Easton PA Studio Build - FINISHED!

Brad, Arent ya interested in a new cheap priced mint Synery 1000 desk for in your new Studio?? :lol: Check out under "Building Products" I am all but giving one away, and you live in PA. :wink: Here is a picture of it (man that would look smokin in your studio) :lol: :lol: Its the big center desk,,,,and does not include the Roland end desks. Let me know AJ :wink:

studio911 wrote:

Brad, Arent ya interested in a new cheap priced mint Synery 1000 desk for in your new Studio?? AJ :wink:

Andy - Building one already. I was going to post the pix, but I gotta make some more progress first. Thanks anyway.

Saigon... shit; I'm still only in Saigon... Every time I think I'm gonna wake up in a completed studio. When I was ready to install my first layer, things got worse. I'd wake up ready to work, and there'd be something else. I hardly said a word to my wife, until I said "yes" I'll come up and help you with house work. When I was down in the studio, I wanted to be playing with my kids; when I was playing with my kids, all I could think of was getting back into the studio. :shock: I'm here 2.5 months now... waiting for the end to be in sight... I'm getting softer; every minute I stay in this room, I get weaker, and every minute Double-Helix paints his control-room, he gets stronger. Each time I looked around, the walls seemed to need something ELSE. I watched Apocalypse Now the other day, and when Martin Sheen was reciting those words, I laughed out loud. I feel like him!! This studio (even though its small) is sucking the life out of me. I CAN NOT believe all the time it takes, all the roadblocks, and the things I find out I need to do before I can continue, all the mistakes, all the money, the frustration, the loss of family time, Brad time, sleeping time. I want to think about music again. I want to think about gear, recording, flowers, needle-point, cars, sex, anything but friggin sheetrock, double-walls, Isomax clips, air-tight rooms!!!! :cry: My HVAC muffler - the thing that weights like 1000 lbs and nearly killed me trying to install it - this God-forsaken thing is TOO LOW!!!! :roll: How did this happen? :shock: :shock: Why? Why me? :cry: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! :twisted: :twisted: Ok, I'm better now. Had to vent. I need sleep and some more time. I'll fix it. 8) Good night.

Dude... I feel your pain! I am going through the *exact* same thing that you are going through. That is one great thing about this place, we can vent a bit to folks that actually *understand* what we are bitching about! Not that it makes it any better, but at least we know that we are not alone in our misery!!! I too have had so many screw-ups, and things that I have had to re-do due to my lack of knowledge/experience/talent. I am now looking at a horrible tape and patch job on my wall in the control room, and wondering how I am going to get the energy to fix it! I just want to leave it as is and move on, but something inside of me keeps telling me that you can't leave it looking like that! Does this suck or what??? Like you said, all I want to do is to get back to making music. This construction crap is for the birds, especially when you are trying to do it around a full-time job, a wife and kids, and a longing desire to do something creative with your *real* talents. Keep pushing man, it will be well worth it in the end! Oh yeah, and one more thing... "My walls are painted and yours are not!!! Neener... neener... neener!!!" :lol: Hahaha!!! Just kidding man!

doublehelix wrote:

Oh yeah, and one more thing... "My walls are painted and yours are not!!! Neener... neener... neener!!!" :lol: Hahaha!!! Just kidding man!

Litterally - LAUGHED OUT LOUD !!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Just dropping in to say that this thread has been valuable to me in my research. I'm doing construction on a single basement room right now and found this thread linked or referenced from another thread. ( I think it was based upon a ref of your hat channel use in the ceiling section ) Anyway, looks like you're making progress and I've enjoyed the documentation. Don't feel the need to qualify your questions as newbie questions. I think that in general people understand and I for one, have benefited from it all here. The points that were of value to me were the high/low wiring, which I knew of, but it's good to get reaffirmed on things like this. That and hvac concerns. So thanks and best wishes on this build.

Cram wrote:

Just dropping in to say that this thread has been valuable to me in my research. I'm doing construction on a single basement room right now and found this thread linked or referenced from another thread. ( I think it was based upon a ref of your hat channel use in the ceiling section ) Anyway, looks like you're making progress and I've enjoyed the documentation. Don't feel the need to qualify your questions as newbie questions. I think that in general people understand and I for one, have benefited from it all here. The points that were of value to me were the high/low wiring, which I knew of, but it's good to get reaffirmed on things like this. That and hvac concerns. So thanks and best wishes on this build.

Thanks Cram. I see you're from a very nice state in our union - NH. I vacation there up at Squam lake.

Got some more sheet rocking done, and only two rows of Isomax clips. My God, this stuff takes a long time! I had a problem with my HVAC duct-muffler being a 1/4" too low. So I went and ripped down all my furring strips I installed to compensate for the sprinkler pipe. So now to add some distance, I decided to cut 2x4 blocks as my furring. I attached them with 3" screws. These will be where I attach my clips to. But what a slow process... Here's some pix.

