Kendale's Studio

Aloha and Happy Easter, Hey Marc. 90 degrees, huh? Whew, that's a bit warm. Especially without those tradewinds to cool things off. The stone blocks are from Lowe's but they're called Castle Block out here. And yes, it was alot of exercise - seven or eight pallets worth. My wife & I did all the work except for the help putting up the gazebo. She's got about 150 rose bushes planted, and about 75 more to go. That stack of blocks in the corner is for a waterfall & two more raised beds (and more roses.) The grass we chose is called Zoisha. Hey Keith. Heh, heh, heh! Ah, it's nice here. :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: Aloha 8)

Aloha Kendale Your garden and house looks a bit like one of my 4 smaller summer residences ;-) cheers Roman

Aloha roman, Switzerland! I'd love to visit! :wink: Aloha 8)

Aloha again i never said my summer residences are in switzerland :lol: :roll: :lol: :roll: nevertheless, i've got something for you: a little flight across the alps :-) http://www.flugsimulation.ch/forum/show ... hp?t=39765 I think we have to stop at this point, or you have to move the thread to "off topic" ;-) ooh, have to go to bed now, it's 6am here... *zzzz-zzzz-zz*

Aloha roman, Thanks for the link. Beautiful! It has been my wife's lifelong dream to visit Switzerland. Someday maybe... :wink: Aloha 8)

no thanx Kendale.... oh wait, that was the OTHER Roman :) cheers, Roman

hehe, yes, was me... :lol:

Aloha, Small update: there's a cloud on the horizon...well, almost. :P My contractor friend and I finally hooked up and got six 5/16" x 6" eye bolts installed. With a minor adjustment on the cloud unit bracing and a repositioning of the eye bolts, we're looking to hang maybe Tuesday of next week. Cool. Since the console had been unhooked, I thought it be good chance to get a pic of the front wall while we were at it. It's getting close. Aloha 8)

Aloha, 15,000+ views. Thanks guys. :D Aloha 8)

Aloha, Modified braces done - six 2" x 4"s, which ties the outside frame to the inner frame strengthening it, and holds the rockwool from falling out the back when moving into position. :D This was done due to the spacing of the ceiling joists was slightly farther out than the corner blocks, so instead of having the cloud off center above the mix position, we went with six eyebolts working from the inside out. Aloha 8)

Aloha, The cloud is up! :D Mahalo plenty to Rene' Guidry, Frank & Travis of Cajun Construction. Aloha 8)

aloha kendale damn! this looks amazing! :shock: :shock: but where is the second cloud? :wink: nice work as usual, keep going... roman

Aloha roman, Thanks! The difference in ambience that the lighting makes is quite enjoyable, not to mention that I can see the lettering on the console now. I'll have to post acoustic reviews after the rest of the studio gets put back together, but the sense of quiet overhead is already apparent. The second cloud is still not yet on the horizon, but hopefully will be rising soon. Aloha 8)

Aloha Kendale, Yes that does look fine!!! Looks like we both hit a little milestone today. :D :D :D Did you consider hooking the lights up to a couple swithces so that you can get a dimmed light effect, with out a dimmer (dimmer could cause noise in electrical)? Marc

Hey Kendale... Man that is S-WEEEEEEEE-T!! Looks great! You may have answered this but did you use a dimmer switch for the lights? If so, are you getting any hum-buzzes-or noises? Also if you did, what type/brand did you get? I'll bet if you put on something soft, lay back in your "captains chair", dim those lights, and watch the LED lights as they flicker for each channel (You pushin' 24 tracks? 48 tracks??) that has to put you in a relax mode. When I would mix a song I would always turn all the lights off and watch my mixer LED meters move up and down a while, then I would closed my eyes and get into my music...now "that's" nice... Congrats on another piece of "fine craftmanship"

Aloha, Thanks, guys.

Did you consider hooking the lights up to a couple swithces so that you can get a dimmed light effect, without a dimmer (dimmer could cause noise in electrical)?

Yes, I did look into separate switches, but I decided to go with a dimmer instead (Lutron DVW-600PH-WH 600w Single Pole with radio frequency interference suppression circuitry.) We'll see how well it performs. :roll: Aloha 8)

Aloha, Dimmer installed and...so far no buzzing. :D Here's a few of shots of the various "mood lighting" modes. Aloha 8)

well, as someone said that before: i hate you! ;-) ah, you removed also the vitrine on the left side for these pics, great!

