Rock of London Studio

[Steve Honest]

HI readers,
2nd day today , and today we added Mark to the team , who is our lead dry wall and Carpenter, we started the day with a huge delivery of ROck silk, which again had to be dropped at the top of the carpark, as the trucks cant get down to the lower level and then carried by hand to the studio site.
WE commenced work in COntrol Room B, this room is clear of stuff , the other 2 rooms we need to get a bunch of boxs and furniture taken out by the freeholder, and also right in the middle of what will be the LIve room , is a massive Air pump and its ducting, that needs a firm to come and dismantle it the **** out of there.
WE un zipped the existing walls, caulked like crazy in the frames to the dry wall on the other side, added a layer of plaster board to the outsides, and then filled the stud frame with ROck silk, and then we rebuilt a wall to the smoke vent for the whole building , which we must be very careful with , if noise gets in there it goes right up thru the whle building,
My intention starting tomorrow is to leave the inside of these walls exsposed and then 2 inchs away a new stud frame, and another 4 inches of Rock silk and then on the inside face 2 more layers of plaster board, the other criteria is this control room borders the pump room for the water in the building, and the walls we took down were so poorly made they had to be redone.
but good day today, Al is the king of Caulk, im the pimp of Trimming Rock Silk slabs and mark wonders why he got lumbered with a couple of buffoons like us!!
more tomorrow.
steve

[Steve Honest]

SO things are going very well, we have lined and rebuilt the existing walls in COntrol B and the very tricky problem of having one of the Smoke Channels next to control b has been dealt with , we had to dismantle the silly walls they had built to box in the bottom of the channel and then re construct an STC 63 wall, this means that from the inside of the channel which is 3 meters high by 4 meters wide , we built a wall of 2 layers of plaster board , fireproof of course, onto a Metal stud , the stud is then layered with 4 inchs of rw45 ROck silk, then a 2 inch air gap , than another stud frame 4 inchs thick and then 2 inner layers of PLaster board, the whole lot is Sealed for airgaps with Caulk in every seam, this gives us a wall between COntrol B and the SMoke channel that reduse sound transmission by 63DB.
we also built a huge STC63 trap between the pumps in the water tank room and control B, agin built in the same manner to the Smoke channel wall, but with a much deeper air gap,this has insulated us against the noise from the pumps.

MOnday will see us lining the walls in B with the inner plaster board layers and then we will begin some works in COntrol A
steve

[Steve Honest]

Hello readers,
well not a lot got done today, but what did get done was good, i was onsite at 7.45, did a bit of clearing up and thinking about the day, mark came in and i set hm to double skinnin the inner walls of control b, while ie set al about lining and caulking all the frames and plaster board mark was putting up, i then had to go to Neo s school to meet his teacher, i got back spent a bit more time on site prepping and clearing in control A, as i want to start tomorrow bonding the block walls to make the air tight, i had to go to a tracking session in the small studio upstairs till 9 pm, so unfortunately the oace on site slowed down, now the work that was done was good quality, and im very happy with my walls, but it just proves that i really should not had any day time sessions this month while the build is going on, i should have kept it to evenings and weekends, i have to be on site to keep things moving and checking that the walls are made properly, but the clients i am recoridng this month have been clients for a very long time , and even if they were brand new, the customer comes first.
toodle pip

[Steve Honest]

well today was just a half day, we got all the plaster board finished in control b, and i Sized the blocks in studio A ready for the plaster to go up tomorrow, we are bonding the blocks as they have air gaps al over the morter and also they are very pour-us, once the bonding has set , we will leave a 2 inch airgap and put up another 4 inch stud wall, with 100mm rocksilk, and then 2 inner layers of Plaster board.
So not a lot done on this half day, but tomorrow the debris and junk gets cleared out of Control A, and we can really make a strong start in there
steve

[tiny333]

hey steve

sounds great keep up the good work !!

this thread would be alot more fun in the photo diaries forum with a few pictures !!