Just made some more (boring) sheetrock progress. :? Now that I've closed in the old doorway and covered up the windows, this place is an abyss! :shock: Dark, lonely, dusty, depressing :cry: There's a picture of some black flex duct that's going to be ripped out, in favor of some hard-metal duct work. :wink: Then within all that duct work, I have to build 3 more "walls" that decend from the ceiling. These "walls" will be for the Isomax clips to attach to. This is a redesign due to the fact that framing a "regular" sofit (with Isomax clips and 2 layers of sheetrock) would have put my finished ceiling below the door header. This was a shocking discovery ... :shock: I'm so sick of these design mistakes and re-builds... :evil: I'll post some pictures of the framed sofit, new duct work and mounted clips once I'm finished. When that happens, I can then put up my first layer of ceiling rock - and be officially DONE with the first-layer in both rooms. :D Then it's simply mudding, caulk/backer-rod, and second layer!! :D :D Sanding :cry: Painting :D Panel & bass trap building :D :D Gear Installing :D :D :D (alarm clock sounds...) :shock: It was all a dream :roll:

Made some great progress, although it may not look like it. 1. Finished the sofit - had to build 4 separate "walls" from the ceiling that act as "joist-area" so I can install my Isomax-clip mounts. 2. Replaced return "flex" duct with hard duct. (cleaner and more elegant). 3. Installed Isomax clips on the sofit. This required a lot of wood blocks to act as "meat" to screw the clips into. The metal wouldn't isn't enough. 4. Secured registers for supply & return ducts. Next up: - Order 6 more Isomax clips (due to sofit changes). - Install remaining clips in the live room, and hat channel. - Insulate & sheetrock ceiling. Here's some pix...

Hey! Looking good man! You mean you are not done with the drywall yet??? Gee, surprise there!!! I was the same way, thinking that I would blow through the drywall in a couple of weekends... took me a more like a couple of months! Good progress Brad, the ductwork looks awesome, and now that you have it all framed in, you can get that beast covered up, and never have to look at it again! Keep at it... it does get a lot easier (?) after the drywall is done.

Just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone on the forum and happy and healthy New Year. I learned quite a bit here from everyone's expertise and I apprecaite it very much. (DH, Dynakime, CRAM, Rod, John, Lou, Glen, Studio-911, jwl, tom-van, Eric_Desart, gullfo, dan scott and everyone else I may have forgot to mention). So I raise a glass and say Thank You to all you old Sea-Hags for your infinate wisdom! Cheers, and let's finish these damn studios already!!

Certainly not the most exciting pictures, but Hip-Hip-Hooray!!! I'm finally done sheetrocking. And yup, it only gets uglier (mud & sanding)! Last night I completed sanding the ceilings. Today & tomorrow I plant to finish sanding the walls. Saturday will be a big day for me: electricity gets turned on and painting will continue. Then next week (I took the whole week off from work), it's all about building super-chunk bass traps, acoustic panels, and finally a desk for my console + and misc trim work on the door and around the sliding doors. My next post will be the completed studio - with all gear set up. Wish me luck!!

Brad - Looking great and isn't it cool to be ontop of another milestone; Drywall... That photo of you on the other side of sanding the ceiling lines made me laugh because when I winterized the 3 season porch in the back of our house, there were some tough angles and the mud wasn't skimmed as smoothly as I'd hoped for. Rough time sanding for sure. The kicker was: I had a pregnant wife and had to answer the phone every stinking time it rang... The phone was caked with dust and my patience was sooo thin after a night of solicitation calls... We've since gotten callerID.. I'll be doing a soffit similar to the one you have here in order to wrap around my drainage pipes. Yours is neatly done. Looks great: Now - Go make those lines dissappear on the walls! Good work for sure!

Thanks man! Yeah those "walls" I had to frame out were a real bitch... If I did a regular sofit, the horizantal studs (because of their thickness) would have pushed my finished ceiling height below my sliding glass door opening. With the Isomax clips, hat channel and the two layers of rock. So building these "decending walls" from the joists saved precious inches, and even gave me some back. Metal studs are great for this because you can get into tight spots with a screwgun and attach them to the wood joists. And if you need to move something, it's a snap. Good luck with it and post some pix. I'm enjoying watching your build as well!

Just to chime in and say what a great job you're doing documenting all this here, Brad. Complete with family, trials, frustrations and tribulations...Bravo. I start mine next month, so this was a great read for me. Thank you. --DC

DCInFrance - Thanks for the Kudos. I'm actually *done* with my build, and am just setting up the gear. Once that's done, I'll be posting my "finished" post, complete with a TON more pictures and a "lessons-learned" section. Good luck to you with your build. It's quite a process!

really though brad... It's like dinnertime here in the build thread. All of us can smell the chicken and smell that it's done, but no one's letting us in the kitchen to have a looksie. Eager anticipation!!

I can almost smell the asparagus and spring greens...... :wink: :wink: :wink: Truly great thread Brad - Been following you for some time now, (as you know), and my hat's off to your skill and tenacity Mate, great for all to see! Warmest regards to you and your angels! :wink: Lou. 8)

Cram wrote:

Eager anticipation!!

