My First........Remote Recording Truck

[Soundhunter]

Originally Posted by Rolo 46

My friend who does small radio OBs from his truck, has a 4WD forward control Land Rover Ambulance that was air dropable.
He has a smallish Mackie ,PMCs and outboard FX and Rec and can go anywhere( ish)
He still has the Red Crosses on it.

Hi Rolo,

Have you got some pics you can post, I have seen one of the Landy's in Ireland kitted out as a studio.
Thanks
Steve

[Hamburg]

Todays result: building a construction that will carry the walls of the vocal booth. The window of the vocal booth is in position now.
@ philper: I need a console because I have to deliver live- mixes to broadcasters and video- people. This truck will be used for recording and mixing. I think space in controlroom will be OK- its size is very popular in germany.

[Fuzzy Logic]

i love buildout threads keep up the good work

[Hamburg]

Today I finished the 2nd layer of isolation of CTR ceiling and front side. I also simulated the position of a center speaker system.

[philper]

Originally Posted by Hamburg

Today I finished the 2nd layer of isolation of CTR ceiling and front side. I also simulated the position of a center speaker system.

You know--it's really nice that you have that translucent roof--is there any way to soundproof that but still allow light in?

Looking good--

phil p

[Remoteness]

A thick piece of Polycarbonate would do the trick.

The new door in Elroy had layers of Polycarbonate that is at least 2.25" thick.
240 lbs of material.

Originally Posted by philper

You know--it's really nice that you have that translucent roof--is there any way to soundproof that but still allow light in?

Looking good--

phil p

[Hamburg]

Thank you for your nice words. The translucent part of the roof is 2m x 0.5m. I planned to cover it with 2 layers of 32 mm polycarbonate ACRYL/HEATSTOP. My idea was to have no windows on the sides of the truck in order to keep the look of a regular truck. But to have a "connection" to daylight in order to have a nice atmosphere. (sorry for my english)

[Fuzzy Logic]

it would be great to keep the translucent ceiling for your rig

remotness was talking to me about building jethro 2 once cosmo and elroy are on the road he wanted to incorporate that smart glass technology for the ceiling and walls of the truck body

pretty crazy if he ever gets to build another rig

[Remoteness]

Come on now Georgie - do I need to have you sign a NDA or what? ;-)

[See and Hear]

I know you mix with your ears but wouldn’t the sunlight washout your monitors and metering on your equipment when using a translucent roof.
In my experience when I call a show and somebody even opens the door from the outside it usually washes out my monitors.

[Hamburg]

I am happy to have some daylight in my CTR if my customers wish to. Of course there will be a possibility to cover the window and have darkness. @Steve: What`s the meaning of NDA?

[Remoteness]

Originally Posted by See and Hear

I know you mix with your ears but wouldn’t the sunlight washout your monitors and metering on your equipment when using a translucent roof.
In my experience when I call a show and somebody even opens the door from the outside it usually washes out my monitors.

IMHO, it's all about the angles of the monitors and how the light is directed.

Adding a "Smart Glass" (SPD) lite to that double layer of 32 mm Polycarbonate would be pretty awesome.

Originally Posted by Hamburg

I am happy to have some daylight in my CTR if my customers wish to. Of course there will be a possibility to cover the window and have darkness. @Steve: What`s the meaning of NDA?

I'm with you on this one.

Having the ability to offer some sunlight to your customers is a great option, especially if you're able to darken it when necessary.

Being able to allow a killer view of the sky is also a tremendous possibility if you can make that so.

NDA stands for Non-Disclosure Agreement.

[AminNapil]

Hey, what's up?
Any new pics ?

[Hamburg]

After a break of 5 months (I worked on the location sound and the sounddesign of a movie in israel and poland) I returned to my truck and work is in progress now. Now the Vocal booth for a narrator has its own door- the control room has a door now as well. The (airconditioned) Rack for the PCs and HD 24s is installed and the walls containing 2 x 30mm of isolation are finished too.

Next step will be the construction of the bass traps, the acoustic treatment of the walls and the floors.

