AudioGrotto Build Diary

[bassman]

I've got more updates coming but wanted to mention that I am shooting for an opening date of Sept. 24th. There is a music festival here in Cincinnati that week called Midpoint Music Festival where a couple hundred bands show up to play and meet along with industry folks. I will be having an open house all three nights of the festival so if you happen to be attending MPMF (www.mpmf.com) or will be in the area, please come drink my beer and eat my food!

PM me if you want more info. The studio website is www.audiogrotto.com. More piccies coming soon. We are on to the kitchen and bathroom, wiring still progressing.

-ashley

[xSpace]

...please come drink my beer and eat my food!

I dunno...a Thursday?

[bassman]

Sorry, guess I wasn't clear.

I'm having open houses three nights in a row, Thurs, Fri and Sat from 5pm-9pm so that people can see the studio and then head out to the clubs to see bands afterwards. The Thursday evening one is also geared to advertising clients and post-production while Friday and Sat are more music and bands.

Here's the studio blog with details:
http://audiogrottoforum.blogspot.com/

-ashley

[bassman]

So progress continues but now more so on the kitchen and bathroom. Just got back from IKEA with the cabinets and have picked out the pendant light for the kitchen table.

We're going to have some exposed brick in the kitchen and paint it so that there's a rough mixture of plaster and brick on one wall. Bathroom is using a salvage window set as the partition between the sink/urinal and the toilet. I've got to export some pics and to a proper update. Work is in earnest now that we're in September..... Only a couple weeks left to finish the whole thing.

Taking delivery of custom made analog passive summing box and Hypex 3-channel amp with a passive monitor control and switcher thanks to my good friend Don Aren, local bass player/hi-fi tweak artist....

Closing in on final wiring and testing of things... so far so good. Always check your normals in any new patchbay. Mine were missing the shields and so phantom was not working on mic lines. Fixed.... more to come.

-ashley

[bassman]

Control Room one has some finishing touches on the fabric and diffusors installed in the rear. Here's some shots.

-ashley

[bassman]

Right, on to the kitchen and bathroom.... Saved the best for last, eh? The party ALWAYS ends up in the kitchen so why not make the whole lounge one big kitchen?

These are shots of demoing out exiting stuff. This room used to be my temporary control room while I was building the studio proper. We are adding a soffit over where the sink will be to cover up some electric and plumbing, plus give us a place for can lights and added dimension to the room. The long wall we have taken off the bad plaster and then got the wild hair to keep it like it is with mixed brick and plaster. It will all be painted one color though so the texture will be the only change.

Framing, drywall, you know the drill..... Gotta go to the store and get friggin' corner bead, structolite and metal lathe.... OY! will it ever end>?

-ashley

[bassman]

a couple more....

[jwl]

Hey Ashley,

Great fortune that I happened to be in town for your open house. Congratulations, man. The place looks fantastic, pictures don't do the place justice!

The upstairs big hall looks and sounds great! The tracks you recorded and played back for us were fantastic.

Here's to great prosperity and even greater music for you!

[bassman]

Thanks for the props, JWL. Had no idea it was you! Good to see you and whenever I get up there, I'll get in touch. Eat a lobster roll for me, please.....

-ashley

PS some pro pics are on the way......

[bassman]

Hell yea..... done.

-ashley

[TomVan]

Well I had to go back to the begining and see how it all started.
I did remember the church part of it but was confused by the beer and pizza.
What kind of church you got there Ashley
Congrats and job well done.
A proud moment indeed
Peace
Tom

[bassman]

Well, we have a completely secular church building that is now apartments, event hall and recording studio... I can certainly understand the confusion! But if it was wine would there be a question?

-ashley

[John Sayers]

Great work ashley - thanks for posting it

nice decor and colours etc.

love the stove

cheers
john

[Jester]

Hey Ashley congratulations on finishing your studio. It looks wonderful. I'm very jealous about how fast you completed it. Been working on mine for over 5 years aggg!

I'm in the process of ordering patch bays and I'm wondering how you wired yours up. I planing on using TT bays but because of the whole phantom power thing am debating using XLR bays for my mic to preamp connections. Also is that a Alpha-link you are using? If so how are you liking it? Thinking of selling my 002 and Fireface (bye PT) and getting one.

[bassman]

Hey Jester,

SSL is sounding great. The best deal in IO for me, running 40ch total when needed. Simple and allows for flexible control room routings in Nuendo. The sound is excellent comparing to the LynxTwo card that I have used for years. I will be trying various external clocks as time goes on.

I went with the 1/4 longframe patchbays for cost considerations. Phantom goes right through just fine although you have to make sure that the shield connections are normalled as well. These bays use the punch-down system which is fast and easy. Gotta have the tool though. Patch cables can be hard to find but I think worth it in the end. They do take up 4 times as much rack space as TT bays though.

-ashley