Len Morgan's Studio Build Diary

[len-morgan]

It's not as bad as it sounds at first blush. I have at least 2 months notice to find something else or get the studio up and running.

I'm not a fan of Heavy Metal either but I'm not sure as a studio owner, that that's really my decision to make. Once it hits the A/D, it's all bits and even more important now, whether it's Black Sabbath or Crimson Soul, the money is still green! Besides, I really like the kids that did that music. They're 17 years old and both of those songs were done by just 3 kids. Granted, one of those songs had over 50 recorded tracks to get the end result but I was impressed with dedication they had to get just the sound they wanted.

As far as George goes, I guess I wasn't clear about the non-accoustic songs. Those were NOT done in the studio. We are using Broadjam.com as a vehicle to make submissions to TAXI and get feed back on the songs so those songs that had a full band were completely done in another studio. Only the stuff that was just guitar and vocal was done in my studio. I was particularly happy with the guitar tone we got (due in large part to the wooden wall in the "big room" which I have Knightfly to thank for. By the way, most of those songs were recorded with two mics (one vocal and one guitar) rather than just guitar and then overdubbing the vocals. I would have liked to pitch correct some of the vocals but I had too much bleed between the two.

Finally, as to my kick drum sound, I think I got that sorted out. What I ended up doing using a kick drum mic inside the kick, and then taking an old Radio Shack bookshelf speak (about 6") and connecting it up to and XLR connector and setting it in front of the drum. Between the two "mics", the sound came out pretty good.

I'll won't be going anywhere either before or after I'm finished with the studio. I've learned too much here to not give back.

Thanks for the prayers. I'm not worried because no matter how little I have, it's always turned out to be enough, and enough is all I need.

len

[sharward]

I'm so sorry for your job loss, Len... I hope you got some severance money. I also hope you can find something suitable without having to commute too far.

--Keith

[len-morgan]

Thanks Kieth. There isn't any severance pay (I'm self employed) but I was given two months notice. There's still a chance I can get them to extend it to the end of the year (that's what my contract said when we wrote it 9 years ago).

As much as I'll miss the job, I really can't complain. I did about 6 weeks of hard work (programming) 9 years ago and they've been paying me $4K/month ever since. Up until last December, I had another contract for the same software that was paying about $2.5K/year and until two years ago, I had a third (my original contract) for another $4K/month. I amounted to about 10 hours (usually less) work per month and I got to do about 99% of the work at home in my PJs (or in my studio). I had it set up so I could do all of my maintenance remotely so I was able to fix/modify software even while I was in Ukraine. They didn't even know I was gone. A sweet deal like that (a little over $1K/hour when I had all three contracts going) can't last forever. Just last week I picked up another contract for the Pecos, TX sheriff's office but that's only going to pay $500/month. Not quite enough to pay the rent. The upside is that when I have this contract in place and do all the necessary mods to it, I should be able to take it to ANY small county/city in Texas (and probably a lot of other states too). Having 20 small contracts instead of a couple of big ones makes it hurt a little less if one of them cancels.

The bad part is that the customer loves my program but their corporate office thinks they have a better one that they wrote in house (it isn't) so they can't justify paying for mine. That's the rub in working with private prisons. The change hands all the time and bring along their own corporate software that gives the management all the right reports but really sucks when it comes to the people that actually have to use it. Most of the IT guys that write the code have never been in a prison or jail and it shows in their user interfaces.

Anyway...I'm not worried. I haven't worked for anyone else but me in 16 years and at my age, I'm not sure how marketable I am. We'll see. Alfred E. Neuman is my hero!!!!!

len

[joey]

perfect time to focus on getting the studio working my friend, good luck.

[Jester]

Hey Len I have a couple of questions about your HVAC system. Did you use flex duct for all of your runs? Did you end up using silencers? You mentioned them but I didn't see them in the pictures. Where your duct is attached to the ceiling did you you do anything special for isolation? I'm at the ducting stage of my studio and am trying to figure out if I should make silencers and how I should attach it to my ceiling. Your studio is looking great BTW.

Thanks
Lief
Gleeman Studio

[len-morgan]

I'm so sorry Jester for not getting back to you sooner about your HVAC questions. Your email sat in my in box forever and then while trying to clean things up, it disappeared.

To answer your questions (if they still need answering), yes I used flexduct for all of the runs. Every register in the ceiling has it's own flex tubing back to the big plenums (24" x 24") I built near the HVAC system.

I didn't use silencers other than in my control room. What I ended up doing there was using those little duct board "corners turners" that are documented a page or two back in my thread. Room to room isolation is very good since the flex decouples the rooms in a way that sheet metal ducting wouldn't (unless I had a flex connection to the ducting).

