The Stickhouse Studio BUILD

Very nice to meet you too, Keith! You and Dan and Brian looked great standing inside the studio!! Thank you for reposting the picture with Zane and Nate. Aren't they soooo cute? Ooops.... so is the STUDIO!!!! RandiMom

Those kids are cuties alright, but I dunno, that digital control panel for the air conditioning system was pretty darned cute in its own right. ;-) So, Stick -- what do you think of the improvements/repairs I made to the lifter (winch handle and backstop rubber feet replacements)? 8) I even WD-40ed the cradle. :twisted: In case you didn't figure it out, that "original" handle wasn't original -- the rental yard must have replaced it with a lousy makeshift one. I think my new one will last close to forever. :) --Keith :mrgreen:

We laughed when we saw you "upgraded" the lifter. It works great... did you bend the sticky arm to make it slide? Or just lube it up? Jeff said to tell you thanks. One more trip around the room tomorrow, then a couple little panels in the Tracking Room and you can take it away.

I'm glad you guys got a kick out of the upgrades/fixes! I was actually a bit nervous today, wondering how they'd be received. Silly, huh? :lol: Tell Jeff that he's welcome and that it's the least I could do. (Well, maybe a bit more than least. ;-)) Let me know when I can grab it again! :-D --Keith

3 layers of drywall. Done. Whew. We decided to hire a drywall finisher to make the last layer look good, so Dirk starts on Monday. He should finish Wednesday morning, at which point we'll start laying the sub-floor. It'll be a layer of 1/2" styrofoam (poor-man's floating floor), a layer of 1/2" plywood, followed by a 3/8" layer of plywood. The two layers are to keep the joints from buckling. under the hardwood floor. As soon as that's done, we'll start building bass traps and ceiling clouds. I'll be doing some running around Monday and Tuesday to find the styrofoam and then a hardwood shop for the trim wood. For the doors we've decided to add our own beef to a standard 1 3/4" thick solid door. We're going to add a 1/2" of stainable plywood, with a little edge to cover the plys, and then add an extra piece on the jamb to make a sort of stairstep for 2 separate seals. So, the plywood layer will be smaller except for the bottom. I'm thinking I'll do those seals on the bottom that drop down when you close the door... any thoughts on those? I also need to order a bunch of rockwool for the traps... hopefully that won't take too long to get in. We decided on a color scheme... I'll see if I can get a decent pic of it. The darker fabric is the bass traps and the inside-out wall fabric. The greyer (it's actually still blue) is for the clouds. The top paint chip will be the walls in the control room, the next lighter is the couple small walls in the tracking room, and the lightest is the ceiling. I wanted a pretty light ceiling so the rope light around the edge of the clouds will add nice ambient light. The wood floor is pretty dark, but has a lot of variation, so I'm thinking I'll stain the doors and trim to the lighter end of the floor's spectrum... or I might just go lighter on the trim anyway. We're not sure about the entry or the bathroom yet, but those can wait a little. They just need to be painted before the wood floor goes down. We had to decide on the fabrics to get them ordered. They should be here Wed or Thurs this week for bass trap construction. Which means I'll be painting like a madman by the end of the week. I guess that's where we're at. We were hoping to have at least the control room operational by Sept 11 when I have a week of mixing to do, but we found out that the wood floor wasn't going to be in stock for awhile. So, I'll have to move the gear in for the week, and then take it back out before we can lay the floor in a few weeks. And I'm a little doubtful we'll have doors in by then anyway. But, for mixing that won't be that big a deal. It'll be more of a problem if the heavy glass isn't in, but even that's not a make or break for this project. Ok, I'm off to play in the river with the boys.

Nice color scheme, Brian and June! The flooring is very attractive. Loooking good!!! Mom

Well, I had the privilege of seeing the place on Friday evening when I picked up the drywall lifter, and let me tell you all -- the place is looking so awesome!! 8) 8) 8) It was cool to see three layers of 5/8" drywall along the edges, since there aren't any doors yet. It's amazing the speed with which the build is taking place too. I guess that just goes to show how fast you can work when you have an expert behind the wheel and you're dedicating your entire work week to it! Not like me who has to have a REAL job! :lol: I hope your contractor realizes that he's getting some very valuable experience! 8) I like the "stairstep door jamb" idea. I'm really curious how well that works out in the end. Please take lots of pictures of that, because that seems like a winning plan and I very well may flatter you with imitation on that! :P By the way, on Friday evening on my way back home, I made a quick stop at that Chevron station, and while I was there, I heard a band rehearsing at a nearby industrial building. I actually hung out with the band for a short while. I imagine they were breaking some noise regulations. :twisted: Nice guys. It's a cool reminder of why I'm doing all this nonsense! :lol: --Keith :mrgreen:

