SIMO Studio - Construction Phase

Top work Simo as usual, great showcase for other forum members, I salute you. :thu: well done cheers john

Thanks Jim! and Thank you John…I'm pleased if my thread could be of help to others, likewise many other builds here have helped me tremendously…I literally couldn't have done it without this gold mine of information that's this forum and your site. …nonetheless, the tireless assistance to all of us from your right hand Stuart with his never-ending knowledge! So Thank YOU so much for hosting it !! :thu: Ciao Simo

Wow, wow, wow, wow WOW!! Spectacular, Simo. Your build has been an inspiration and delight to watch, and has just got better and better as time went on. Now all that's left to do is hear it!!?? Please remember us poor mortals when you have some recordings to share, won't you. Will your studio have a name? Genuine thanks too for all the help you gave me and others. I (we) hope you'll stick around for comment!? Now, where did I put my caulking gun...? :cry: Good luck for the future. Kevin

Hey Kevin, Thanks a lot for your comments, very kind of you! I'm doing the "final touches" :-)…polishing the doors (I should have done this long time ago as they are a mess with black fingerprints and all sort of dirt), trims on skirting board, hooks for mic leads, tiling the toilet, etc… I did a sketch for a desk I was going to have built, but even if I'd love to have it there I am forced to postpone it as the budget has completely gone… and I have to give priority to mics, preamps, etc. Here is a two versions of the same idea for the desk: ... or: I "might" try to have a go at building it myself when I have some cash coming in from the studio…in the meantime I'm afraid a normal office-type desk will have to do it for now :-) The studio will be called "Slipway", and I'm almost done with the website too. (final pics coming soon - hopefully) Even if it's not finished it yet and I haven't advertised it at all, just through word of mouth I had four small sessions here, nothing big (one Voice Over, one pre-mixing and two editing ones), and luckily the feedback was positive… It's time to actually start advertising it properly and I do hope to make all of this worthwhile! Of course I'll stick around…I love this Forum and I check it constantly :-) How is your studio going? and Good luck to you too! Ciao Simo

Simo, thanks. I don't wanna bog-down your brilliant thread with my woes, but let's just say my family grew by two feet too, so... :lol: I'm back on the trail now though but I have had to recalibrate my expectations for such a small domestic space. Desk(s) looks fab. Obvious thoughts about the top profile shadowing your monitors, but you know that. Was recently blown away by that will.i.am TV documentary where he appeared to have three large (40"+) monitors arranged almost flat in place of his mixing board. He just had his midi keyboard on some kind of trolley beside him which appeared to be tethered to his chair that followed him around as he wheeled about (as we do). If only they made touch screen monitors that size.... :blah: You just need to plant some money-trees in your garden now, so you can pop outside and give them a shake as required to buy the gear... :lol: Until then. Kevin

Hello ! well, it seems I finally finished the studio…can't quite believe it. :yahoo: After all this time spent researching, designing and building the place, it really seems unreal… Ok, I still have to build the desk before considering it completely finished (!)…but as I said I need to wait for the studio to start paying back a little before facing more expense…so an office desk will do for now :-) Anyway, here are a few pics of the finished place (sorry if it's a bit of a repetition of previous posts). Also the quality of the pics isn't very good, I took them with my phone and having to resize them to the forum resolution limits didn't help either :-)… CR front: rear: LR ...and this is the soffit for the Live room air con unit, which double as a superchunk as well: Perhaps I'll get some professional pics sooner or later, and when that'll happen I will post them here as well. and here is the finished website, if you fancy to have a look: http://www.slipwaystudio.com I just wanted to say Thanks so so much to everyone that patiently guided me through this fantastic experience (Carsten, Brien, Glenn, Ro, Charlie, BriHar, Limsa-terry, RJHollins, Kevstar, Bigsby, Finck). A special thanks of course to John for his guidance and for hosting this fantastic site… I started so naively with very little understanding of what's involved in building a studio and couldn't find a better place where to source the information I was seeking… and way way more! But a super-mega special thanks is for Stuart for his tireless guidance and support…I couldn't have done this without your teaching. You are a Wizard - Grazie Signore !! I'm still checking the forum daily and very much enjoy reading about other builds and I'll definitely keep to do so. for now All the very Best and good luck to everyone !!! Ciao Simo

Simo, words escape me. :shock: There's just nothing to say that can do justice to what you have achieved there. Simply amazing, stunning, and incredible. WOW! (This thread is now a Sticky, and is also at the top of the list of completed studios, where it deserves to be: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=5842) - Stuart -