[tiny333]

by the by you should go and see my friend Ron who has a studio in Ec1 and is just a bit younger than you .....

[tiny333]

being as this is gear slutz and not carpenters weekly what slutty gear are u putting in here steve?

[Steve Honest]

Mate thank you for the kind words, and props,
I would love to meet up with your friend Ron , please do put us in touch,
im trying to work out how to post pictures, on GS if there is a 101 you could point me too i would be gratful,
here is a list of stuff i have so far for control A and the live room, alistiar will equip control B with his stuff and once i get a list i will post it for you guys
Control ROOM A

Vocal/ ISO Booth

Amek BC2 24 channel Desk

Focusrite ISA828 Pre amps
Focusrite Green 6 Comps
Focusrite Green 3 Eq
Focusrtie stereo Compander
Focusrite Saffire 56 Liquid pre amps
TL Indigo 2021 Dual Valve comp
BSS Opal Dual Gates
BAE 11 slot Rack
API 560 EQ x 2
API 550b EQ x 2
API 527 Comps x 2
Neve 33135 pre/EQ x 2
Neve 33609/c stereo comp/limiters
ATC 100 scm active Main monitors
dynaudio bm15p
Apple PRO 8 2.26 Xeon/6 GIG ram
24” and 20” monitors
Pro Tools HD1 8.03
Pro Tools 8.LE
Digidesign 96 HD

HD25 Headphones (x2)
MXL 2003 Con Mic
MXL 603 Con Mic
MXL V6 Con Mic
Audix D2 Dyn Mic
Cadenza Rib Mic

















Live ROOM

Premier Birch Drum Kit
Rock of London Neo Junior 5 Valve amp
Guitars:
99 Gibson J200,
01 Gibson Les Paul Standard,
82 Fender strat,
06 Fender B bender Tele,
06Fender b g and e bender tele,
74/52 selmar/fender lap steel,
78 Ibanez George Benson GB10 semi,
07 John Carter 5 String Bass,
07 daisy rock 12 String,
06 Fylde mandolin (bare knuckle pick ups) ,
84 Sierra universal Pedal Steel.
Yamaha Electric piano semi wieghted
Pedals:
Robert Keeley rack 3 button comp,
Robert keeley 4 button comp,
RObert Keeley tube scremaer,
Robert Keeley dd3 delay,
Robert Keely Java boost,
Boss Octave 2
Danelectro Vibrato,
Vodoo labs chorus
Roger Mayer Voodoo Fuzz,
Pro SOund active Volume,
Goodrich passive vol pedal
Morley Wah,
Lehil A/b Splitter,
Peterson VS2 Strobe tuner.

Shopping now for more and better mics
steve

[tiny333]

wow i love a thorough answer !

well any man with a peterson tuner is ok by me... i like blue

to post pictures you hit the MANAGE ATTACHMENTS button at the bottom when u are posting.... should be self explainitary past that...

dropped ron a line.... with a link to this thread,....

get them pics going !!

xx

[Steve Honest]

Hello Listeners,
good days work today, we moved stumps to the A control room and started applying a thick lining of Bonding to the block walls, the walls had been really badly assembled and they have big gaps in the blocks that allow sound into the STack behind them that goes right thru the building, so we must build it up and plug it and smother it with bonding, then when it sets i will line the bonding with 4 inches of rocksilk, then leaving a 2 inch gap i shall line the room with a wall within made from 4 inch stud rocksilk and then 2 layers of PLaster board, this will really improve sound leaking into that wall and thru into the Air stacks behind.
The firm that was supposed to remove the stacks of other folks junk that had been dumped in A and the Live room failed to appear , so we had to handball a lot of it around to give mark some walls to work on, but we got plenty of bonding up on about half the wall area in one day,
Tomorrow we will Rig the Big ass Premier kit in Control ,B and have Al thrash the life out of it, so i can measure how much noise drop we achieved with the walls we rebuilt and built in there.
steve

