Project studio build in Ireland..

[leemcmahon]

Hey guys, i'm a newbie member of the forum - long time lurker

I'm an 18 year old student from Northern Ireland. I'm a drummer by trade but over the past three/four years I've become interested in audio engineering. Around four years ago, me and my family came up with the idea of demolishing our three car carage/store and building a new hybrid house (i.e. bottom floor a 'workshop', and a top-floor apartment - but from the front it looks like a two-story house. We then set out to design the layout, which changed countless times until we decided on the layout. Then I had a brainwave, could I turn part of the 'workshop' into a little recording studio/rehearsal space for myself?

From then, I started figuring out what I could do with the space. I decided to create one isolated live room and an open plan control room, 'greenroom' and kitchen. If I could have utilised the whole space (a square 25'x25' room), I would have built another iso room - but while including a bathroom, kitchen and greenroom, I had to compromise sadly! Taking into consideration all of the inner construction was part of my overall studio budget, i'm really really happy with the results.

It has been a long process, and we have hit some snags as all building projects do, but overall me and my family are very happy with the results. The building is finished and the studio environment has been a joy to work in.

Welcome to an extensive photo diary!

Below is a floor plan I constructed:



It took two years to get planning permission as the garage (pictured below) was a listed building:





During this process, the foundations of the house to the left needed underpinning before demolition, which was a time consuming and expensive process.

When that was completed successfully..


...timmmmmberrrrr!





With the building down, the site was cleared out. 45 tons of rubble was taken away. With the site clear, the foundations were dug and poured.







(From the above pictures, you can see the 20-feet elevated garden behind the garage.)



To meet building regulations, we needed to build a retaining wall to hold back around 200 ton of granite and soil. A HUGE retaining wall was built, using around 7000 concrete blocks and a further 40 ton of stones!


More pics to come..

[leemcmahon]

After that, the bricklaying began and rapidly advanced:





A shot of the second-floor:



'My' floor:



The building of the studs:



Ta da, we have a building. Roof and windows were put in:



- Exterior painting finishes:



- Acoustic glass is installed: (Due to problems I wasn't able to install two panes - one straight and one angled)



- Joinery was completed; skirting boards, frame cladding, double solid doors etc. and filling/sanding gaps in MDF particle board (very dense).

[leemcmahon]

- A view of the top floor from our garden:



- Our view from the patio:



Weather disrupted the build for a few weeks, and unreliable tradesmen made it worse.

- We then decided to get on with the decorating:

Mix position;


Kitchen and chill-out area;


Bathroom adajecent from live room;


Live room (outside);


Live room (inside);




Cable conduit; for multi-core, misc. cables etc.



- View from outside;

[leemcmahon]

Control room:



Workstation and 002:



Two of the bass traps for the control room:



More foam:



Double doors:



Live room with kit setup (the live room sounds sooo... live!)




Some gear (mic stands, big box of cables):



(Left to right) Microkorg, Behringer Headphone Amp, 2x sE 1a, 2x Rode NT1a, Presonus Digitube, sE 2200, Vic Firth Isolation Headphones, 2x Neutrik Patchbays, 3x Ultra-DI, ART TPSII, Samson Powerbrite:



One of the KRK RP8s:

[leemcmahon]

Picture of the kit setup:



Multicore plus headphone extension:



View of control room through partition:



Kitchen/greenroom:




Control room again:



Bathroom:



002 on Vegas Mode:



My new iMac:

[sikkemamedia]

Looks great! Thanks for the pics.

[leemcmahon]

The studio as it is today:











[/QUOTE]









Its been a hell of a journey but i've been hands-on as much as physically possible. It has been a real learning experience.

Hope you enjoyed the diary!

Cheers.



Lee.

[teraslasch]

roughly how much did the whole construction/project cost? (excluding the gears). just a rough estimate would do :D

[iTyp]

hehe, what does the mic in the bathroom?

[leemcmahon]

Originally Posted by iTyp

e, what does the mic in the bathroom?

when i track drums, i leave the bathroom door open and record the ambienence in the room - its does have that tiled room verb sound to it.

- lee.

[Phillystylec]

I hate you in the nicest way . That first picture with you posted where you can see the sea looks like heaven. Congrats on the room. Maybe someday I won't be relegated to the 7' x 8' spare room where the landlord won't let me hang any treatment... This thread gives me hope.

[leemcmahon]

Originally Posted by Phillystylec

I hate you in the nicest way . That first picture with you posted where you can see the sea looks like heaven. Congrats on the room. Maybe someday I won't be relegated to the 7' x 8' spare room where the landlord won't let me hang any treatment... This thread gives me hope.

we're located on the east coast of northern ireland - thats the irish sea on my doorstep. its nice to wake up to every morning

never give up hope, albeit my construction is somewhat lavish given my age and experience but i really wanted to do it right and learn from the deep end.

come over to ireland and pop in for a visit!

all the best.

- lee.

[LeMauce]

Nice place men! Happy recording sessions! Totaly dig your place

[JPeters86]

Looks great! Very cosy and 'productive'. Congratulations!

[dominic hoenig]

Looks great man, mega jealous. Much better than my living room/live room combo! Damn landlords.

Any clips on how it's all sounding??

Also yeah, do you have a rough estimate on cost? Not including the gear??

[leemcmahon]

Originally Posted by LeMauce

Nice place men! Happy recording sessions! Totaly dig your place

thanks very much man

Originally Posted by JPeters86

Looks great! Very cosy and 'productive'. Congratulations!

thanks man, it is a very productive environment to work in.

Originally Posted by dominic hoenig

Looks great man, mega jealous. Much better than my living room/live room combo! Damn landlords.

Any clips on how it's all sounding??

Also yeah, do you have a rough estimate on cost? Not including the gear??

hey dominic, thanks for the great comments. i am very fortunate for what i have and i really wanted to learn the ropes from the ground up. i do have sound clips but i've been so busy recently that i haven't had time to mix anything! i have a session or two over the next few weeks so will hopefully get some clips up.

check your PM too


cheers guys!

- lee.

[InSight]

I like it!!
I love how cozy it is, and how it's so welcoming!
And that color combo, it's to die for lol
That iMac looks sexy also.

[Colonel Blues]

Lovely place ! Best wishes to you, young happy man !

[leemcmahon]

Originally Posted by InSight

I like it!!
And that color combo, it's to die for lol

Haha

Originally Posted by Colonel Blues

Lovely place ! Best wishes to you, young happy man !

Thanks Colonel!


- lee.

[msl]

Very nice man, looks sweet, I like the colours a lot too good choice. All the best.

[leemcmahon]

bump for old times sake.

[dodgeaspen]

That place is absolutely beautiful. Are you planning on posting some tunes on the forum? I'd be anxious to hear them. The best of luck to you.

[Foesters]

Damn I dig this!

Very nice place!

[Tonio Ruiz]

that's awesome my friend, doing what you love, and right there in front of the ocean, woooooow... you'll enjoy it like crazy

congrats mate!!

[Fred Pearson]

Nice build! Looks quality! Bet it's nice having your own proper studio eh?

Peace

[skellington]

A little late, but congrats from me too. Looks very nice.

That's one big kitchen! Do you also use it privately? The space might have been used for a small booth.

[laboso]

I really like the blue of your control-room wall! Could you give me the specific color code..?

[jordanvoth]

Love spot, you shouldn't ever outgrow this space. Care to show off more? soundfiles? Pics? Website?

Really nice space man.