I am still thinking of the FOCAL Twins I saw in Steves Truck- but in Germany the people are used to find ADAM, GENELEC or NEUMANN KH 120 in a truck ....... I am not shure.....

[Remoteness]

Nice!

Pick what's best for you and the engineer's that will be listening to them;-)

Originally Posted by Hamburg

<snip> ...I am still thinking of the FOCAL Twins I saw in Steves Truck- but in Germany the people are used to find ADAM, GENELEC or NEUMANN KH 120 in a truck ....... I am not shure.....

[jimdrake]

Fuel and maintenance costs for an old truck like this??!!

[Hamburg]

The truck consumes about 14 liters diesel for a distance of 100 km. If the truck was registered as a regular truck for deliveries of goods it would cost 500,- Euros taxes and about 2,000,- Euros for insurance a year.
This truck is registered as a "recording studio on wheels" what means that you can´t transport any goods with it. So the truck is tax-free and costs about 340,- Euros for insurance a year.
Spare parts are no problem- Mercedes guarantees 30 years af manufactoring a truck!
So it`s quite a very efficient truck for this purpose.

[LX3]

Any indication of what it's going to cost to insure once it's packed full of equipment?

Or is it possible to insure the equipment separate from the truck itself?

[0VU]

Originally Posted by Hamburg

The truck consumes about 14 liters diesel for a distance of 100 km.

... snip...

So it`s quite a very efficient truck for this purpose.

How does this truck fare with respect to low emission zones policies? For example, in the Greater London Low Emission Zone, (which covers most of the area inside the M25) a truck this size which doesn't meet the latest Euro4 emission standards incurs a charge of £200/day. (And if you pass over midnight in the zone that's another day so another £200.) A lot of European cities have implemented similar schemes, especially in urban areas of Germany and Italy.

Clients don't want to know about finding the charges on their invoices so you either have to add them to the bill but not itemise them, which just makes you look commensurately more expensive, or take a £200/£400 hit on the profits every time you do a job inside the zone (or even pass through it). Which very quickly gets boring.

Since a truck this age isn't likely to meet the current specs, can it cost effectively be modified to pass? (Some schemes don't allow modification to meet the spec - the vehicle is either new enough and clean enough to be compatible with whatever emission standard is required - usually Euro3/Euro4 - or it's simply banned from the LEZ.) Or are you not planning to take it into any controlled emission zones?

[Hamburg]

@LX3: It is not possible to insure an old truck like this itself. But I have an insurance to cover everything that could happen to the equipment inside the truck. In this case I have an insurance that covers an amount of € 40,000.- for technical equipment. So everything that comes and goes is covered- I don`t have to register single machines or devices. This seems to me very comfortable.

0VU: In germany we have a special class of number plates for trucks like this. These plates have green letters on white- all the others are black letters on white. This truck is registered as a "recording studio on wheels" what means that you can´t transport any goods with it. So the truck is tax-free and costs about 340,- Euros for insurance a year. Trucks with the green plates don`t have to care about low emission zones- they are free to drive where they need to. This special german regulation covers all kinds of "special trucks" like OB- vans, SNG- trucks, trucks of circus- companies, garbage trucks. Most of these trucks drive to a special point in the city and stay there for several days. The don`t deliver goods and so the don`t drive many kilometers in the low emmision zone. The way to get this green number plate is hard and long because you have to prove that your truck isn`t a regular truck any more and you have to prove that you can`t carry goods with it.

[0VU]

Hi Hamburg. That's good news, then. (For you if not for the environment.)

We have some similar tax and insurance loopholes here in the UK which mean that if you can produce the right proofs, OB trucks don't conform to the same regulations as normal goods vehicles. However, they're not the same for London's LEZ. There are a few exemptions to to the LEZ rules but they're very specific and the vast majority of OB/recording trucks can't qualify even if they have no problems qualifying for the non-goods vehicles operational exemptions. Pretty much anything over 3500kg GVW is subject to LEZ regulation; even garbage trucks, road sweepers, snow ploughs, gritters and fire engines are not exempt.