Lots happening. I'm trying to get the studio operational for a weeklong mixing session on Sept 11. Crunch time. Let's see, where did I leave off? We hired a drywall finisher to come and smooth the joints and screw heads. Money well spent. He knocked it out in no time, and did a great job, especially since I wanted to leave the walls with no texture... I'm just not a fan of the bumpy stuff. He finished that up yesterday (Wed) morning. Then that day we laid the subfloor strata, which consists of a layer of 1/2" styrofoam. The stuff I picked up at Lowes is pretty dense, it's not like the stuff you get a new piece of gear packed in. This stuff is actually spec'ed to be used as part of a sub-floor, so I don't think it will compress over time, but gives me a nice softish underlayment that should help to isolate the floor from the walls and whatnot. Then on top of that is a layer of 1/2" plywood, followed by a layer of 3/8" plywood turned the other way and staggered joints. The thinking was to avoid weak spots in the underlayment that the hardwood will be nailed to. Side note, check out the address on the Dow product... that's right, Midland, MI. That's the town where I grew up and my Dad worked for Dow. In fact, I think he might have spent some time in a plant that makes styrofoam. Also, we put a 2" border of the stryo around the bottom edge of the wall to give a little bumper for the hardwood and underlayment. It won't let the whole floor slide around, but it'll condense enough if the hardwood needs to swell a little if there's humidity. After we finished the floor setup, I primed the whole place. Hoo boy, I love primer. Not. It really make the rooms look like rooms though. Well, maybe insane assylum rooms. The white's a little harsh. Today we moved on to the clouds. I'm not sure if I posted a jpg of the design for the lights and clouds... but you'll get the idea when you see the pics below. The big cloud will go up over the listening position. It'll have 3 inches of rockwool with fabric underneath and on top. And obviously, all the little low-voltage halogen cans will be mounted in there. No ceiling penetrations besids the wad of wire poking through and caulked for each layer of drywall. The fabric and the rope light showed up today. Perfect timing, as we'll start stretching fabric on the clouds and bass traps tomorrow. After Jeff left, I started in on the painting. June helped on some of the walls, but it still took until 10 pm. Ugh. Then I did some rough layouts on the floor for Jeff to follow tomorrow on the size and position of the bass traps. While he's building those, I'll be making a run up to where my insulation supplier is to pick up all the rockwool for the clouds and traps. Should be a pretty big pick-up load of it. I'll also be hunting for the right hardware to hang the clouds from the ceiling. Because of the can lights I chose, the bulbs have to be changed from above, so we have to hang the clouds such that I can unhook them and have them hang on a chain for access. Over the weekend I'll be working on getting all the fabric up on the walls and traps. I also need to paint the entryway walls. Then next week Jeff and I will do as much of the trim as we can before the windows and doors show up, hopfully Tuesday and Wed. The electrician comes Thursday to wire it up, and I need to call the HVAC guy and get him over too to put in the thermostats, fresh air handler, vents and tune the system up. That'll really be the moment of truth on the HVAC... I sure hope it's cool... pun intended. HA! Actually, I know it cools great, we've hotwired it on a few times when it's really hot out. Quiet is the key. I guess that's all. I'm tired. And 7 am comes quick. Zzzzzzz.

Wow! Looking great, Stick! Bless your wife for helping you paint. That's dedication for ya'! :twisted: If your insulation supplier is AMS, there's a Contractor's Warehouse right across the street now, so you may find what you're looking for there in terms of fasteners and such. --Keith :mrgreen:

I'm glad to see you are using good Dow products :lol: Anything to keep my pension checks coming! I never actually made styrafoam, but I did make the stuff that keeps it from bursting into flame. The studio is looking great..... but how is you golf game? Your mother spent all day restaining our gazebo, so she is well trained if you need help staining all that siding. My staining technique is lousy, but I'm working on my golf game :D She keeps putting finishing touches on our place now that it is for sale... So are any of your friends looking for a great home on a beautiful golf course in northwestern Montana? :? Don't forget, your Mom is always looking for pictures of the "younger Steckler men in you pics. Dad