[tiny333]

keep on keeping on steve

[Steve Honest]

So we had a good today al in all, All the block walls in control A now have there plaster layer on, we used n angel grinder to remove all the pipes that are no longer in service from the Ceilings of Controls A and B, i started pining up Furring strips to the plasterd walls of yesterday to hold the 100mm Rocksilk in place, and we also tipped almost all the old furniture and broken crao that was cluttering up Control A, but the guys who were meant to clear it cancelled so the garage for the Apartment Building is cluttered , they promise to come and take it all away tomorrow at 10 am, so thats cool,
we had a measure up to make sure we are getting good ratios , and allowed for the Inner walls that we have to add for soundproofing, Im recording all day tomorrow from 10,30 so i will get a couple of hours on site, but i will pop in for a few minutes every tea break.
toodle Pip
steve

[Steve Honest]

Hello readers
well, friday, I slept really badly last night, i nodded off at about 8.30 and then woke at 10 and had the devils job to get back to sleep and when i finally did i woke with a jolt to the alarm at 7am and yes PLaying roundabout on the radio!!,
any how onsite by 7.55 opened up and set about preparing to fit Rocksilk slaps to the newly plastered walls, mark came in at 8 and we set about our work , al came in at 9, he had a hospital appointment and we prepped for the Removals people who cleared away 2 trucks of old junk that had been stacked in control A to the rafters!!! and have to come back on thursday to get 2 more truck loads of whats left over and the stuff Crammed in the Live room!!!
I had to go upstairs to the temporary studio at 10.30 as i was recording with rich all today,
we broke for lunch about 3 30 and i rushed down to take a look at the room, it was huge , mark had the removals guys clear the room and floor of all the junk, he had lined the walls , with al s help with the 100mm rocksilk, and they were laying and fixing hte 4x 2 along the floor for the inner walls to be built up, i took some quick measurements of the room now it was clear, and fortunately my rough measurements had been very close as we are going to have a very good room ratio once the inner walls are in,
I went back up to continue recording, feeling very good about the project,
i must get some pictures up for you to see,
steve

[waveterm]

Pictures !

Honestly !!!

WT

[Steve Honest]

HIya
Great productive day today,
Mark worked on the inner stud wall for Control A building the frame, in 4 2 stud, he will have it finished tomorrow so we can start laying in the 100mm Rock silk,
Al and I got all beastly, we both had hammers and demolished a recess in Control a , that allowed us to invert its shape and add an extra sq meter of floor space in the live room, and we can also extend our Stone drum wall by this extra meter, also we can see further to the south side of the live room as the corner blocking will no longer be there,
We also cut the aperture for the extra wide door into the live room , to make loading drums and stuff easier, the old door aperture will be bricked over.
BUt the pric of all this hairy assed manliness is my arms and sholders and back hurt like a MO fo, and also my plams are all blisters , even with the gloves, but still,
no Pain stage, no Gain stage, (that must be the worst gag ever, im off for a shower)
steve

[ali_g12]

Here are some pictures from our first look around the basement in December:

No pic of the live room though. More to come.

[tiny333]

pictures !!!


now your talking

[Steve Honest]

HI Chaps
Well we seem to have found a channel for communication with the residents committee, they have a lovely lady who is representing them, and we are now in dialogue, and now i feel confident, i can allay there fears about the studio in the Basement, unless we communicate we cant solve any problems, but im happy to say we are talking.
Al and I have been locked in talks about cable for signal and for power, He is from up north, of england, and can have a propensity to be a bit frugal, where as i am a soppy wet "loads o money "southerner, and I want to buy some really good multi-core and good plugs and a great patchbay, cos whats the point in having good mics and gret pres , if the bit of string connecting them is rubbish? the signal gets degraded and all this work will be for nothing, no sir i say, lets not cut a corner on the cable, we will use fine premium grade wire and top quality patch bays and plugs, lets not muck about.
Been making measurements mostly this last few days, i really want to get good room ratios , so i dont have bad peaks and nulls and also so i dont have to litter the room with a lot of corrective treatment panals, im really looking forward to getting the Old Spectrum anylizer out and making some tests.
steve