There is a special registration class for 'Showman's vehicles' covering fairground and circus equipment which used to cover recording trucks but it was tightened some time ago and now the definition of a 'Showman's vehicle' is so strict that OB/recording doesn't even come close - including proving that the registered owner is a fully paid up 'traveling showman' and the vehicle is used only for some specific roles in a fairground/circus. These rules apply even to foreign-based trucks which need to qualify under the same rules as UK trucks, and register with TfL if they're to avoid the charges. You might be able to use your German special purpose designation to claim exemption but it's worth checking and the vehicle still has to be registered with TfL. So if you bring your truck to London, make sure you do the checks beforehand as the fines are quite large.

Some other places have tougher rules - I know that Austria's one bit of LEZ (on the A12 motorway) has really tight regulations with hardly any exemptions but maybe they accept the German designations/exemptions?

Anyway, it's a nice project, and good luck with it.

[Hamburg]

@ 0VU: Thank you for the nice words. About the environment: I think, the bad influence of my truck to the environment isn`t that big. If everything works perfect the truck will be on the road max. 2,000 km a year- so there won`t be a lot of emmision by this truck. If I have to travel more I propably could change the chassis and get a newer one.

Here are the results of last week. The first absorbers are installed- for the start the TANNOYs aren`t that bad. The TASCAM 2600 is just a stand in for the desk that will be on the truck finally. (MIDAS VERONA or MIDAS XL 200)

[scottyjneilson]

Id make sure that policy is written on a Replacement cost basis or you might be sucking wind through a straw come claims time. I would be very careful as to have your agent point out where in the policy it states RC being most vehicles are written on an Actual Cash Value basis and because it in a car it may get roped into that category. Otherwise this looks sweet man ! Keep it up !

[Hamburg]

Todays work: First wood panels mounted.

[boojum]

^^^^^^^ Erster Klass! First class; you've been peepin' at Steve Remote's truck, huh. ;o) It looks great. Are you going with the Neumann/K&H 120's??

[philper]

Have you kept the translucent roof in? I think that will make the interior very pleasant if you can control the noise of rain etc on the roof. Will you have air-conditioning?

phil p

[Hamburg]

@ boojum: Thank you! I am still thinking about the speaker issue.... the TANNOYs aren`t bad for the start- I really like the NEUMANN 120- I am not shure what to do yet!

@ philper: Yes: All the light you can see in the pictures is daylight coming through the roof. I will keep the translucent part. It will be isolated by 1 cm of thermo- glass. Yes I must have air- conditioning- otherwise the heat will kill me.

And here are the results of the weekend:

[philper]

I hope I get to work with your truck someday--it is pretty much exactly the truck I'd build if I had your skills and the work to pay for it.

phil p

[Hamburg]

@philper: would be great to meet you!

And here is what happened this weekend: Floor finished, Light in progress, installing fuses and electrical stuff.

[Remoteness]

It looks like your mobile unit build-out is coming along quite nicely.

One thing you may want to consider...

I found this out the hard way.
My second truck, (Circa 1984) was Rick Dior's old "Roadway Recorders" truck which I redesigned to my spec had similar wooden construction for the ceiling racks.

It ended up being a serious problem with regard to the equipment installed in those wooden racks. The problem wasn't the fact that we used wooden 2X3s, but the fact that we tied the wooden frame to the ceiling and walls.

Truck bodies are designed to flex; connecting the racks to two different planes was a big no-no.
Serious damage occurred to the equipment on long trips. The longer the trip the worst it was for the gear...

I ended up designing and fabricating metal frame racks that connected only to the side walls with steel reinforced rubber isolation mounts. The racks were then covered with teakwood to give that all teak look.

Since then, we never attach a rack to two different planes. They are either mounted to the ceiling or the side wall only. If they need to be attached to two different walls we make sure those isolation mounts are used.

I'll never forget the time we did a 6+ hour trip only to find some of the gear mounted near the edges twisted and were nearly hanging out of the rack due to the flexing of the truck body.

Thank goodness I used very long 10/32 screws in those racks.
If shorter screws were use, those twisted devices would have also been on the CRM floor.

i hope this helps your build-out project in advance instead of finding out the hard way.