Yeah, my golf game probably stinks at the moment, but my fabric stretching skills have come a long way in the last 2 days. Well, we're hurtling toward my session on Monday. Chad called to confirm he is in fact coming with record in hand for mixing. Guess we're really going to give the room a good test run. I'm pretty much in the studio if I'm awake until he shows up on Sunday evening. There's a ways to go, but things are really starting to come together. All the clouds are built, covered in cloth, and assembled with the can lights and rope light. I still need a few pieces in the mail to get the rope light fired up all around the room, and hopefully they'll show up on Thursday when the electrician is here. I spent a lot of time on Saturday futzing with the big hanging cloud's hanging system. All along I've had in my head that the mini-can halogen lights I chose would only be able to be accessed for bulb changing from above, as they're really designed for cabinet lights, and it seemed like there was no way to get at the bulb from underneath. Well, after assembling a couple AFTER I spent all afternoon trying to get the big cloud to hang close enough to the ceiling and yet be able to suspend down, I realized that the entire little can assembly easily pulls out from underneath. So, a bunch of thought and time wasted on a contraption that wasn't needed. Oh well. Overall I've had very few big timewasters in the process, so I guess I'm allowed. We ended up going with nice Guilford of Maine fabrics, so working with them turned out to be relatively easy. It's still time consuming, because you really have to use a lot of staples to hold it evenly. And I had a lot of big and small pieces to cover. The hardest was the main cloud, mostly because of it's size. The bass trap frames that Jeff built are great, and after putting 3 in place today, they work perfectly. By the way, in the pics, the cloud isn't up all the way on it's hooks. It's a little tricky to get it up there, so I've left it down for Thursday when the electrician is here to hook up all the goodies. Then Jeff and I will put it up in place for good hopefully. And we still need to add the rim of stained Alder for all the edges of the clouds. June painted the entryway a cool orangish brown and covered a bunch of the little clouds. Then yesterday she helped me on the bass traps for a while. It's a lot faster with someone doing the stretching and the other stapling. Tomorrow is a big day. Hopefully the doors will be done and ready to pick up. And the big panes of glass are supposed to be showing up at the shop too. Hopefully everything comes in correctly... next week will be a drag if I don't have a doors, as there's quite a reverb in the unfinished bathroom off the entryway! We could get by without the windows, but it would be a lot cooler if they were in. We'd just have to slap a piece of plywood or something in the window so that the side reflections would be even. I'm also going to have to make do without the Murphy Bed mattress and whatever underside treatments I'll do for absorbtion directly behind the listening position. I'm thinking I'll just hang a couple heavy blankets in the bed's spot between the big back traps. Hopefully that'll at least stop the slap. I had JUST enoung rockwool for all the traps and clouds. I'll have to pick up another bundle for the bed stuff. I ended up using all the scrap cutoffs in those big traps. For a lot of it, it's solid pieces all the way to the back corner. Then in spots I cut strips 12" deep to sit on the front, and then filled the back area with scraps. Worked out pretty good, and I dunno, maybe I'll help with a diiferent frequency range where the insulation isn't quite as dense. A word on the rockwool: in the last chunk I picked up, they gave me 2 bundles of Roxul branded rockwool. The other stuff was something else... I'm not sure the brand. The Roxul is WAY nicer and more consistant in density and texture. I'm not sure that the other is and less dense, but it falls apart a little more. Now, on the 1 1/2" thick stuff, the other brand was much stiffer and held together a lot better. This stuff I've been using for the big traps was 3" thick. Too bad the wood floor won't be in yet... it'll sort of stink to set up the gear for a week, and then take it all out of there again. We're also still deciding what's going to go on the front wall below and above the window. We're thinking about some river rock looking tiles, or slate or something interesting with some texture. Well, I guess that's it for now. I gotta get some sleep. I'll be hanging the fabric on the walls in the Tracking Room and Machine Room tomorrow, and perhaps running down the hill a little ways to pick up the doors.

Looking excellent, Stick! 8)

Stick wrote:

. . . a bunch of thought and time wasted on a contraption that wasn't needed. Oh well. . .

