Key posts: Dog + Bear Studio build

Substantial posts by stevev, who started the thread, and by the forum’s most active contributors. 123 of 181 posts are listed.

Page 1

stevev, 14 May 2012Hi all, I think it's time to weigh in with my project and see if I can get some discussion going. I've been looking through the site for quite a while and have based a…
Soundman2020, 14 May 2012Hi Steve, and Welcome! :) I think you are being just a bit optimistic there! Playing drums as quietly as 90 dB is really hard to do: most drummers I know couldn't keep…
stevev, 14 May 2012Thanks for the input Stuart, and for giving me some realistic figures to work on for isolation. I figured the roof was going to be a bit tricky, hence posting up with…
Soundman2020, 14 May 2012Maybe you could post some photos of that roof, from the inside, so we can see what you are seeing. Well, you COULD do that, but as you say, what a PITA! Plus, if it is…
stevev, 15 May 2012here's an shot of the room at the moment. The brickwork you can see at the end still has to brought up to the bottom chord of the truss. truss roof.jpg I'm still…
stevev, 1 July 2012okay, sooooo to keep up to date on the build...... I've decided on going with a triple leaf roof, but as Stuart has pointed out, the third 'tin' leaf should have a…
Soundman2020, 2 July 2012Sounds pretty good. That's the middle leaf, so it should have a lot of mass on it, and 30 kg/m2 is good. However, check with a structural engineer to make sure your roof…
stevev, 3 July 2012Cheers Stuart. Just got off the phone to the company that engineered the trusses and they say it's not a problem, and are sending out a re-detailed comp for the load.…
Soundman2020, 3 July 2012Leave a small gap around the entire perimeter of that middle leaf, so that the Red-tongue does not actually touch anything except the RC, and fill that gap with the…
stevev, 4 July 2012I had planned to leave a gap for the caulking but hadn't thought of backer rod. thanks for the tip there Stuart. As for the caulk itself, I think I might just try to…
stevev, 6 July 2012and.... the other option i'm considering for the middle leaf (red-tongue) is to use Green-Glue between the two layers. Given that the external walls are brick and the…
stevev, 16 July 2012so, after spending today on the phone discussing products with various suppliers, I've come up with the following plan for the middle leaf of the roof and a reasonably…
Soundman2020, 17 July 2012Put it this way: how much isolation do you need, and especially in low frequencies? Insulation in the cavity has a large effect on isolation. It can improve the total…
stevev, 30 July 2012thanks Stuart, I've managed to find an alternative insulation at 24kg p/m and 110mm thick, which ticks the right box in the budget as well :D For those of you in…
stevev, 30 July 2012I also found this post of yours Sturart, on JohnG's thread for ceiling construction in NZ. It looks like a very similar build to mine in terms of the middle leaf for the…
stevev, 30 July 2012there's certainly some comparasion on the GG website, but nothing that is exactly what we're talking about here. There is however, MUCH debate on other websites about…
stevev, 10 August 2012Image not preserved: sheet 1 edit.jpg resilmounts and channel are up and i've started on the first layer of drywall. I can tell you that the panel lifter I bought is…
stevev, 14 August 2012Image not preserved: gyprock layer one.jpg getting toward the end of layer one of the gyprock. Sealing with backer rod and GG sealant as I go. I'm hearing a really…
stevev, 15 August 2012Image not preserved: door.jpg ...with hydraulic closer to prevent the removal of musicians fingers 8) Image not preserved: door thickness.jpg Image not preserved: door…
stevev, 17 August 2012the first layer of gyprock is sealed up and i've done a few measurements to get an idea of what sort of TL we have at the moment. Internal measurments were taken about…

