Building a recording truck

[J.F.K]

This is going to become my mobile recording truck. The car needs some attention but the cabinet is relly nice, and can be moved to another chassi if I need to.

It's not hugh but i think it will work out fine. The messure of the cabinet is 3.5m x 1,95m and 1,95 high.

I will post pictures of the build as it moves along. If you want to ofcourse.

All th best
Fredrik

[Remoteness]

Hey Fredrik,

Good luck on your mobile build out project.

That truck reminds me of my first truck that I built when I was 19 years old.
The truck body was a bit larger than yours, but looked very similar.

Here's a picture of the truck...

[Kyle S]

19! Did/do you do the automotive work yourself?

[Remoteness]

Originally Posted by Kyle S

19! Did/do you do the automotive work yourself?

I started doing location recording right out of high school at 17.
By the time I was 18 I was recording a lot of the bands on the Punk and New Wave scene with my small modest portable rig...

The truck came a year later.
I can recommend and specify what I want done on the automotive side, but that's not really my bag even though I've been under that truck (and all the others) a number of times.

[klaukholm]

Does this truck get around the emissions issue by being small, or will you not be able to operate in Malmö, Gothenburg and Stockholm?

The older large mobile units at the swedish radio will soon not be allowed in the larger cities, and smaller cities are thought to follow with similar bans in a few years. The way around it is investing in a brand new truck that meets the current standards.

[LX3]

Wow, is this so? No recording trucks in Swedish cities?

So, what's the plan instead?

(Not that it's an issue for me, as I don't have a truck, nor do I record much in Sweden!)

Will it be load-in rigs only? What about TV production? (who regularly need to use trucks). Or will there be some dispensation given for production vehicles?

I've often thought about building a truck (you know, next time I have sixty thousand pounds spare ), but maybe I've been taking the right approach all along...?

[klaukholm]

Trucks are allowed, but generally only relatively new trucks meet these emissions standards.
The truck above may be small enough to not be effected.

[LX3]

Oops, apologies for not reading your post properly - the answer's right there.

I think I have web-user disease... scanning instead of actually reading entire sentences.

Still, it must be a concern for broadcasters if new regulations mean they can't use their preferred truck. Maybe they can swap out engines and exhaust systems rather than moving the entire rig to a new chassis.

...Or they view it as an opportunity to do that huge upgrade.

[Remoteness]

Paul,

In my experience, it's a lot easier to swap a body onto another chassis than to swap out an engine and such. YMMV.

[LX3]

Hmm, what do you do... almost completely unload the body of gear, move it to a new chassis (somehow...), then re-install everything?

I guess, given a few days, that is something you could do yourself. I don't think I have the skills or gear to swap an engine no matter how long you gave me.

[klaukholm]

the radio will likely move the whole box onto another new trailer/truck when they get the money, but that could be a while.

Fredrik, what are the rules regarding a truck your size?

[Remoteness]

Well, typically all your equipment is mounted into the truck body; anything that can move is removed from the truck (CRM) body; the rest you leave in the body.

There are about eight to twelve U bolts that fasten the truck body to the truck chassis; all you have to do is remove the U bolts; lift the truck body; drive the truck away from the lifted body; drive the new truck under the lifted body; carefully drop the body onto the new truck; bolt the U bolts and such. Now, you're ready to get your rig back in order.

Transferring truck bodies is not too difficult if you do the proper prep work necessary to make it a successful project. If you cannot handle the project there are many truck body places that can do this for you in a snap. These folks do this on a daily level; they make it look easy.

Originally Posted by LX3

Hmm, what do you do... almost completely unload the body of gear, move it to a new chassis (somehow...), then re-install everything?

I guess, given a few days, that is something you could do yourself. I don't think I have the skills or gear to swap an engine no matter how long you gave me.

[J.F.K]

As I understand it, it's trucks designed to run only on diesel that wont be able to work inside the center of the major swedish city's,
The truck that Im going to use run on petrol and it's not inclued in the first emission controlled zone. But surely it will be in the futre as it's an old truck and should not be on the roads longer then necessary.

Thats one reason Im building in a truck not a van. When the truck breaks down I can move the cabinet to a new body and not having to do the building work all over again.

[klaukholm]

Thats great to hear, fredrik!

I hope to see the finished product in person if you have work in our neighbourhood.

What speakers are you planning on using?

[LX3]

Looks like a great project. I like the idea of relatively compact trucks. Look forward to seeing how you approach it Fredrik.

I'd love to build something along those lines, but even if I could afford to, I think my main issue would be... where would I keep it?! It's hard enough in London to find somewhere to store a medium-size van full of kit, let alone anything bigger.

Thanks for the "How to change chassis" guide Steve. Makes complete sense to a never-owned-a-truck guy like me.

[J.F.K]

Originally Posted by klaukholm

Thats great to hear, fredrik!

I hope to see the finished product in person if you have work in our neighbourhood.

What speakers are you planning on using?

I could easily drive down to you not far.

I dont know about speakers yet. I have dynaudio and focal in the studio.

[J.F.K]

Originally Posted by LX3

Looks like a great project. I like the idea of relatively compact trucks. Look forward to seeing how you approach it Fredrik.

I'd love to build something along those lines, but even if I could afford to, I think my main issue would be... where would I keep it?! It's hard enough in London to find somewhere to store a medium-size van full of kit, let alone anything bigger.

Thanks for the "How to change chassis" guide Steve. Makes complete sense to a never-owned-a-truck guy like me.

yes i can only imagine. I live in the country so thats not a problem..-

[nobtwiddler]

Hey Steve;
That looks like Manny "M" in the truck?
Am I right?

Boy do I remember those days!
Some great times!

[Remoteness]

Yup, That is indeed Manny.

I just saw him at the Teaser Reunion; he looks great.
I thought I might have seen you there too.

Talk to you soon.

Will you be at the AES in NYC this weekend?

Originally Posted by nobtwiddler

Hey Steve;
That looks like Manny "M" in the truck?
Am I right?

Boy do I remember those days!
Some great times!

[memphisindie]

Steve, where was that picture taken?

[Remoteness]

I was on 23rd street, NYC.
We were parked at a Public Access Television Studio in the late 70s.

Originally Posted by memphisindie

Steve, where was that picture taken?

[nobtwiddler]

Steve;
Yep I was supposed to play a few songs with my old band mates last week, but had to work...
And as we all know, when there's work nowadays, you gotta take it~!

In the meantime, I might be able to come to AES, but I'm tracking Geoff Daking with his original band (The Blues Magoos) this weekend, the last song for their new record, and I might have to start mixing on Sunday.
So I'm not sure if I can make it, but I'm gonna try to be there.

It'd be good to see ya again, been way toooooo long.

[Remoteness]

Yes indeed, it has been way too long.

So, I guess Daking is not going to be at the show either since he's with you.

Hey, I understand Dave has been working up at your studio a lot.

Very cool!

Enjoy the work - see you when I see you bro!