Castleview Studio for Lifehouse

[Jeffrey Hedback]

CastleView Studio is Jason Wade’s (lead singer and songwriter of Lifehouse) private use recording facility located in Los Angeles. The design and build of this studio is being shared with Jason’s consent. The first aspect to bring forward is that this is truly Jason’s studio meaning he taped off the layout, he laid out the wall framing, he “saw” the “L” shaped tracking room, and he wanted the large windows between the control room and tracking room. Simply put, he had a vision.
The design/build team was lead by Nigel Martinez of NJM Media (Los Angeles). Nigel’s “resume” is worth noting. A very short version would read as follows: began career as a drummer in London in the 70’s, was member of Al Jareau’s band, moved to LA in the 80’s, was a staff engineer at Motown, and for the past 20 years has specialized in “turnkey” studio design services for LA based artist, musicians and engineers. I have worked in various ways with Nigel for the past ten years. My scope in this project included designing the sound isolation systems (wall, ceiling and glass), acoustical treatment design, lighting design, electrical circuit design, creation of conceptual documents and the construction document blueprint set.
Before everyone asks, “Why is the symmetry so whack in the control room?”…remember this is Jason’s vision. There were extensive discussions about better layout options. Bottom line, the gig is the gig so strap up and play!
The design process began in September of 2008 and the room was completed in April of 2009.

Lifehouse just released Smoke and Mirrors of which approximately 60% was tracked at Castleview Studios.

Other features of this facility. The ceilings are nearly 12’. A riser was built for the mix position that doubled as cable troft and helped elevate the mix position in relation to the “bigs”.

The main monitors are Genelec 1038B. Although this application is far from typical, the Gen 1038B’s allow the mid-hi pack to rotate 180 degrees. In the case, the box was placed upside down with mid-hi pack rotated 180 degrees. This allowed the acoustic center of the speaker to triangulate at the mix position. The 15” woofer actually does couple with the ceiling which gave a pleasant LF response boost and matched the room volume nicely (again, very atypical). On-axis energy was kept off the left sidewall glass by careful location of all factors. The downward angle helped keep transients and off-axis energy from conflicting with the direct energy from the speakers.
The tracking room was designed to place drums in the corner of the “L” and use the room extensions in a stereo sense (for room mics). The short side of the “L” is where the piano would go. I designed a custom amplitude reflection grating diffusor assembly…”circle diffusors”.

Attached here are some sheets from the design set. To follow will be a series of pics from the as-is condition through completion. You can actually go to LifehouseMusic.com and check out some video's of the band tracking in the space.

[Jeffrey Hedback]

This is what the space looked like before the build began. As mentioned, the "sticks" had been framed per Jason's vision. The building was originally constructed to sell tennis courts...there is actually a court on the roof.

[Jeffrey Hedback]

These pics focus on the build of the monitor wall.

[Jeffrey Hedback]

The floor in the TR is stained concrete. The walls throughout are faux finished a la Venetian plaster. The absorption panels were from Auralex (Custom Pro Panels) as were a generous use of their MetroFusor and Q'Fusor diffusors. Nigel and I have found that these expanded polystyrene units work well behind fabric. You don't get a very vibrant 3D diffusion...but you do get a "warm-crunchy" diffusion (sense of air). It worked well in conjunction with the other acoustical elements and helped stay in budget. The custom wood parts were computer cut by Chisholm Millwork in Indianapolis.

The horizontal wood slats on the far right side of the CR are a custom solution to cover over a Mr. Slim ductless unit that stuck out otherwise. This solution carefully retained air circulation.

All stretch fabric finishes are done by Nigel who is in my opinion a true master of this "art".

Nigel describes the result of the TR as being very similar in vibe and sonic character to Abbey Road Studio B...kinda dark but not murky/muddy...very musical. This is a room he has spent much time in.

[Jeffrey Hedback]

And here are two final pics.

I hope this thread is cool to view. It certainly was a pleasure to be part of this studio.

[Wes Lachot]

Nice work, Jeff! I think it turned out really well. The faux plaster on the walls is easy on the eyes, eh?

I think that under the circumstances it turned out as well as it possibly could have. I'm sure it sounds great, too.

-Wes

[Jeffrey Hedback]

Thank you Wes. I greatly appreciate the comment. I know the band is very happy with the music they're making.

[CGBMike]

Wow, that's really interesting!
I'm a HUGE lifehouse fan and I've seen the videos, I assumed they were at Ironworks so this is intriguing!

And their new record sounds fantastic, absolutely brilliant. So obviously the studio's doing it's job, eh. Great band, great songs, great producer, great gear and space.

Thanks for sharing

[locutus]

Jeff,

Thanks so much for sharing this great thread. It is very enlightening to see it from the designer's perspective, to see a bit of how you worked with the other designers involved, adapted to the client's vision, and had to work around the existing structures/situation. It is very different from a more ideal blank slate situation. (Ok, nothing is really a blank slate, but some more than others.)

Very well done indeed. And I think I can clearly recognize the client's vision for a work environment coming through.

Nathan

[SoundConstruct]

Locutus- You nailed it!

Having worked with Jeff on various projects for over a decade, he is nothing short of amazing at taking current situations and making the best of them. He is truly one of the few that have the Physics and acoustic depth of knowledge that allows him to just make things magical, no matter what the situation. Hat's off to ya Jeff, I am sure it sounds amazing...

Now get off your stoop and market some of those diffusers that mad scientist brain of yours has come up with!

LONG LIVE THE JAW!!!

[nukmusic]

dam niceeeee! thx for sharing.

and just FYI... (may be free promotion)

Link: Submissions Call for Class of 2010

[Jeffrey Hedback]

Thank you very much CGBMike, Locutus, SC and nukmusic. It really is cool to be able to share this.

nukmusic...I like the way you think and its actually kinda funny you should mention Mix Class of ____. This studio was included in Mix Class of 2009 (not the Top 10 in print but the online honorable mentions). I also had a second room that was included in the same MixOnline slideshow. But this second room (another private artist room in LA) was wrongly credited to another designer. Unfortunately, the slide show was not configured in a manner that they could change the credits (...don't know exactly why, just one of those things) and the slide show was pulled off the site...bummer. Maybe they've figured it out since, haven't thought about this since last summer when it happened??? Probably more of an answer than you would expect, but that's what cool about GS.

[nukmusic]

thumbsup