Starting my studio build.

[seven]

I've started my new studio build. I'm reworking a "workshop" which came with my house.

There are two structures I'm dealing with. The main one (which will house my console room and server room) and the side shed (which is crap but has it's own cement pad).

There are many things I want to do with this space but can't. For one the main structure is on a cement pad with a post/pier system going up about 10 inches from the pad. I would prefer to have the studio on the cement but decided to not tear the entire building down. Instead I plan on insulating the floor and adding a bunch of mass to the sub floor. For my uses this should work well enough (I hope).

I've added pictures on my studio page for those interested.

New build

[Colonel Blues]

! happy man !I'd love having such a "woodbox" in my garden to build a studio inside ! mine is downstairs in a basement...

[seven]

Colonel Blues - Yes, I've had mine in the basement in the past. I much prefer a garage or building like this one - mostly for ceiling height. But, we use what we have right? A basement studio is better than no basement studio.

I made a little progress this weekend.

The server room has a door and is ready for drywall. Most of the floor is insulated and the keyboard area is taking shape.

There are more pictures here

[Jon Nolan]

nice! good luck! can't wait to see it progress...

[seven]

Sorry. No new updates yet. The past few weeks I've been working on things like drainage around the building, vapour shields, insulations, wiring, etc.

These things don't make for good stories or interesting pictures.

That said, I think some drywall is going up this weekend.

[seven]

There has been a bunch of boring, non-interesting work had to been done. No one wants pictures of a drainage lines, house wrap, front decking and porch, wires or skirting being installed - they want to see the good stuff. So let's skip past the drainage lines, house wrap, front decking and porch, wires and skirting being installed and jump to something more interesting.


Equipment racks

The racks arrived. Two 44 unit telco racks. These will work for most of the equipment. I think only my servers and computers need front and back support. The computers will be in another rack to the left of these behind the wall (which isn't there in this picture).

Above the racks you can see the two receptacles to power the gear. Both of these are on their own 15 amp circuit. In the far left about 5 feet up the wall there is another receptacle for keyboard power back in the nook.

And, you can see a bit of drywall going up and a layer of plywood on the floor.


Equipment racks and equipment room.

Another angle of the picture above. The receptacle on the wall (lower right) is for the desk.


Putty time

Each device box gets a pound of conduit putty to stop sound. After considering the price of running surface conduit to avoid poking holes in the drywall, I decided on adding putty to the back of the device boxes.


Equipment room wires.

A shot from inside the equipment room. All my AC lines run along the ceiling or overhead in the drop ceiling. As I've said previously, this is to help avoid contact with the audio runs.

As it turns out, in that bundle is one of the runs I've designated as a utility circuit. This circuit might be a carrier of RF noise. After a talk with an electrician it was decided this is better moved away from the clean AC lines - a total pain in the butt. That line in now running overhead in the ceiling. Yes, the same ceiling in the picture that already has a layer of drywall up. Grrrr. Oh well. Better safe that sorry.

[seven]

The ceiling:

I went back and forth on what to do with the ceiling in the main console room. Do I send it straight across at 8 feet? Do I beef up the structure a bit more and create a semi-arched ceiling? Do I do something completely different?

.. I decided a bit of everything.

The scary part of doing this is the room might sound great. It also can be a miserable failure. If it is a miserable failure then you can treat the hell out of the room or pull the ceiling and start over.

I started doing so reading, looking to see what others have done, finding the best angles to use, etc. I also wanted the room to look cool as well so I sketched a handful of drawings that went straight to the bin. I finally settled on doing 4 different sections.


Ceiling with insulation.

Starting at the front of the room; the first two sections are 4 foot wide. They angle up towards the rear of the room at about 12 degrees. The sweet spot will be someplace around the highest point of the second angled section. I've installed a device box in the ceiling for lighting the console and desk.


Ceiling with insulation.

The third section is over the general work area and the wall racks. This steps up from the angled section and will mostly be covered in acoustic treatment. There are two device boxes on both sides for lighting the equipment racks and the wall on the reverse side. I've also installed a receptacle box in the middle of this section. I'm planning on back lighting the dropped acoustic clouds.

The final back section is the highest and slops up about 22 inches from the side - which makes the highest point at about 8 1/2 feet.

[seven]

Drywall, drywall, drywall.

I rented a drywall lift. I'm putting two layers of 5/8" drywall up. At about 77 pounds each per 4x8 sheet without a drywall lift I'd be dead (I'm doing 99% of this build myself). Not only merely dead, really most sincerely dead.

