Devotion Recording - studio construction

[solo-bration]

Today my father-in-law came by to help with some odds and ends. We filled the space around the sliding door frame with backer rod and compound, then put the mouldings back on. Also put some wood stops between the double walls in that doorway where fabric wrapped (1/2") 703 will be screwed into.

Re-hung the sliding doors and made some more absorber frames for the live room corners.

[solo-bration]

The photos...

[SveinKB]

As a young engineer-trainee I find this build truly inspiring!
Thanks for sharing

[solo-bration]

Thanks!

Got some more 500 modules this week.

[solo-bration]

My latest issue is with my heating system. It's a 2-ton rooftop package unit. The problem: with it on, it's still pretty cold in here. The issue (I believe) is that the vents are up on the ceiling 11'-14' high. So the heat is just staying up there. When I got up on a ladder to check the vents, that highest 2 feet is sweltering hot. The vents are blowing hot air but it's not making it's way down to me. Today it was 42 degrees when I came in and turned the heat on. 8 hours later it's at just 65 degrees. And that's with the thermostat "held" at 90 degrees the whole time.

I'm thinking the ceiling absorber clouds I have hung on the ceilings are trapping the heat. So I'm not really sure how to handle this. Some neighboring tenants suggested ceiling fans, but that's not really something I want to add to my rooms. I just want the system to be efficient and heat the rooms as designed.

[BriHar]

Might need to add some ducting to bring it down. Pity now the walls are finished. Maybe you could make it look funky i.e. "by design".

[solo-bration]

Originally Posted by BriHar

Might need to add some ducting to bring it down. Pity now the walls are finished. Maybe you could make it look funky i.e. "by design".

That was the first thing I thought too, but yes it would definitely look "funky" (to put it nicely). One way to hide the ducts, is luckily most of the vents are bordering the walls and near corners. so perhaps I could run some flex ducting down behind the corner absorber panels which straddle the corners and do have enough of a gap behind them. I'm going to call the HVAC tech who installed everything and have him come by and see if he has any solutions first.

[solo-bration]

A few shots of the control room taking shape...

[quadrafunk]

Question about your Alpha Link. Does it heat up quickly? The manual suggests leaving a 1U space above and below for cooling.

[solo-bration]

Originally Posted by quadrafunk

Question about your Alpha Link. Does it heat up quickly? The manual suggests leaving a 1U space above and below for cooling.

It gets warm, but nothing like API gear (which you could fry an egg on). But now you've got me thinking I could leave a space between the Alphalink and the 2500

[quadrafunk]

Originally Posted by solo-bration

It gets warm, but nothing like API gear (which you could fry an egg on). But now you've got me thinking I could leave a space between the Alphalink and the 2500

No problem. Another member informed me of it when he saw it in my rolling rack. It really helped.

[erikdrink]

Nice stuff!

[solo-bration]

Originally Posted by quadrafunk

No problem. Another member informed me of it when he saw it in my rolling rack. It really helped.

Yeah, and it's not like I don't have enough rack space . I'm configuring that Argosy desk for (4) 11sp racks. 2 bays on the outsides are still totally empty. As I build my pre-amp/eq's selection up, I plan to eventually let the Ramsa board go (which is currently only being used as monitoring/talkback & for some extra pre's). Have my eye on the Shadow Hills Equinox to remedy that. Maybe once this place starts making some money

[solo-bration]

I knew it would add noise, but I decided to see just how much rf noise a dimmer switch might put off. I turned an amp on with a Strat plugged into it (not played but turned up) and recorded the noise floor before and after. Looks like I will absolutely not be using any dimmers.

[solo-bration]

Painted a few more absorber panels tonight which will straddle the live room corners.

I also filled/covered the double-wall gaps in the doorways. I wrapped 1/2" OC 703 in black burlap and screwed them into wood stops (mounted on each wall).

[solo-bration]

After hand-stapling 30 absorber panels I find out my father-in-law has a (air) staple gun. May've gotten a little too eager with it...

[solo-bration]

Finally an update and even these photos are weeks old! With 4" clouds in the live room I was still get some flutter near the corners, so I hung 4" absorbers across all 4 corners. Flutters are gone, but now the room is feeling a bit dead. So... I'm looking into diffusion ideas. The least expensive ways I've seen to add some reflection back in may be DIY poly diffusors or simply plywood deflecting in unparallel/random series.