The only area where I have an isolation "problem" is between the drum booth and the "big room." Even with the 1 1/4" drywall, double stud walls between the rooms (and two panes of glass), I can still hear the drums but they are WAY down and any bleed into the big room can be solved with microphone placement. And for what it's worth, I haven't installed the drop down door sealers on either the drum booth or big room doors so I still have a bit I can do.

I hope that's still of some relevance to you at this point, but if not, maybe it will be to someone else.

len

[sharward]

Hey Len! On the radio news today, I heard "Big Spring, Texas" was the location of a big oil refinery fire.

Didja feel it?

Is your studio so soundproof that it practically didn't happen?

--Keith

[len-morgan]

I not only heard it, I felt it!! The house felt like it lifted about 6" up in the air. I haven't been down to the studio yet but everybody here is fine. Considering the size of the explosion (it was felt in Midland 50 miles away), and that there were only 4 injuries (only one serious) and NO fatalities, AND no wind to speak of (since I can see the refinery equipment from my house), we were very blessed this morning!

When I felt the blast, being a native Californian, my first thought was earthquake but it was only one upward bump, albeit a big one). I was in Sunnyvale during the 1989 quake and I remember how that shook me (no pun intended).

It's good to hear from you again! Thanks for asking.

Len "Shaken but not stirred" Morgan, Big Spring, TX

[pearlsnap]

I live in Lubbock and work for Oxy. I've been reading your thread now and then, knew you were from Big Springs. My wife asked me this morning if I knew anyone down there at the refinery....I told well I kinda know someone from Big Springs...LOL

Nice to know you're OK. Keep up the work on the studio.

[len-morgan]

pearlsnap,

Thanks for the concern. The studio is essentially done except for some trim work (the same trim work that I needed to finish a year ago). I've been recording quite a few bands here some from as far away as Austin (6 hours away or so and not a bad place to record). Apparently, I somehow came up with a VERY nice sounding "big room" that musicians love!

If you're ever around Big Spring, give me a call and I'll give you the nickel tour.

len

[pearlsnap]

I'll be hollering soon for the tour. LOL I am trying to figure out how to build my soffits. I have read this forum a thousand times I think on forums alone.

Anyway, I'll holler soon.

[pearlsnap]

I'll be hollering soon for the tour. LOL I am trying to figure out how to build my soffits. I have read this forum a thousand times I think on forums alone.

Anyway, I'll holler soon.

[Jester]

Hey Len I'm using the same drop seals that you used and I was wondering how they worked out for you. Did you use a threshold?

[len-morgan]

Jester,

Sorry it's taken me so long to respond (almost 2 years!). I've been so busy "playing" in my studio that I haven't been here in that long.

To answer your question, if you're still interested, I've only installed one of them so far. The information on the web site where I got them told you how to measure your doors for them (I've got three different sizes) but there are actually TWO ways to measure depending on whether you are mounting them IN the door (i.e., but routing out a channel for them) or mounting them ON the door (screwed to the door). I ordered the wrong size (50/50 chance) and so I had to saw off about 1/4" in order for the door to close properly.

One thing I hadn't considered that turned out to be important is the flatness of the floor that it's going to be on. Because of a slight rise in the floor level between the fully open and fully closed locations, I had to play with the mounting a couple of times so I could get a good seal when it was closed and still clear the floor when it was fully open. Hopefully you won't have that kind of problem with your floor.

To be honest, I really can't tell if the one I've installed is effective or not. If it is, it's only a few dB at best but in my case, the way the studio is laid out, bleed through isn't much of a problem.

len

[len-morgan]

Now that I've had my studio up and running for a few years, I'm considering making a change and I've come back for some advice. Basically, what I want to do is to cut my "big room" in half but constructing a wall in line with the columns that run down the middle of it. I'll move my control room to the side with the vocal booth on it (so the vocal booth doors will open into the control room). I've never needed a room that big and would have preferred to have two rooms instead for recording multiple guitars. Where my current control room is, I'd convert into an additional recording room.

My question is: If I used an "inside out" wall (cloth covered rock wool on one side, multiple layers of drywall on the other, which side should I have on the control room side? The new wall would be directly across from the wooden helmholtz resonator wall you can see in the pictures earlier in this thread.

My mixing desk would be facing the wooden wall (through glass) and my monitors would be fairly close to the new wall so I don't know if I want absorbsion or a solid surface for the back of the monitors to bounce off of.

I'd appreciate any advice y'all could offer.

Thanks!

Len Morgan