It took a weekend to get the drywall on the ceiling and a few panels on the walls. At the time of this writing, the entire first layer of drywall is on the walls (short of a few small fiddley bits) and the main room had two layers on the ceiling. I have a small bit of the ceiling to do in the equipment room, I'm just waiting on a leftover piece large enough.

One thing I'm trying to do is avoid waste. I'm trying to reuse as much material from the original structure as I can. I'm also planning my drywall cuts to minimize waste and ending up with a bunch of 3x4 pieces I don't know what to do with.

That said,.. let's get to the pictures.


Console room - left rear.


Console room - center.


Console room - right rear.


Console room - the ceiling over main work area


Equipment racks.


Keyboard nook.

If you've read the previous pages on my site I mentioned I wanted to have the archway into the keyboard nook a circle. Well, there was a problem with that. For one, I had to extend the dividing wall on the left side out to make room for the superchunk treatment in that corner. I no longer had a nice square to work with. On the right side the equipment room door swings out and to the right. Leaving the opening square allows me to fully swing the door 180 degrees. This gives me lots of room to work if I'm bringing equipment in and out of the equipment room. So, I left it square and boring.

And last but not least,..


The entry area all insulated.


It's nice now as I'm starting to see progress. It's starting to look like a proper room. The good news is now that I have drywall up on the bulk of the room I have an idea how it might sound. So far, it sounds pretty good. Of course I won't know it's flaws until I put a meter on it. But, I don't think I'll be pulling down the ceiling.

[seven]

I've completed the drywall, mud and texture and I'm painting this weekend. I'll see about getting some new pictures up.

[greatgreatriver]

Cool stuff - !

[seven]

I was out of the studio the first half of March but managed to make some headway the last two weekends.

In the last update I had most of the drywall done - short of the front wall and door. I didn't have a door yet and without the door or knowing the size it is hard to drywall around it.

Undrywalled front of room.


I found a nice, heavy, solid core door at a Habitat for Humanity seconds store and bought some nice fir to build the jamb (seems a shame to paint it). As you can see in the picture below I have framed it with 2x6's to beef up the overall security of the door plus I like the look. I've also finished the mud and texture on the walls.

Front of room.


The texture looks funny without paint.


The back of the room (still littered with junk).


The keyboard nook (which I'm not texturing).


I wanted to paint the studio in a dark warm colour. The last studio was a dark greenish blue gray. I decided to go with a more untinted, colourless gray this time. I've got more than 50% of the first coat done.

Back of room. This is the first shot where you can really see in the inverse "V" in the wall.


This shot give you a better idea of how dark it really is.


You know that big stupid plywood monolith in the previous pictures - this is more how it will end up. I still need to cut it up a bit, add legs, a few rackmount rails and paint before it is my console desk.


I plan on having some lighter fabrics for my acoustic treatments so there be a splash of colour here and there. I've also wired for coloured back lights behind some of the acoustic clouds.

As of now I have a minor checklist of things to before I can move in. Finish painting, connect the receptacles, build the desk, put in the floor, and finish the bit of drywall in the entry way and equipment room. I also need to hook up the security system and secure up the two doors into the studio space (lots of steel reinforcements and extra beefy door jambs). I'm getting close!

I'm getting itchy to move in. I've got new computer and audio monitors, computers, interfaces, and a ton of new synths I haven't had a chance to play with yet. Having the room this close is driving me nuts.

[syphoon]

Any update? Can't wait until it will be finished.
Wish you good luck!

[seven]

The electrical is in. The lights and the ceiling fan are in. The paint is done (except a couple touch ups).

I don't have another space to build the desk, so I'm building it in place. I'm about half done with it now. It should be completed next weekend. Once it is built and painted I'll finish the floor (perhaps next weekend as well). After that, I can run my first acoustical tests. Yeah!

I had a slight miscalculation on my air exchange system and venting. I didn't account for the venting that needs to be placed in the roof peaks. In fact, it totally slipped my mind because there was no ceiling in the structure I started with. Nothing was sealed (no vapour barrier, no vents, nothing).

I noticed I was getting a fair amount of condensation in the peak under a bit of plastic which is holding up the insulation.

This is easily solved by popping a vent in the peak on both sides of the structure. In fact, I bought two more vent fans and an electrical timer so I can set it to vent mechanically during hot days.