Always better to worry and plan for something that ends up unnecessary, rather than the other way around! ;-)

Stick wrote:

A word on the rockwool: in the last chunk I picked up, they gave me 2 bundles of Roxul branded rockwool. The other stuff was something else... I'm not sure the brand. . . but it falls apart a little more. Now, on the 1 1/2" thick stuff, the other brand was much stiffer and held together a lot better. This stuff I've been using for the big traps was 3" thick.

Might the other brand have been Thermafiber? :roll:

Stick wrote:

We're also still deciding what's going to go on the front wall below and above the window. We're thinking about some river rock looking tiles, or slate or something interesting with some texture.

I'm sure whatever you guys come up with will look terrific... Just like all your other design decisions, whether they relate to the studio or your living quarters! ;-) --Keith :mrgreen:

:lol: Great work Brian and June! I've been trying to come up with the answer to a question that I've had by reading your postings - I give up- so here's the probably really "elimentary" questions... What is a cloud? :? Mom

Wow, great fabric stretching! I'm curious, can you see the nails or are they tucked away in the fabric? I would love to see some close pictures of how you stapled the fabric. Great work and great report, thanks! EDIT: Ah I get it, you made frames and put them in front of the traps.... Greetings, Dirk

Mom & Dad wrote:

What is a cloud? :?

Hi Mom... ;-) A cloud is essentially an absorbant material (in this case, rockwool insulation with fabric underneath, surrounded in a light timber frame) that acts as a sound absorber overhead. You know how echoey a room is when it has a non-carpeted floor and no furniture? Well, if that same room had such a "cloud" overhead, it would echo a lot less. That's basicallly short-sleeve English for the acoustic benefits of a cloud. (And I'm by no means an acoustics expert!) --Keith :mrgreen:

Thanks, Keith! Good explanation! I went back and looked at Brain's pictures and could easily see what you were talking about. That brings up another questions, however. What about the floor? Is hardwood sound sensitive enough? Why not use carpet? Mom :D

The prevailing thought about use of carpeting on floors in studio is that while it does cut down on echo ("reflections"), the frequencies affected by it are limited. Here's one of many threads that discusses the advantages of not using carpeting on a studio floor. --Keith :mrgreen:

I'm glad to see the thread is moving forward without me while I'm frantically working on the studio. Tomorrow I start mixing in there. Woo hoo! I set up the gear last night, and fired up the Genelecs hooked up to my iTunes and THE ROOM SOUNDS FANTASTIC. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever heard those speaker sound so good. I need to hang some blankets or something in the Murphy Bed hole, as there's a relfection happening there, but even with that open, it sounds great. I got everything pretty much up and running, and just need to finishing putting together the patch-bay this afternoon. I got about 75% done last night. Punchdown block is a great way to go. Once I figured out which conductors were which in the Mogami digital cable, it went pretty quick. I put a little section of PVC pipe, 2" diameter, through the wall from the Control Room to the Machine Room for running the snakes and computer connections. I managed to get get everything through this one hole, though, I wouldn't be able to get it back out, as I put the cables with the big connectors through before I ran the big bundle of audio snakes. But, that's the whole point right? Nothing's changing for a while. The HVAC is working pretty well. I need to figure out a better solution for the the actual registers in the ceilings. There is absolutely no mechanical noise coming through the vents, but the wind noise coming from the registers themselves is just a little too loud. Actually, it's fine when all three rooms are calling for air, but if just one calls, there's more air for it to handle. We also didn't adjust the dampers to allow for some of the excess air to bleed into the other rooms, which I may try. Anyone know of any good ways to quiet the registers? I'm thinking about trying some really wide weave fabric, or possibly just painting the cans and leaving them without registers all together. I'll try and get some pics up later today. Not sure if I'll have a chance though.

Stick wrote:

I'm glad to see the thread is moving forward without me while I'm frantically working on the studio.

Yeah, that's alright, I'll entertain Mom & Dad while you play with your iPod. :lol: :P

Stick wrote:

I need to hang some blankets or something in the Murphy Bed hole, as there's a relfection happening there, but even with that open, it sounds great.

I have a futon mattress that I'm not using. You're welcome to borrow it if you'd like... :roll: ...Perhaps it will fit in that space and absorb quite a bit.

Stick wrote:

I put a little section of PVC pipe, 2" diameter, through the wall from the Control Room to the Machine Room . . .