I also got around to treating my Iso Booth. I was given a bunch of Aurlex panels (wouldn't have bought them) so I ran them along the two longer parallel walls, and put some 2" absorbers against the short back wall. Because the height of the booth is 14', I was getting tons of flutter echoes and a nasty resonant frequency at about 395hz. So if you look in the 4th photo I put some 3/4" 703 panels right on the ceiling, then hung 4" clouds about 2.5 feet from the ceiling. After these photos were taken I added another 4" cloud next to the one shown (also placed 2 trashbags full of 703 scraps above the clouds to help fill the void). I then ran 2" absorber panels along the 2 longer side walls just above where the auralex squares stop. By then it was good and dead.

In the final photo check out the mini-fridge one of bands bought me as a studio-warming (or 'cooling') gift!

I've begun recording/mixing here since my last post and am using any spare time to do small touch-ups (ISO window frame is actually done, not spotty like it's shown) and improve the live room acoustics. I hope to have some professional photos taken later this month and launch a website asap.

[solo-bration]

Another live room update: poly diffusors. I used 1/8" hardboard (masonite). In the first photo you can see how I used a router to curve the edges of the 1"x3"s giving the side lips of each poly sheet a groove to plug into. I used the sagitta mathematics calculator to get these to sit at 120 degrees. Alternated between 4ft and 3ft width. 8' heights.

edit: if anyone is thinking of doing this style diffusor, these were a 'real bitch' to bend. We could barely get them bent in between the framed edges with 2 people. Mostly due to the height (8ft) and having to keep a consistent 'bend' the whole way up.

[Arichlsss]

Thx for the test on the dimmers. Was the dimmer causing extra rf at full on full off positions as well?

[solo-bration]

Originally Posted by Arichlsss

Thx for the test on the dimmers. Was the dimmer causing extra rf at full on full off positions as well?

No problem... And that was the rf put off from one switch (nevermind how I have each room zoned into 3 switches each). I believe what you see is the rf at it's nastiest, which was approx halfway between off and full. If I recall, the noise increased (noticeably) even when I had the dimmer at it's furthest positions (off/full)

[sameal]

i hope that furman is just being used for outlets.

me personally I'll purchase anything other then furman from now on.

beautiful build however!

[solo-bration]

Originally Posted by sameal

i hope that furman is just being used for outlets.

me personally I'll purchase anything other then furman from now on.

beautiful build however!

It is being used as a power supply (outlet strip) but has no 'conditioning' function. Was that your issue with Furman?

[sameal]

Originally Posted by solo-bration

It is being used as a power supply (outlet strip) but has no 'conditioning' function. Was that your issue with Furman?

yes indeed. i won't support them after that. i spent good money on something i thought was power conditioning in my less informed years, lucky nothing bad had happened, but I'm not a fan of being duped.

i sold everything furman i had.

[solo-bration]

Originally Posted by sameal

yes indeed. i won't support them after that. i spent good money on something i thought was power conditioning in my less informed years, lucky nothing bad had happened, but I'm not a fan of being duped.

i sold everything furman i had.

Well now that I look, it does say "power conditioner" on it. But I'm really just using it as a "power strip'.

[sameal]

well just be safe and don't rely on it to do anything other then be a power strip.

[Slikjmuzik]

Originally Posted by sameal

well just be safe and don't rely on it to do anything other then be a power strip.

What do you suggest that is reliable? I will be moving my entire studio into a home soon and don't have the means to get the electricity done properly for a studio. I will need to rely on a power conditioner.

[sameal]

Originally Posted by Slikjmuzik

What do you suggest that is reliable? I will be moving my entire studio into a home soon and don't have the means to get the electricity done properly for a studio. I will need to rely on a power conditioner.

Tripp lite is a good solution. there older models are relatively inexpensive. i actually found one in a thrift shop believe it or not. there local here in Chicago if i remember.

there's a few other solutions available, but i went over to tripp lite.

[Slikjmuzik]

Originally Posted by sameal

Tripp lite is a good solution. there older models are relatively inexpensive. i actually found one in a thrift shop believe it or not. there local here in Chicago if i remember.

there's a few other solutions available, but i went over to tripp lite.

Awesome, thank you!! Any others folks? Is Monster just as bad as Furman?

[erikdrink]

Great stuff!

[sameal]

Originally Posted by Slikjmuzik

Awesome, thank you!! Any others folks? Is Monster just as bad as Furman?

the newer furman units do actually have a power transformer in the unit to do power conditioning. they still work, but when furman first made "power conditioning" units they didn't. you bought a pretty box of power outlets. that's my issue with them. i won't purchase another furman product.

the reason i suggest tripp lite, is there usually cheaper then there counter parts on the used market, and pretty dependable. monster and furman come with the price of the big name.

- a side note about monster cable, if you like what they do, take a look at gepco. you might find them to be cheaper for the same quality. mileage may vary from model to model.