Dog + Bear Studio build

[Soundman2020]

As long as you air getting airflow through those pipes, and the speakers themselves are not getting hot, that's what really matters. Do the front faces of the cabinets feel warm? Is there any way you can actually get your hand in there somehow, to touch the back of the cabinet, and feel if it is unusually warm?

- Stuart -

[stevev]

Hey 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 cabinets and speakers don't appear to be getting warm at all.

I've been on holiday fo a couple of weeks but back on the tools for the finishing stages now. I'll do some serious hours of monitor running in the next few days and get behind the monitors to check the temp before I put the final finishes on.

[stevev]

first session.jpg

The furniture and finish is a little bit slack, but here we are doing our first session

There's been a load of work stacking up for the studio, so after a bit of a holiday it's time to get the ball rolling before even though we're not fully finished.

It's a double bass session my wife is doing for an ongoing project. I've miked her bass many times before but this is the clearest and easiest it's ever been. There's still a bit of treatment for the live room to do, but it's sounding great. It's fantastic to be able to get a bit of distance between the mics and instrument without getting a 'room sound'.

I've also revisited a few mixes that are in progress for different projects. The difference between the room I was working in and this room is genuinely 'night and day'. It's like i was listening to mixes with ear-muffs on and now they're removed

The other great thing is that I was able to work on tweaking mix sounds in the control room while my wife was practicing a completely different double-bass piece in the live room. We couldn't hear each other at all, that's how good the inter-room isolation is

With any luck I'll get the final finishes done in the next few weeks, but at least we're operational.

[Soundman2020]

That'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 wanted to comment on the decor: Do you have a name for that new style of studio finish? I love the desk, too: you might want to call Arogsy, and see if they want to buy the design from you!!! Should be a great hit as a new "Total Minimalist, Fully Ecological, 100% recyclable, DAW Desk" line. And the video monitor stands are also really avant garde!



Seriously, leg-pulling aside, it looks great, and once you get the final finishes on, it's going to be fantastic. Can't wait to see how it ends up!

- Stuart -

[stevev]

Do you have a name for that new style of studio finish?

I'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

And as another note, my wife was in there late last night rehearsing for another session today, whilst it was raining quite heavily outside. She said that she couldn't hear any rain noise in there at all. That's been a concern from the start as you know I've got a tin roof on the building. So it looks like the construction techniques (most of which have come from this forum) and attention to detail (nit-picking) have really paid off.

Really looking forward to posting up pics of the finished product as it comes together.

[Soundman2020]

I 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 the details, but if there's one comment I can add here, its that your great success in nailing all your goals is due to mainly to the fact that you did everything right! (I guess the only goal you didn't nail was the budget but that goes without saying in any studio build... )

John already mentioned it on the last page, but this thread is a prime example of "How To Do It Right", and shows what can be accomplished by following John's basic design concepts, and giving careful attention to detail.

Executive summary: The John Sayers method works!

I really hope you get those "final finished" photos up soon, as I'm just dying to add this thread to the top of the list of "Finished Studios"!


- Stuart -

[stevev]

(I guess the only goal you didn't nail was the budget but that goes without saying in any studio build... )

You're dead right there Stuart 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 so people can get a better idea of what the 'real world' cost of each stage of the project is.

Having said that, my wife asked me last night when we were tracking and listening etc "was it worth the 50 grand?" My reply was an instant YES!

[RJHollins]

Wow ... I step away for a bit [working and enjoying my build ] ... to see this all coming together. It looks great Stevev !!

I went back and rescanned the thread from the beginning just to refresh myself from where this all started.

Look forward to seeing the next details go in ! It's fun to read the reactions to the new room.
I enjoy just being in my control room. When I fire up the monitors ... it is really something.

I smiled when you described both the isolation from the outside and the acoustics !

Big Congrats !!! Will be watching from the background.

Cheers !

[stevev]

I enjoy just being in my control room. When I fire up the monitors ... it is really something.

Thanks RJ, and I'm glad to be able to say that I feel the same about my CR

We were doing a live double bass and violin track today. I had the violin miked up and had a listen to the guy playing in the live room, then walked back and forth between the live and control room and it sounded spot on. Not much, if any, colouration coming from either room.

[stevev]

cr fabric.jpg

cr fabric 2.jpg

I have a renewed respect for anyone involed in the upholstry industry. Trying to get fabric to do as you wish is like trying to herd cats

It's coming along nicely but very, very, very slowly. I'm really happy with the result, given that i've not done any upholstry work before, but still, it's very tedious and quite frustrating at times. All I can say is 'air stapler'. I cannot believe how hard this would be without one!

[stevev]

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 as it'll stand up to musician punishment a lot better. The tight upholstry look is great for the control room, as long as no one leans on what they 'think' are the walls. It tends to create 'arse' shaped divets in the fabric

And as a side note, the lighting is all 'cold' or 'white' LED, which works well with the fairly non reflective wall fabric and reasonably reflective ceiling fabric (white-ish calico). The reflected light from the ceiling fills the room quite nicely without feeling like a fluro. I'll get the missus to take some shots with her SLR at some point instead of my phone-cam. Hopefully that'll give a better impression of the lighting without the glare.

[Soundman2020]

You might want to consider putting some wood slats across the front of the fabric in places, both for acoustics (a bit of diffusion and a bit of reflection), but mainly to protect the fabric. Not as a proper slot wall, but rather more like very widely spaced slats in more or less random locations, or locations that will give the best protection against careless / clumsy musicians. If you stain / varnish / paint the wood, it can look very nice.


Stuart

[stevev]

thanks for the tip Stuart. The biggest problem was going to the back wall of the CR, but there'll be a couch in front of that so it should be reasonably protected. I might look at putting a few more slats in other strategic positions though.

[stevev]

Just wondering if you have done any final acoustic testing on your room, Steve, to see how much isolation you are getting, and how the room response is looking, for each of the rooms? I'm real interested in how well those Daiken units handle isolation through their air exchange system.

Haven'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 studio time has been actually in there and tracking.Once I get the two penetrations sealed i'll do some more scientific testing for sure and post up results of room response for both the live and control rooms.

Having said that, I've finally installed the access door on the internal leaf. With 'rage against the machine' playing, (heavy bass and drums) at around 90-95db, and both doors closed, it's almost inaudible directly outside the doors.

Now you know how I said I'd fly you over here to hit me with a stick if i wasn't finished by the end of 2013.....well the way the work calender is booking up I'm starting to think I might not make it Could be an endless summer for you this year if I don't get my act together

[Soundman2020]

Now you know how I said I'd fly you over here to hit me with a stick if i wasn't finished by the end of 2013.....well the way the work calender is booking up I'm starting to think I might not make it Could be an endless summer for you this year if I don't get my act together

Cool! I'll get out my suitcases and start packing....

- Stuart -