control room side. They are spaced about 9" apart at the bottom with about a 12 degree angle on both sides.
I used sound deadening board in the middle to bridge the gap between the two windows. I did a test and couldn’t detect any transmission of sound.
Another view.
The glass will rest on two layers of glazing tape on the outside of the wood beading and I will secure the glass with another set of beading and more tape.
The laminated glass arrived today. One pane weighs 175lbs and the other 250lbs.
Going to need some extra help to put these puppies in.
1st pane in. We lined the frame with two layers of glazing tape to decouple the glass from the frame a bit.
We put the thinner glass on the control room side so the thicker piece will be on the live room side. Theory being the thicker glass on the louder side. Problem is we need some extra muscle to help us lift it in. Any offers out there??
2nd pane of glass in. At 250lbs it needed 3 of us. Glad that is done. Thanks Bruce & John :)
Although similar to the control room, the live room has more complicated angles to accommodate. Decided to treat it in two parts. First the rectangular part of the room then we worked on the angled part.
Another view.
Ceiling done. I might replace some of the ceiling tiles with some diffusers. I’ll get into this when it is time to tune the room.
Can lights finished. Really like how it washes the walls.
After using a chalk line to map out the shape of the booths we used 3 ½" strips of sound deadening board to act as a decoupling barrier between the studs and the walls, floor & ceiling.
Notice the two layers for the inner and outer walls.
Beginning of the framing. Planing on using french doors in this booth so we can roll a piano in and out.
Progress.
Notice the little line of sight window in the side wall.
One layer of sheet rock on the inner wall.
Starting on the floor in booth 1.
Both booths inner walls framed and sheet rocked. Outer wall frames done also.
Started on the isomax clips & hat channel for the two layers of sheet rock on the outer walls.
A little mod on the hat channel to accommodate a tight corner.
The tight corner. It also reduces the amount of clips needed.
Metalwork done on the outer walls.
Just one more wall to do in booth 2.
Insulation done. Again I used R30 paperless and split it down the middle to make R15.
It’s cheaper and accommodates the extra little gap between the walls.
Wall in booth 2 insulated.
Starting on the 2 layers of sheet rock.
Notice I am placing the sheets on the foam matting. This will help decouple the walls from the floor as there is a common floor both inside and outside the booths.
Starting on the soffit in booth 1.
First layer of sheet rock done. Used up a lot of the scraps hence the patchwork quilt look.
Second layer of sheet rock done and the first pass of mud & tape.
The lighting cans for the live room soffit.
Booth 1 soffit frame done.
Booth 2 soffit frame done.
Booth 2 soffit cans & lath done.
Karen came up with a much better idea for wire brushing the lath.
Sandwiched together 3 wire wheels. Mush easier and faster.
Booth 1 soffit and ceiling done.
Booth 2 soffit and ceiling done.
Tomorrow we finish the floors and doors.
Doors more or less done. Just the trim work to do.
Booth 1 floor varnished.
Booth 1 trim done.
Same procedure as the control room floor.
Live room floor done.
Steps from the control room to the live room. Planing on doing something like this.
Frame done. I like the arch design but need to strengthen and support the arch.
Will support it with this.
Like this.
Covered the frame with ½" birch ply for a cleaner look.
I plan on securing the treads and landing from below. It’s a nicer look to have no top nails. Besids top nails always work loose over time.
Landing being glued together.
Woodwork done.
Going to look for some cool hand rails next. Also Booth 2 stairs done.
A bit of a milestone, the 7’ KAWAI piano is arriving today.
Been in storage for over 6 months. Karen is available to document the unloading.
Always love it when Karen can take the pics.
Was expecting more than 2 guys but here goes.
1st small hurdle.
2nd larger one.
I was a bit nervous that the steps might groan under the 900lb piano plus a 200lb bloke.
Here goes.
Look at the ramp flex under the weight.
Straight into booth 2. I am going to keep it there while we finish up the live room.
Time to put the legs back on.
We have reached the point where it is time to start tuning the control room. I am starting with the ceiling. I was noticing a ringing sound in the key of A coming from the ceiling so we started by replacing some tiles with space array diffusers and some absorptive foam. this did the trick.
The funny thing about tuning a room is that it’s a process of elimination.
Meaning, when you solve one problem, it reveals another smaller one and so on until done. The next challenge is to eliminate the standing wave between the two parallel doors. Normally one would have these doors at an angle from each other but I needed to save every inch of space so opted for treating the doors after the fact.
Love the sound in here too. Controlled but again the 14’ ceiling gives it some air. As with booth 1, the panels are surrounded with ambient light for mood.
Bright & comfortable lounge area. Cable TV and high speed internet
We ended up putting in a full kitchen along the North wall.
Note the hidden dishwasher, microwave and my favorite, the instant boiling water feature.
To accommodate the endless supply of this…
Always wanted a shower at the studio so, there we have it :)
Booth 1 turned out great. Really happy with how piano & drums, actually anything sound in there. All the panels are removable so yo can easily control the amount of absorption. They are also surrounded with ambient light for mood. This room also has a 14’ ceiling.
Tags: recording studio booth Seattle WA
For a while I was experimenting with all kinds of diffusion in the live room but ended up keeping it simple as it seems the shape and angles of the room sound great and eliminate any unwanted standing waves & flutter echos. The 14’ ceilings allow for a bigger sound than the room looks, especially when the room mics a placed up high.
I have opted to hang some of the room and overhead mics from the adjustable rigging above. Makes for a less cluttered floor and easier to place the mics in those awkward positions.
Fast forward 9 months and here we are, pretty much finished with the studio. Having said that, when is anything ever completely finished. As soon as the studio was useable I became a little swamped with work (more details on that later) so the blog took a back seat. Anyway here is an attempt at getting up to date.
Hope you enjoy…
Quite happy with how the control room turned out. Feels good being in there. It functions perfectly but feels like home too.
Particularly like the ring of ambient light around the chair rail height. It was Noreen’s idea from Graham Baba architects. Its basically led strip light hidden by metal trim.
Close up of the LED ambient light trim.
East wall. Recently upgraded to the new Avid i/o’s. 32 analog channels in & out. They sound great too. Full gear list will be available on the new “under construction” website.
Control Room Updated to Dolby Atmos 9.1.4 system. Fully tuned to Dolby specs & Sounds great!