Page 2

stevev, 17 August 2012looking at two layers of 16mm with green glue for the middle leaf (which i'm doing now), and then two layers of 16mm without green glue for the internal rooms. 100-150mm…
stevev, 17 August 2012C weighting, slow. It's an I-phone app from studiosixdigital. I've calibrated it against a meter used by a very experienced recording/mastering engineer. I'd expect some…
Soundman2020, 17 August 2012Unfortunately, while the app might be great, the same cannot be said for the iPhone itself. That's a cheap little directional mic, plus a cheap little low quality…
RJHollins, 17 August 2012Just a following along question ! Does it [not] matter which of the 2 leafs that the green glue is applied ?!? Just trying to better understand how this is being…
stevev, 18 August 2012hey RJ, thanks for stopping by :D . Here's the long aswer as far as I understand it.....I've got a single skin brick building with a tin roof. The tin roof is obviously…
stevev, 19 August 2012So here's the floor plan i'm looking to use. Image not preserved: floor plan acoustic.jpg I've only drawn in bass traps for the rooms to keep the drawing simple at this…
stevev, 20 August 2012green gluing in progress. Image not preserved: gg.jpg and a calibrated galaxy cm140 is getting shipped to me in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully that will yield some…
stevev, 21 August 2012Image not preserved: sealing.jpg halfway through the second layer of gyprock and green glue. sealing the perimeter and sheet joins as I go. I'm really impressed by the…
Soundman2020, 22 August 2012Paint is fine. Any good quality masonry sealant will work, and some of the IRC documents even suggest plain old latex. The idea is just to seal the porous surface, so…
stevev, 22 August 2012Ahhh, expense and delays. There's rarely a building/construction project of any description that I know of, or have been involved in, that doesn't encounter some amount…
stevev, 24 August 2012cheers Stuart :D i'm calling in the troops given the amount of rendering to be done. Hopefully the old 'beer-and-BBQ' option will get a few takers for a fun-filled…
stevev, 27 August 2012rendering begins, and it's actually a resonably swift process. sponge finished to make sure any small holes are sealed over. Image not preserved: rendering start.jpg…
stevev, 28 August 2012Image not preserved: 90% rendered.jpg so we're about 90% rendered and the rest is getting done tomorrow. Now it might just be my imagination, but I'd have to say that…
stevev, 28 August 2012I'd still be using an I-phone app for testing at the moment Stuart. I'm waiting on a calibrated meter (galaxy cm 140) to arrive. Hopefully won't be too long. Looking…
stevev, 29 August 2012cheers Brian and thanks for checking out the build :D I'm actually quite amazed at the difference the rendering has made now it's 100% done. There must have been quite a…
BriHar, 29 August 2012And now that you're imprisoning all this acoustic energy, you're going to have to deal with it - can be quite sobering. But such experiences as the one you've had are…
stevev, 3 September 2012live room wall idea.jpg here's an idea of what i was thinking of for the live room. Alternating inside-out and normal panels. The ceiling would be completely soft…

Page 3

BriHar, 4 September 2012I like the idea of integrating the flexibility for alternating treatments in the walls, but I wouldn't bother alternating the inside-out and normal panel construction -…
stevev, 4 September 2012yep, that's a solid point there Brian. I was thinking it would make the construction more difficult as well. In your experience of inside-out construction, does having…
stevev, 4 September 2012internal wall start.jpg here's the beggining of the live room construction. It's a good feeling to be finally getting some of the actual room built, but this is where…
BriHar, 5 September 2012In my own build, I filled every cavity with rockwool, some I gave an extra top layer of 18mm rigid fiberglass a couple have a 10mm homosote panel facing (this was more…
stevev, 8 September 2012I've asked a few builder and carpenter friends who say the same thing as you Brian. Either lift the walls with a few people, or prop them up vertical and manuver them in…
stevev, 11 September 2012a calibrated galaxy cm 140 arrived today and i've done some testing. all 'C' weighted slow. 60hz sine - 115db inside, 66db outside, 63db above the roof and 71db at the…
BriHar, 12 September 2012Just for clarification, The frames were indeed built laid down on the floor, then raised up to position. As each section was completed, it was moved about a meter from…
stevev, 17 September 2012Cheers Brian, I appreciate the run-down on the wall construction and the link. I think i'll end up doing something similar with my walls, as the wall-jacks that Stuart…
stevev, 18 September 2012Thanks for having a look at the build and for the wall advice John. As I've got eight walls to put up I'll try different ways with the first few and see what suits best…
stevev, 21 September 2012wall 1.jpg so the first wall for the live room is up. I'm finding a 4wd hi-lift jack, and some steel props are working really well for lifting. I'm working by myself on…
stevev, 6 October 2012live room ridge.jpg the fouth wall and ridge beam for the live room are in, and yes, it's a heavy lift for a one man operation! 200x65 laminated beam at 4.2m. You can…
stevev, 7 October 2012live room ceiling.jpg internal ceiling construction is underway.
stevev, 8 October 2012The live room is close to being complete (isolation wise) which means i'll be moving on to the control room reasonably soon. The control room will be the same…
stevev, 10 October 2012Thanks for the tip on the rear wall there Stuart, and yes I am going for an RFZ design. The monitors will be soffit mounted as per John's design in the manual. In John's…
stevev, 19 October 2012trench.jpg this is about half of the power trench for the studio. It's amazingly helpful to be able to loan a mini-excavator for this part of the job. even though the…
stevev, 22 October 2012middle wall.jpg the control room side of the middle wall went up today. 220mm air gap between the leaves and filled with insulation. It's a nice feeling as it's the…
stevev, 5 November 2012wiring connections.jpg all wired up and everything went nice and smoothly 8) . The system is also star grounded. The electrician didn't think it was 100% necessary but…
RJHollins, 5 November 2012Been following your build progress ... and it's looking good. You mention 'ganging' monitors and lighting :shock: It has always been recommended to keep audio 'power'…
stevev, 5 November 2012Thanks for keeping track of the build RJ :D The monitor's do indeed have a seperate power circuit of thier own. The 'ganged' switch which has the lighting in it is a…