[Steve Honest]

Well today, al and i gave the whole site a good clean up, there was stuff all over the place , tool s all over the place, rubble you name it, we got on our hands and knees and swept , bagged and tided , closely followed by some mopping, and took stock, we have done a nice job so far, and we needed this step back and review and think about the next few days.
I had my Son Neo with me this afternoon, fine fellow, we toyed around, played some car games , and some train set adventures, we had lunch.it was only After i had dropped him back to his mum, that i realized my house keys were still in his coat pocket, he likes to hold them in his coat, and pretend they are his keys, the little monkey.

The Purple Audio pres arrived today, not heard em yet , but keen to, tomorrow, the DBX 165a vu, REV7,SDE3000,spx90, 2 lots of Drawmer gates , 3 Lots of Drawmer Comps , an oberhiem matrix, and a proteous arrives, friday the shenn dynamic drum mics and a pir of mxl 993 arrives, so apart from the Patch bays , and i think im going Bantam, im ready to assemble the system, off site and start planning the cable runs.
so a good day all in all.

[Steve Honest]

So today was a decent day in the mines,
We had a very positive meeting with our Building COntrol Officer, who liked what she saw, and also made some very helpful suggestions, to do with HVAC and FIre Saftey, we are starting to skim the walls in Control B, oh and also the electrician Commenced work today, loading in tools and Materials, and then Working from the main power inlet out wards, but not connecting of course, ran all the main power lines to the 3 rooms, the difficulty now of course is to orginse the work so that the 3 trades dont get in each others way.
We painted the Filthy walls of the corridors in a lovely White, and i nipped out and bought some nice racks to form the basis of the console in Control A.

[Steve Honest]

Good day today, we got a lot done,
Barbera spent the whole day following the roller and brush, painting PVA on the walls for Mark to plaster over in control B, he plaster about half the room today, then barbera Painted the hall way its 2nd coat of paint, and painted the Control A window frame dark Grey, a bit like a Neve.
AL and I Promoted ourselves to drywallers today, he and I fixed up loads of PLasterboard panels in Control A, and then caulked them to seal the gaps , ready for us to go in tomorrow and fit a 2nd layer.
So great fun for the whole gang and our power tools,
we really must get a few more pictures up o the blog
steve

[Steve Honest]

Well we had a monster great day today
Barbera is one helluva babe, not only is she tall Skinny and good looking she is a great cook and she can paint walls better than alistiar and I, and she even re-pointed the morter in a bunch of exterior walls in the studio, ALL in 1 day, depending on what she makes for tomorrow , i may have to marry her.
Alisitair is also tall and skinny but i dont wanna kiss him ,ever, no matter how good his soup is, but he did a great job today drywalling for the first time ever, he is also king of the Caulk gun (this week)
Mark finished the PLaster in control B, in a rub a dub stylee.
I am a fat git, i was all upset this morning at the lady from our residents committee and was shouting a lot at her about a Neighbor who we all agreed was being an ASS, so i gotta devise a way to make it up to her,and then i got busy clearing all the rubble and debris out of the LIve room with the removal guys , we got another 2 trucks of crap out of there , and now we can really feel the size of our live room, i spent th latter part of the day mixing up Morter for Barbera,
So the place is really starting to feel a like a lovely Deluxe sized home studio.
more next week

[Trev@Circle]

Photobucket is your friend. Really dude. Upload the pics there and copy the links here and they show up like they are on the site.