Aren't you at all concerned about the pipe acting as a flanking path? :? Or did you take some steps to isolate it somehow? Maybe a radiator hose would have been a better option... :roll: Got pictures of that?

Stick wrote:

The HVAC is working pretty well. I need to figure out a better solution for the the actual registers in the ceilings.

Hre's something you can try that won't cost much at all... Get an ordinary unadjustable register, but using a pair of pliers, break off every other louver. That would double the size of and halve the number of the holes. Another option is the clear plastic covers people sometimes put over registers in an effort to change the path of the outbound air so that they flow more along the ceiling. They're common in offices, where downdrafts in a workspace directly in the path of the air can be pretty uncomfortable. What I'm thinking is that maybe you could use one of those instead of a register. :roll: Yet another option, albeit more pricey, would be a tiny window shutter. There are lots of companies custom make them for all window sizes. Just some ideas to get the creative juices flowing a bit.

Stick wrote:

I'll try and get some pics up later today. Not sure if I'll have a chance though.

You'll have the chance. The question is whether or not you'll take the chance, my friend! :lol: :P --Keith :mrgreen:

That brings up another questions, however. What about the floor? Is hardwood sound sensitive enough? Why not use carpet?

Eh Mom & Dad. In addition to what Sharward said and link he pointed to: We don't want all of the rooms surfaces to be absorbing, a general guideline "arguably" is 50% absorbing and 50% reflective surfaces. We don't want sounds to go from the speaker, bounce off walls or ceiling and back to listening position. This messes up up the sound. By placing absorbers of the right size (to gobble up specific frequencies), in the right places we can make the room sound bigger. Comparison would be listening to speakers outside where the sound travels one way and nothing reflects back the listener. How ever, no matter what room you are in or outside, there is a floor. Our ears are accustom to the reflective sounds of a floor and I believe even part of our sense of balance comes from our ears telling us where the floor is and even how far from the floor we are. Since the floor is a given in any room, we seek 50/50 reflective/absorbing surface, carpet only absorbs high not low frequencies and the sound of wood in general good (not to mention ease of maintenance and cleanliness): the recommendation for floor is wood OR another reflective surface. Personally for my own room, even though prepping for it is going to more difficult then I 1st thought, I'm going with laminate or engineered hardwood floor. Marc :D

Marc - Thank you for your explanation. We certainly appreciated it! We're learning!!!! :o :) Mom & Dad

Hey everybody, just a quick note to say I'm too busy to put up a nice post catching you all up on where we're at. The short version: The room sounds great. The mix went great. (It was mastered by Alan Yoshida at Ocean Way... look him up... heavy hitter!) Laid the floor. Put in the HEAVY 3/4" thick window panes. Trimmed the clouds, doors and windows. Left to do: Baseboard Stops for the window glass (just tacked in at the moment). Door beef (adding another 1/2" plywood to one side of the doors for double seal and more mass) The ENTIRE bathroom: tile, stone, toilet, sink, paint, etc. The Murphy Bed Siding on the outside That's the story. The room is coming together great. It sounds amazing. It's quiet, the soundproofing works great. All is good. Well, all will be good when it's DONE!

Yeah, yeah, yeah.... I know. Where's the pics. Coming. Pretty soon, probably. So, Mom and Dad came for the last week or so to help out, and are doing an awesome job doing things that either didn't want to do, or didn't have time to do. They painted the rest of the exterior the nice green color we started on the back of the house. Dad's been caulking the siding that's been put up... we'll be doing the rest of Monday and Tuesday. Mom's been doing staining of various leftover bits on the outside, and the biggie was that she put the many coats of polyeurathane on the now extra beefed studio doors. They turned out great. I've put on some of the door hardware, and am about to try out the heavy duty closers I ordered so that the doors will pull themselves into the double duty weather strip we did. The base boards are in, most of the cable connector troughs are in between the clouds, the window's are done. We need to finish the outside, do the entire bathroom, including tile/stone/paint/install fixtures, build and install the Murphy Bed in the Control Room. Then I think we're done. Long term, I need to build a cool desk... but that's a ways off for now. I really will try and get some pics up in the next day or two.

Ok, so here's a bunch of ones I shot before and then a little after the week long mix of a friend's band. Check them out here. I should probably write descriptions of stuff... but if there's something you'd like info on, just let me know and I'll discuss.

More pics