Page 4

Soundman2020, 5 November 2012That's good, but there's no reason to go overboard with 38%. It isn't written in stone. It is often referred to as a "rule" but maybe "rule of thumb" would be more…
stevev, 6 November 2012cheers Stuart :D I went back in there today to run over couple of the points that RJ brought up abut doing some sweeps and listening for holes. None were apparent,…
RJHollins, 6 November 2012Hi Stevev, Hey ... glad you ran some testing for your own self ... this way you hear for yourself ! To relay what positioning I have with my monitors [currently]: A…
stevev, 6 November 2012I'm all for the long winded post RJ :D monitor angle.jpg Just so I'm understanding you correctly about the focal point here: Your monitors and your ears/head are forming…
Soundman2020, 6 November 2012I know that's just a rough diagram, not to scale, etc., but there are two rather important points that need clarifying. 1) Those speakers are too far into the corners.…
stevev, 7 November 2012Stuart, your attention to detail is to be respected :D monitor angle.jpg does this look more like it? Even though that first diagram was a rough drawing, I'm still glad…
stevev, 7 November 2012monitors 60 degree photo.jpg monitor position 20% room width and equlateral.jpg the photo above and the diagram is my actual room to scale as I have it marked out at the…
Soundman2020, 7 November 2012My wife calls that skill "nit-picking", and believe me, I don't get much respect for it! :) Yup! OK, I found the number: supposedly the "best" position is 27.7% of room…
stevev, 26 November 2012whilst there is a bit of down time on the build to attend to other things like my 'day-job', I thought I'd do a bit of research on window construction for between the…
Soundman2020, 26 November 2012You seem to be on the right track with those points. Just a couple of additional tid-bits to add: Or you could make the glass a bit thicker, to add more mass, which…
stevev, 26 November 2012Thanks for the input there Stuart, much appreciated as always :D The cavity is 220mm and the walls are both inside-out construction on 90mm studs. I'll be able to hang…
stevev, 10 January 2013well, so much for getting the studio finished by the end of 2012 :roll: Ive got to say though, a stint in hospital at the end of december with Quinsy (severe…
stevev, 24 January 2013funny you should say that Stuart, because a lot of people who see where we're up to say 'oh WOW, so you're nearly done!'....and I say 'OHHHH, NOOOOO, that's the easy bit…
stevev, 17 March 2013internal doors.jpg finally got some time to get back in to the build after a while!!! internal doors are in ( no seals yet ), comprised of a 32mm MDF sandwich with…
Soundman2020, 17 March 2013Doors look good! But just a quick comment on one aspect: you have used ordinary door latch sets, which penetrate all the way through the door, and that is a potential…
stevev, 17 March 2013ahhh, yeah, didn't think about that :oops: looking for a positive on having the standard latch is that the unit's are quite bulky, and the internal structure of the…
stevev, 23 March 2013super chunk.jpg super-chunking for the live room begins. I'm putting a plastic cover over the front to retain high's and help hold in any stray fibers from the…
stevev, 31 March 2013yep, i've been busy building bits of studio over the past week, that's for sure! window.jpg the window is in as per Rod's design from his book. Still a little bit of…
stevev, 1 April 2013the L.G.M (laser guided monitor) 8) I can't get the monitor's lined up any better than this. focal point is about 20cm behind the listening position which has ended up…
stevev, 22 April 2013I've had some time to put in the treatment for the control room lately. I've used the Australian OC 703 equivelant which is a product from Fletcher Insulation called FI…