That looks soooo excellent! I am jealous as well. Work on! Tom

Aloha, Thanks, guys. :wink: But.......I don't think it's quite there.......yet. :shock: While I do like the drama it creates, there's a little fine tuning I'd like to have done. It needs to move over to the right about 3", and another 12" towards the rear of the room. I'll have to see when my contractor friend is available again. :roll: On a slightly different note, we've started mixing down a client's project and I have to say that the mixes are turning out so much cleaner and quicker than the last project done here before the treatments. Very cool. 8) I've also been tossing a around few thoughts on the lessons learned along the way and thought it might be helpful to share them at some point, now that this phase is coming to an end. Aloha 8)

looks amazing! can't wait to see / hear more.

Aloha jeff, Hey, thanks for stopping in. Long time no hear. I had a couple of more ideas in regard to fine tuning this phase. I am still leaning to shifting the cloud over to the right about 3" (I know, picky, picky... :P ) but instead of pulling it out into the room, the second cloud Steve mentioned ought to accomplish what I had in mind. I'll check with my contractor to see if I can use the leading edge hooks to support both Cloud 1 & Cloud 2, and then install another set of three for the other edge of the Cloud 2. If so, then it's on to building Cloud 2. Cool. 8) After that, few dabs of wood filler to cover the screw heads and a quick sanding and she'll be good to go. As far as making a difference, it might be a little too soon to say. While I can hear the difference Cloud 1 makes, it's still a bit too subtle. I will try to post a listening test report after Cloud 2 goes up. By the way, still no buzzing from the dimmer, and being able to see the console lettering is really nice. :D Aloha 8)

Hello Kendale, I see you soffit mounted your HR824's. Did you keep the factory default settings on the back of them prior to mounting them? If not, what did you change them to? Did you provide additional cooling; i.e. a silent fan for each speaker to prevent overheating? Why the questions? Your work has enticed me to build acoustical walls and soffit mount my HR824's and I want to get it right! I am very impressed by your work. It looks GREAT. What kind of finish wood did you use - oak? And what kind of varnish did you use? The overall color scheme is very warm and relaxing! Great job. Michael :D

Aloha Michael, Hey, thanks for stopping in. :D

Did you keep the factory default settings on the back of them prior to mounting them? If not, what did you change them to?

Unfortunately, while I did change them, I don't recall what the factory settings were. It's been awhile since I've had them. I had asked another forum member (Bryan Giles) which settings he used and this is his reply:

For space, A is selected. In the soffits it is like being in a corner and really loads up. At A all is well. I run the HPF at Full (35Hz) I adjusted the tweeter based on my room. That one might take a couple of tries. Do a mix and listen to it outside the studio. If it feels dark, turn the tweeter down (-2) Start at Zero. If it sounds bright, turn the tweeter to +2. Hope that helps, Bryan

Did you provide additional cooling; i.e. a silent fan for each speaker to prevent overheating?

Since there is a lot of air space and unobstructed path up to the heat vent, I did not install a fan. I have run several long sessions without any problems.

I am very impressed by your work. It looks GREAT. What kind of finish wood did you use - oak? And what kind of varnish did you use? The overall color scheme is very warm and relaxing! Great job.

Thanks. :wink: I'm glad you found it helpful. The trim and side absorbers are all out of hemlock, which happened to be what was available and affordable at Lowe's down in Kona. The front sofit wall unit/bezels are MDF with hemlock trim. I am hoping to add a veneer of light maple to the bezel fronts, but at the moment, there is no finish coat on anything. I think the "warm glow" comes from low lighting when I took the pics.

Why the questions? Your work has enticed me to build acoustical walls and soffit mount my HR824's and I want to get it right!

Be sure to post some pics so we can follow your project and progress. :D Aloha 8)

Thanks for the very quick reply. I asked about the heat knowing you are in Hawaii and the ambient temps much get way hotter than here - Alaska! We have Lowe's here in Anchorage so I will do some shopping there; I really am impressed in the hemlock look. Did you leave the backs of the absorber panels open? Meaning are they constructed with a 2X4 fame and no back plywood applied to the side facing your walls? I am leasing space in an Office Building that unfortunately has a suspended ceiling about 8'6" from the floor. I really like the advanced cloud you constructed. How much would you guess your cloud weighs? Pictures of the progress as it progresses? Sure. I already have received the Material from Acoustical Sciences (?) I believe that is the company back East (New York?) not sure I have had it for four months now... It is time to begin construction. :arrow: Thanks again for sharing your work and inspiration. Michael