John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Well Rob and I started at 7:30am last Saturday - with a nail gun this time

A bit later Pat popped in and grabbed a broom then a hammer - and it was on!!! Firing on all cylinders.
The three Amigos!:)

Lucky the semi rigid insulation arrived 2 days later - with the ply for the desk and cabinets and 16mm Firestop gyprock.

Well considering we don't officially start till first week January I think we are a little ahead of schedule - all the lads are SO keen it is amazing. I am so grateful for their help and guidance.

Merry Christmas all
Eliot, Rob and Pat

Some more pics for you...

I can't believe where we are up to,
Just spent all my annual leave time building the studio - we have pics just got to find time to upload etc.
Air Con went in this morning - laminate floors this weekend.
Monday night move the rest of the gear in and then install 2 x interior solid core doors.
Turned the speakers on last week - absolutely beyond my wildest dreams. Christened the system with 90125 by Yes. Crystal clear quiet and right up to ear bursting volumes. I can't believe how quiet it is outside too - barely audible. Rob is impressed too
Not a hum anywhere.........the wiring plan worked.
Those helmoltz resonators and traps all worked PERFECTLY!

People are visiting and say it looks like a cross between a theatre and a sauna - and the sound - blew the local rock and Hip hop fans away.....
I already have a booking from some members of ARIA/APRA Award winning country band....an engineer from Sydney was so impressed he has hired it for all his recording and mixing dates starting in March ...woo hoo!


Single layer gyprock inside out walls - the easy all in one solution - for me.

John Sayers you are a Champion - thanks mate.

I promise I will have photos for you all soon. Lost my camera and Rob has some great shots to upload ...Rob?

Gotta go and finish it....

PS we haven't cut one corner in the construction. It pays to be diligent (and like my wife says a little obsessive)

Congratulations, that's inspiring stuff! Looking forward to photos!

So how did you go with your original budget estimation (AU$15k)? Were council approvals & inspections required? And if you could show some photos diagrams or text descriptions of how you handled air con & exhaust (with regard to retaining isolation) I'd really appreciate it. I'm waaay back at the start of similar project

Sounds great mate - where are the pics??
cheers
john

PS we haven't cut one corner in the construction. It pays to be diligent (and like my wife says a little obsessive)

After my first 150 tubes of caulk and counting I realized there was no turning back

Congrats and cant wait to see some pics

Adam, John and Tom,

Cheers guys - finished floor on the weekend and air con -0 pics to come but here is a selection - fairly self explanatory - if you have questions or thoughts please let me know and I will do my best to accomodate...

150 tubes of caulk....TOTALLY crazy! But yes 2 x 10Litre tubs and 35 sausages - I need a few more .....
Budget - about $2k over now....but REALLY happy
Ventilation - I have letf space for the ventilators I discussed a while back but for now the split system will heat and cool and the door will open between takes...
Council passed it with one phone call - they were estatic I was doing something for the neighbours and local business! I was assured by the head of approvals that I needed no permit so long as I did not change the load bearing structure of the garage walls and roof (didn't touch 'em!) and so long as I don't request a new garage placed somewhere else in the backyard...well for now....
To be honest I never parked my car in the garage over the years so why start now?

more.....pics

and some more...

and even more...

and a few more...

more to come of the near finished product!

Lots more aesthetics to do plus another 3rd paint of desk so big mixer etc must wait another week

MOre pics next week - thanks for all your input and help everybody.

Sideshow,
That 4 chanel mixer is unbelievable. I adds so mch to your design

Looking good. Liking the colors
Tom

what's with the cloth over the front speaker area??

cheers
john

Yes the 4 channel mixer was a lot easier to lug in and set up for quick testing as opposed to the 24channel desk I have upstairs......
The big one goes in next week after a third coat of paint for the desk - nice touch Tom
The colour - well my wife and another singer from Shadowfax said if it were sort of blue (like many other studios) they would refuse to sing in there...so we agreed on a deep cherry so to keep from angry RED and also from MOR blues.
They wanted warm colours for the mountains not ocean...glad you like...


John, the soffits were built as per your drawings with thick ply around top half of soffits with vent ports at top - I didn't have a photo of finished soffits prior to covering with cloth - the cloth is more for "look" to back the "dummy" resonator finish around them later (so it fits the vibe of the rest of the main walls.) Not sure whether the ply/timber finish suits aesthetically - Sound OK/make sense? - or if you have a suggestion I am all ears

The front centre speaker has it's soffit ready to go - I will cut cloth and place speaker when I am ready and setup for 5.1 later in the year.
All 5.1 cabling is done I just don't have the speakers yet - still umming and ahhhing whether to grab the Truth passives for CF, RL, RR or alternatives....I can't find brackets to sit the rear speakers up high as most don't hold 16kg...so passives are lighter.