Page 5

stevev, 24 April 2013It's amazing what happens when you re-read something you 'think' you've already read :shock: So the graphs in the last post are of the monitors running in stereo. So not…
stevev, 24 April 2013Cheers Mike :D Glad there's some stuff in here that's useful to you. My bit of 'sage-like' advice would be to start your own build thread before you pick up a hammer.…
Soundman2020, 24 April 2013Just taking a look at your REW data, and it actually doesn't look too bad at all. Maybe a bit on the dead side in the mid range? But definitely decent. There's some…
stevev, 26 April 2013This first waterfall graph is of the control room with 200mm of FI 32 on the back wall and no super chunks. Also no front wall treatment between the soffits. stereo.jpg…
stevev, 26 April 2013Thanks for taking a look at that data Stuart. I didn't see your most recent post before I put up those last couple of graphs, but in answer to your question:I've put in…
Soundman2020, 26 April 2013You already did it! :) Believe it or not, you put the energy back in to the room by taking energy out of the room.. :shock: 8) Sounds weird, I know, but that's what you…
stevev, 26 April 2013and believe it or not, I think I actually understand the concept 8) The way I understand it in my head is that it's a smoothing effect. If you reduce the 'bell-shaped'…
stevev, 27 April 2013Thanks John, that's certainly put a grin on my face :mrgreen: That's a great way to describe it too. It does sound like a bigger room than it is, that's for sure. I…
Soundman2020, 27 April 2013Steve, just wondering if you have any final measurements on the amount of isolation that you ended up with? Did you hit your target of 65?. It would also be great if you…
stevev, 27 April 2013Thanks Stuart :D You're advice, encouragment and knowledge have been a huge part of pulling this all together and it's really appreciated. (it's probably appreciated by…
stevev, 1 May 2013I've certainly had them running just about all day (8+ hours) playing CD's while i've been working and have checked the air temp coming out of the vents. I'd say the air…
stevev, 27 May 2013Hey Stuart, I've been able to get my hand in the front port of the monitors and everthing seems to be quite cool after hours of sustained operation. The front of the…
stevev, 29 May 2013Image not preserved: first session.jpg The furniture and finish is a little bit slack, but here we are doing our first session 8) There's been a load of work stacking up…
Soundman2020, 29 May 2013That's great, Steve! That's what it's all about: great isolation, clear, tight sound, and clarity. It looks like you are hitting all your design goals, for sure! I just…
stevev, 29 May 2013I'm thinking of going into production under the brand name "Offcutz" but I don't know if i'll be able to keep up with demand :shot: And as another note, my wife was in…
Soundman2020, 29 May 2013I just took a look over the entire thread again, and I'm even more impressed at what you have accomplished, given what you started out with. I had forgotten some of the…
stevev, 30 May 2013You're dead right there Stuart :shock: I think we ended up closer to 50K AUD by the end of the build. I'll try to do a bit of a costing summary once we're totally done…