[tiny333]

nice one guys

could i marry her?

if u had this thread in the photo construction you would get alot more traffic...

keep on keeping on .......

i will as well


skull audio crazy plan number 687...


this is the right sub forum

peace


fuuck

[Steve Honest]

Gotta say, we did a 6 day week last week and it was difficult to get up and go in this morning, but i was there 7.50 am site opened , power on ready for the team to arrive at 8am.
Al got in with the PLaster board and has almost 2nd layered Control A Saturday and Today,
i fixed rock silk to the inner leaf of the dividing wall between Live and Control A, mark made the frame for the wall on the control A side of the live room wall, which we are using the old STC 63 method, as per Gervais great book.
Barnera, did some Sizing fresh plaster in B with PVA, she also fixed rock silk on the Live room side of the wall i was working on in Control A, then she made this amazing TUna salad and soup for everybody.
The electricians came in today, and worked on COntrol B, the Consumer unit an d fuse-board is in, they ran out the trunking for all the electric's , tomorrow they do the lighting circuit in there, also today they moved some cables and trunks that were in the y in the live room.
So its all go in the honest house,

[Steve Honest]

well things are going well, Control A dry walled , ready for plaster, control b has its electrics, and just needs the new door and the floor installed, live room got its electrics started, still waiting for EDF to remove there airpump , so we might not have a live room for a while , but then i will have a control room and so will alistiar , so we are cool , the vocal booth is nearly all clad, we will finish it tommorw.
steve

[Steve Honest]

SO our builder Mark left for his lovely holiday and we brought in new guy adam, adam is fantastic , really good quality builder, good understanding of the differences between house and studio build,
This last few days, we have been working on the stone wall in the drum room, made from a lovely dense yellow slab with a very stippled surface , we will get lovely complex reflections off it, the wall is titled back 10 degrees, to further bounce the reflections around,
Te plasters are in control A today for 4 days to get it plastered, and also the vocal booth now just needs its electrics and ceiling installed and then adam can put the door frame and door in.
all going well
steve

[Steve Honest]

So its been a hard 17 hour a dy 6 weeks, but we are coning to the end of our first fix,
we tested the isolation between control A and the live room this afternoon, and i was stunned, really pleased with the results, alistair sat in the control room , with my giant drum kit, and thrashed the life out of it , while Neo and I looked thru the window at him and could hear the most minute sound , but i mean tiny tiny tiny.
the sound to the car park walls is down a long long way, as is the sound thru the roof to the reception above.
but here is a thing, in Control B we poured 2 tons of sand under what will be the floor, and we are currently dehumidifying it to get the water out , but a con, you buy 2 tons of sand, and then have to spend £120 to suck the water out of it , that you didnt want in the first place, and im guessing that out of a ton of sand 3/4 of that ton is water, is this a con or what?
any how good week , stone wall looks great , 2 layer of glass in and looks and works great door frames done a. new heavy doors fitted, all electrics up and working, and i think from monday i will be clear to start tuning control A.
steve H

[Steve Honest]

HI reader (s)

SO COntrol A, i have loaded in all the gear this room will have, and i have got the monitors working , from the desk and tools connected with 8 lines to the desk, i ran it up and also rigged the spec analyzer, and took some initial readings with pink noise, i have always preferred to measure ad treat the room with all the gear in place , as the gear will have a effect on the room sound , the desk is a hard reflective surface , as are all my outboard, so over the next while i shall be tuning the room response, the initial readings where promising , no bad peaks or nulls, thanks to being careful with the ratios of the room, some soft humps in the low end, which was expected, tomorrow i will fit the corner bass traps and the mirror point absorbers and plan out from there.

Live room got its 2nd door fitted , i feel so much better now i can lock that door and as we are moving gear in , i want to feel secure at night. We still have the power companies huge air pump in there, but they are promising to take it , maybe by the end of this week , so i can work on the rest of this room.

Control B the floor went down on the sand today, and the room looks great, i dont think its as smooth and flat as A, because it was an awkward room to get a good ratio in, but i can tune it up no problem, just need to get alsitars gear in there , and the analyzer, he is waiting on his otari desk , so the COntrol a to b tuning should segue nicely.

AListiar was supposed to be posting pics up as we went along , but i think he is preoccupied with the fluff in his belly button
Honest