The only problem with adding the attic vents is I ran a flex duct for my air exchange to the far end of the building and it is only about a foot away from where I need to put the attic vent to the outside. This would mean the only thing stopping sound from entering and leaving the studio is some wire screen over the attic vents and the walls of the flex duct - AKA a paper thin piece of aluminum. That would kind of defeat the double layers of drywall.

So,. I had to move my outgoing air duct to the front of the studio. The only problem is the incoming air is in the front of the studio as well. It isn't a huge space, so this isn't a deal breaker. I'll be spending most of my time writing and I can have the ceiling fan running during this time to churn the air around.

I built an air silencer for the outgoing duct above the ceiling out of larger drywall scraps and insulation I pulled from the original structure. It isn't the prettiest thing, but you can't hear the fan at all from the inside of the studio.

So, I'm getting quite close now.

I'll snap another set of pictures when I'm out there over the weekend.

[Colonel Blues]

Nice job ! Hurry up, can't wait to see the final picture !thumbsup

[seven]

The desk is 80% built. I also got the electrical run for the powered monitors. I didn't plan on needing AC for the monitors so I hadn't pulled wires for it. Good thing the wall is still open on the back side of the front of the studio (does that make sense?).

I spent all yesterday working on the attic venting and air exchange. So, that's done.

I was going to take some pictures tonight but the batteries were dead in the camera. I'm going out there tomorrow to prime the desk so I'll take some shots then.

[seven]

New pictures:


I decided to incorporate
the AC and speaker wire panel into the front of the superchunks. These panels are about 5 1/2 feet from the floor and will be painted (black?).
The vertical lines on the wall is where the front grill will be. I cut a few insulation scraps to make sure I had the right size for the superchunks.



The basic layout of the console desk. If I remember right there will be 30 rack spaces between the two side rack mounts. There are two shelves on back to run cables. The middle shelf will be a handy foot rest.

This will be painted black and I'm split on metal or red trim. I also plan on putting on a nice, cushiony, front arm rest. There is a four foot section in the middle for the console.



The back of the room (still littered with junk). I like the ceiling fan. It is pretty quiet too.


The mood of the room.

[Colonel Blues]

Wow !Can't wait to see your desk finished ! Great piece of work !

[seven]

Thanks.

I'm really pleased with it so far. I'm also happy that I could reclaim all the wood from this


to build this




And I still have some wood left over. :D

It is the first piece of furniture I've built (or reshaped as it were)

[tydbowl]

what color grey is that on the walls? brand / color?

[mikahanau]

The desk look cool!!
will it be a black one when finished, or do you want something else because of your already dark walls?

I´m waiting for more pics
cheers
Mika

[seven]

tydbowl: It is a Gilden paint and the colour is called Obsidian Glass. I don't think the colour was a Gilden colour though. If I find the sample card I'll let you know. I got the paint at Home Depot.

mikahanau: Yup. Black. I'm considering red trim though.

[Cameron Johnson]

SWEEEEEEET Looking good, my man

[seven]

tydbowl: The colour is from Behr

Cameron:Thanks. It's getting closer every day.

[Cameron Johnson]

Can't wait t'ill it's done! It'll give me an excuse to make it out West again. Where are you located?

[seven]

Vancouver

[seven]

I picked up my flooring today. I'm going with Diamond Plate Vinyl Flooring. It is a dark, dark gray colour - about the colour of the walls.

[skuttbergsveen]

Originally Posted by seven

I've started my new studio build. I'm reworking a "workshop" which came with my house.

Nice project man!
Just curious; what has this "workshop" been used for in the earlier days?

[seven]

I'm not really sure. When we looked at the house before we bought it the building had some tools, a few chairs, CD player, a bit of storage,.. stuff like that. There was peg board on one side so I think he intended to hang a bunch of tools or something.

Honestly, I think the guy built it as sort of a man room/clubhouse for big kids sort of thing.

[skuttbergsveen]

Originally Posted by seven

I'm not really sure. When we looked at the house before we bought it the building had some tools, a few chairs, CD player, a bit of storage,.. stuff like that. There was peg board on one side so I think he intended to hang a bunch of tools or something.

Honestly, I think the guy built it as sort of a man room/clubhouse for big kids sort of thing.

OK! It will be great when you´re ready to rock! Looks cool.
Good luck with your studio-project!

[J1mbaFr0sty]

Man cant wait to see this!!! its gonna look really good :D