Page 6

RJHollins, 30 May 2013Wow ... I step away for a bit [working and enjoying my build :wink: ] ... to see this all coming together. It looks great Stevev !! I went back and rescanned the thread…
stevev, 30 May 2013Thanks RJ, and I'm glad to be able to say that I feel the same about my CR :D We were doing a live double bass and violin track today. I had the violin miked up and had…
stevev, 31 May 2013Image not preserved: cr fabric.jpg Image not preserved: cr fabric 2.jpg I have a renewed respect for anyone involed in the upholstry industry. Trying to get fabric to do…
stevev, 3 June 2013Image not preserved: window trim.jpg nearly at the end of the fabric work for the CR. (thank God!!) I've decided to do the live room with more of a curtain style hanging…
stevev, 18 July 2013Haven't had a chance to properly seal up where the penetrations for the air-con is yet Stuart. There's been a few projects that have been waiting for completion so any…
stevev, 28 July 2013unfortunately no Stuart :wink: we're up in the hills which also means the odd fall of snow in the winter :D Image not preserved: flooring.jpg I finally made a decision…
stevev, 31 July 2013Thanks Stuart :D I know I've said it a few times in my thread, but the advice from this forum has been what has really made my build what it is. (and maybe 1200 hr's…
stevev, 4 August 2013cheers Neil :D :D Well, technically I don't, the bank does though :roll: excellent idea mate. There were a few points in my build where I changed my thinking or my plan…
stevev, 20 August 2013Image not preserved: floor 1.jpg Image not preserved: floor 2.jpg Image not preserved: floor 3.jpg After a monster job away from home for the last six weeks, I've…
stevev, 27 August 2013Thanks John :D I've been busy building desks and installing consoles, but should get a chance to run REW for some final results tomorrow. I've also got a couple of…
stevev, 28 August 2013Image not preserved: desk and console.jpg Finally built myself a desk and got the console in and installed. I think the swing arms for the computer monitors are waiting…
Soundman2020, 28 August 2013Hmmm.... And you live in Australia, where power is 50 Hz.... :) I'm thinking "Mains Hum".... Did you use a properly wired cable for that? Everything correctly grounded?…
stevev, 28 August 2013This is a fault in the SPL meter itself Stuart. Battery powered. I plugged a pair of headphones in to it and there was a load of noise coming out of it which was almost…

Page 7

Soundman2020, 28 August 2013I have a recording session today and tomorrow, so I don't have much time to analyze that properly yet, but on the calibration you went from the sublime to the…
stevev, 28 August 2013I even read the 'instructions' on the calibration:) I'll take another look at it and figure out what I'm doing wrong. There's no way it was at 120db. Hmmm, front of the…
stevev, 28 August 2013https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/416 ... tereo.mdat here's the link to the older test Stuart, done in April this year. Let me know what you think of the correlation…
Soundman2020, 29 August 2013Those curves are a lot more believable: The average around 75 dB, which is OK for REW tests. The left and right curves are not identical, but also not so different as to…
stevev, 29 August 2013Original test: Galaxy CM140 SPL meter through a Fireface 800 Most recent tests: U89 through a Midas Venice F24. And the mic position will also be completely different.…
Soundman2020, 29 August 2013When you wired your live room, did you run CAT-5 cable along with the audio stuff? If so, you could use that with a KVM extender to get your keyboard, video monitor and…
stevev, 30 August 2013yep. I'll look into the extender option and see what I come up with but for the mean time i'll have to be hands on. See this is why i'm here. To get these inside and…
stevev, 15 January 2014phew....the last few months have been way over the top with work and many things have fallen by the wayside. This thread included :( for starters, a belated happy new…
stevev, 17 January 2014yep, I'm certainly glad to be back Stuart :D It's not at all on the topic of building studios and it's probably common knowledge to anyone who runs thier own business,…
stevev, 19 January 2014good point John, and conversely, when I do the reno on our house I'll be using a lot of the techniques that I picked up from building the studio ie: 16mm plaster, high…
stevev, 29 March 2014Image not preserved: l and r monitors.jpg Image not preserved: l and r monitors to 1k.jpg Image not preserved: l and r top end.jpg Sooooo, I'm finally back in REW mode…
stevev, 29 March 2014Image not preserved: l and r tweeter swap top end.jpg well, it looks like I can rule out a dodgy tweeter. swapped them over and had the same results. The mic, levels etc…
Soundman2020, 27 April 2014Not necessarily. That type of response is typically what you see when measuring rooms: It's likely to be room-related, rather than speaker related. It might even be some…
Soundman2020, 4 May 2014since this is testing for high frequencies, it is imperative that the room should be identical for each test. The best way to achieve that is for you to NOT be in the…
stevev, 16 November 2014I finally got round to doing some serious testing of the monitors themselves and it's definitely a hardware problem :roll: A/Bing the monitors with the same signal after…

Page 8

stevev, 17 November 2014Yeah, could be, but i'd like to think I was pretty careful :) I'll get them looked at by a technician when I can have them out of the studio for an extended period of…
stevev, 18 November 2014Great to hear you have a good opinion on them Stuart, and have 1st hand experience with a client as well :D They were recommended to me by my mastering engineer as great…