Wonderful work Simone - you should be very proud. :thu: Thanks you for sharing all your work on this forum. cheers john

Wow! I'm flattered :oops: - you give me a great honor making my build a thread on the forum. Grazie ! Simo

Simo--as I've said before, your build has been such an inspiration! Countless hours of effort are reflected in your designs and execution, and it's a well-deserved honor for your thread to be sitting at the top of the sticky list. The documentation of your build has been very educational to me, and I'm sure many, many others on this forum continue to benefit from the questions you posed along the way and the excellent answers you received. The success of this build is a testament not only to you, but to John and Stuart and this forum as a whole. So thank you, Simone--you are a real artist!

I'm flattered to be mentioned in the list :oops: SIMO ... I think we all be thankful that you shared your 'build' with us here on the forum ! Secondly ... it is a pleasure to see this level of craftsmanship ! 8) I've always looked forward to reading your thread, and hope you a busy recording schedule ... may you find time to check in and let us hear how its going. Great stuff ! :D

SIMO - i am only half way through but I had to jump to the end to leave a thank you - great thread and all these pics are really helpful. The only shame is that I spoiled the build up by seeing the end result - amazing Simo. BW, Ben

Thanks a lot for your kind words Mark, RJ and Ben. Much appreciated !!

Hello Simo, I study your project really carefully and your work is inspiring. Congratulations for your great work! sorry for reviving this after 3 years, If you dont mind I would like to ask you why you chose to have a 3leaf ceiling? I can see going from outside -in that there is: the outer shell which is your whole structure's outer ceiling. Then insulation ,then double sheetrock. Then again insulation and sheetrock. And finally your inside treatment which is not concidered as a leaf. so its mass-air-mass-air-mass. this is a 3leaf right? why didnt you start your inside treatment directly after the double sheetrock? also why didnt you angled the double sheetrock according to your will in order to have a sloped ceiling working in favor of not being parallel to your floor and then just add the inside treatment? I am just trying to figure it out.. Simo or anyone else who gets the big picture please correct me if I am wrong and show me the way! thanks! george

Hi George and thank you. Originally, when I decided to give it a go building my studio I wasn't confident in doing it by myself so I contacted some builders to help me build the outer shell…. well, it didn't take me long to realize that they weren't the best builders in the country (very common here in UK unfortunately) and they were cutting corners wherever possible. It was when the outer shell was finished that I decided to do the internal build myself. The ceiling they built was quite bad, definitely not what you could call soundproofed. I fixed it the best I could as I didn't have the budget to dismantle it and re-do it from scratch and then decided to do another leaf. My studio is at the end of my garden and surrounded by neighbours' gardens, around 20m from my house and more from neighbours' houses, with nothing above it. I have had very loud rock bands recording here and from outside you can't hear a thing, so I guess (considering my situation) - even if that's not the correct way to go - it was a good call :wink: Good luck with your build! Simo By the way since I'm at it, here are a few more updated pics (more of them on the website http://www.slipwaystudio.com) Please like the Slipway Studio FB page (@SlipwayRecords) or Instagram (slipwaystudio) if you can… nowadays seems to make a Big difference for business, any help with this much appreciated :-)

Hi Simo, thank you for your answer, that is good to know! Nice pics! ;) I would like to ask you ssomething more if you dont mind.. if you supposedly angled the double sheetrock ceiling in order to have a sloped ceiling, would that worked okey not being parallel to your floor? so you could then just add the inside treatment Or that is not a good way to go? Thanks again, George.

No problem George, The clouds are spaced around 25 cm from the walls and the front soffits.
 The front cloud was angled with a steeper angle (30°) than the one above the desk (12°), in order to create a 'wave guide effect' across the ceiling, pushing the first sound reflections away from the listening position and straight in the mouth of the rear bass trapping. 
I then used the available space above the front cloud (in the wall-ceiling corner) for additional trapping with a angled super-chunk. Hard back clouds are better than open-back ones for breaking up the modes / flutter between floor and (a flat) ceiling - angling also provides a more broadband effect than simply making it flat. Insulation in your clouds will not affect low/low-mid frequencies - whereas a angled hard top cloud will do a better job. Also, hanging them with chains and hooks gives you the freedom to adjust the height and angle to find the right combination at any time. Hope that helps Simo

Hi there Simo, thanks for your detailed reply! Your construction details and all the discussions with the other members during your construction are so much of a help for me. Thanks again, George.