Lou & Cram - Thanks for the kind words. VERY much appreciated. (Lou, way back when I first started, YOU were very instrumental in my decision to not waste my money - and actually spend the extra money to do all aspects properly. Thank you for that...) Being that my rooms are so small, I want to make as much of an impact as possible. I want all the rack gear off the floor and install in the racks and lit up. I want all the garbage cleaned up, rugs vacuumed, computer monitors all lit up, speakers in place, console wired up... SPeacking of consoles, I'm waiting for 2 screws and two "collars" to mount my meter bridge to my Mackie console. They call it a "meter bridge mounting kit". Can you believe they charged me $64? Rotten thieves :evil: Anyway, I'm going to take this week to set up all my gear and then go through all my pictures to post. I created what I consider a really comprehensive photo-essay on acoustic panel building, and bass-trapp building. I did post some pictures of my bass-trap "fix" for Doublehelix-James. He needed some ideas with a problem we both ran into. I'm really glad my pix helped him out. I also have plenty of pictures showing my door build, desk build and other stuff. But I can say this fellas, I've been at this for 5 months now, and there have been times that I just wanted to walk away. Looking back I can't imagine how I got through each phase. But once you start applying that first coat of paint, nailing up some trim and hanging your acoustic treatments, all your hard work WILL come back to please you. Compared to some of the past feelings of failure and hopelessness, I now am extremely proud of myself and what I can accomplish! I walked downstairs this morning to say "goodbye" to the studio before I left for work. That's what's waiting for all of you on the other side! 8)

Cram wrote:

Eager anticipation!!

Lou & Cram - Thanks for the kind words. VERY much appreciated. (Lou, way back when I first started, YOU were very instrumental in my decision to not waste my money - and actually spend the extra money to do all aspects properly. Thank you for that...) Being that my rooms are so small, I want to make as much of an impact as possible. I want all the rack gear off the floor and install in the racks and lit up. I want all the garbage cleaned up, rugs vacuumed, computer monitors all lit up, speakers in place, console wired up... Speeking of consoles, I'm waiting for mail-delivery from Mackie - for 2 screws and two "collars" to mount my meter bridge to my Mackie console. Mackie calls it, their Meter-Bridge-Mounting "kit". Can you believe they charged me $64? Rotten thieves :evil: Anyway, I'm going to take this week to set up all my gear and then go through all my pictures to post. I created what I consider a really comprehensive photo-essay on acoustic panel building, and bass-trapp building. I did post some pictures of my bass-trap "fix" for Doublehelix-James. He needed some ideas with a problem we both ran into. I'm really glad my pix helped him out. I also have plenty of pictures showing my door build, desk build and other stuff. But I can say this fellas, I've been at this for 5 months now, and there have been times that I just wanted to walk away. Looking back I can't imagine how I got through each phase. But once you start applying that first coat of paint, nailing up some trim and hanging your acoustic treatments, all your hard work WILL come back to please you. Compared to some of the past feelings of failure and hopelessness, I now am extremely proud of myself and what I can accomplish! I walked downstairs this morning to say "goodbye" to the studio before I left for work. That's what's waiting for all of you on the other side! 8)

Once would have been fine Dude! :lol: :lol: :lol: But seriously bud, great build, and warmest regards to you and yours. Get the BLOODY PICS UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :wink: :wink: :wink: Lou. 8)

YAWN... OK Brad, the Thursday deadline has come and gone, and still no pictures! What's up with that??? SLACKER!!! ;) Hehe... I hope your first practice in the new room went well.

Brad. You'll un-doubtably pay no mind to the taunting as you're on a mission to do things right. So, I'll lay off and only offer my words of encouragment. I'm in the middle of a dusty storm right now. The can of primer paint is taunting me each evening I decide there are too many spots left to touch up. Your mention the milestone of getting that paint on the wall - that's my goal these days. It's such a small spot of time in the grand scheme of these rooms we build when compared to the hours we'll spend making music in them. And kudos on the documentation of key parts. It's a contribution that will last the lifetime of this forum. References, organization and documentation help those that come after us. Cheers!

OK fellas, so it's been a little over a month since my last "real" update. And as promised, the pix of the COMPLETED studio will follow!! Lessons Learned 1. If you plan to take on a project like this, plan to spend the money to do it right. 2. Plan, design, and do it all over again. Seek out the expertise of the people on this site - they're pros in what they do, and even the non-pros can offer experience. Experience that saved my ass a number of times. Learn and use (Google's) Sketchup. This is the one thing that WILL let you see how your project will look when complete. Love that Sketchup!! 3. Buy Rod's book, and the read it. Then read it again. 4. If you do the work yourself, plan on the project taking A LOT of time. This has the potential to make some serious waves (the bad kind) within the household. Needless to say, I blew off my family for 5 months. Really, I did... 5. Make a project plan, create a timeline. It helps to keep you on track. 6. After each day of work, CLEAN UP after yourself. Nothing makes you feel better than a clean area. Nothing is safer either. I cleaned every night and never go hurt - thankfully. 7. And remember this - there is no more important safety rule than to wear (these) - safety glasses! ($5 for the first person to guess that quote...) Photos Ok so, I have a TON of pictures (I tried to be very detailed) so I'll let them do the talking. I'm also going to create a photo-essay of my acoustic panel build - so check it out in the "Acoustics" forum. Enough with my babble, check out the pix!