So i have been running a studio out of my home here in Amarillo, TX and much to my surprise business has made it impossible to continue to run this thing and keep my sanity out of my house. My dad and i found a space in downtown Amarillo and i know you all are thinking, "why amarillo????" Well for starters this one city that hasnt felt the hit of the messed up economy and the housing market has been sucked all the way down the crapper. We got ahold of a 3 story building known as the "old kathy fullingham hardware store" This building has been quite a few things, a care dealership, a bowling ally and then finally a hardware store. This place is amazing. 3 stories that totals about 25,000 square feet. The studio will only occupy the 3rd floor which is where the majority of work is going. The first issue was insulating the roof...would you believe there wasnt one piece of insulation in the entire roof? All of the original tin tiles were removed and dipped and restored. The roof was filled with God only knows how much insulation. The ducking had to be rerouted so that the 3rd floor actually had heating and air. Plumbing for mens and women restrooms had to be re-routed and re-done completely to meet code. Walls were built out for the control room, iso booth 1 and iso booth 2. Avery window in the 3rd story had to be replaced because every single one of them was single pane and very drafty. The floors are being restored as we speak. I wanted something unique, that when bands or artists saw it they would say, "yeah that makes me wanna write." This place is dripping with it. I have a modest setup and my gear is still be amassed but the heart of the building and what gives it its sound is the 50x100 live room that will be split up into a live tracking space and a rentable rehearsal space for bands. I like things raw and thats why i am not treating one inch of the live room. A. its far too much space to cover B. The amount of money it would cost in acoustic treatment would be more than the outboard gear i own. and C. I like the way it sounds, i dont want things perfect, i want a space that is unique. Sure you can spend gobs of money and go somewhere where what you tracked sound perfect and flawless but i think there are some folks out that like things slightly crooked or off beat. I am one of those people and cant wait to move in to this place. Plus at $45 an hour there isnt a space this unique for that money anywhere. So here are the pics. I will be posting more as the project comes along. Should be totally moved in around February.
Raw and untouched live room
gorgeous original 1940's tin tiles
original utility elevator (still works)
completely restored sky lights
in order, iso booth 2, mens bathroom, and part of the control room
before control room build out, kinda dark
vocal booth
control room
