The child proofing your studio or protecting your studio from the kids thread

[fross]

Can we start a thread with suggestions, anecdotal stories and general tips.

1. Sharp objects are everywhere and difficult to cover. (metal racks, guitars)
Wall mounted gutars work.

2. Preamps are higher up in the racks, so some cute little curious bugger doesn't engage the phantom power and fry the keyboards, convertors etc.

[henryrobinett]

Kind of two part that contradicts itself.

First I didn't do anything. I didn't make the studio mysterious and something untouchable, which only made it something they wanted to mess with. Obviously I moved something and made them a little out of reach, but I never said they could twist knobs on either the studio, TV or stereo. This only became a problem when 1) other children came over and found out I didn't split a spleen if my boys turned the volume or played with the knobs of the stereo and 2) when our VCR stopped working I took it to the shop and the repairman pulled out about 6 little toys my son stuffed in it.

That said I eventually had to move my studio out of the house because I could never get any work done. I always wanted to play with the boys or I got frustrated because I couldn't get any studio work done.

[666666]

You surely need to do something because youngsters love lights and knobs. They go crazy for it... they can't wait to get their hands (and drool) on it... seriously.

Once I was cleaning up a used Soundcraft Ghost console I just picked up before bringing it to the studio... had it on the floor in my house. A friend visited and brought her three year old. The very moment the child entered the house, he ran STRAIGHT for the Ghost and damn near jumped right on it, immediately started grabbing the knobs, etc... it was ridiculous. I couldn't keep him away from it. He was obsessed with it.

The way I see it, the only way to properly "child-proof" a studio is to simply keep children OUT of the studio. Add a good lock to the studio door... done. There are indeed way too many ways for a child to get hurt in a studio, too many to list... and you do not need any extra drool in your console!

[crypticglobe]

I have 2 kids. My daughter is 4, and my son 3. I used to have a studio here in the house, but last year moved everything out to a "real" studio... lol.

Anyway, they spent a lot of time in my studio at home, and still spend quite a bit of time with me at work.

I never did anything different. Not one thing. I just kept any eye on them when they were little, and as they got bigger I just told them what not to touch. They pretty much did what I told them. I had them unassign all the buttons on my folcrom a few times..... but I knew how they went so it wasn't a big deal.

Good kids... no problem.


p.s. With your first kid you go around the house trying to decide if the cushions on the couch are too rough, but by the time the 2nd one comes around... you leave forks and knives laying around on the floor.... .... I am exaggerating of course..... but don't worry... it's not a big deal. They are hard to break.

[Blue Bongo]

when our VCR stopped working I took it to the shop and the repairman pulled out about 6 little toys my son stuffed in it.

Now that hits home. I had to take my 5 disc cd player apart the other day, and there were about 17 discs inside.
My kids are 3 and 6. I'm using an old locking cabinet made for a computer. I have my racks and recorder set up in that and lock it up when I'm not using it. When I want to record, I plug in a mic and grab a guitar out of the closet.
You gotta love em.

Blue Bongo

[dan p]

My studio is in an extra bedroom.I put locks on the door so they cant get in.


P

[6strings]

As the song goes... "teach your children well".

But obviously the studio is no place for an unsupervised toddler though... A gate at the top of the stairs or a closed door will suffice.

I don't lock the doors or anything though. The Wiggles inspired her ask for the 57 off the snare one day when she was 3 and ever since it's been a (supervised) play ground where every few weeks she'll say "Let's go record this song!" and I'll go down and play engineer for a 4 year old. Too much fun!

[tarnationsauce]

The Boogie Man is your friend, not the kids.

[Joe Porto]

The best line of defense is a lock on the door.

But then you have to remember to lock it!

My 7 year old son is very careful in the studio. He will come in to listen or to play the studio kit. He knows not to touch anything. He knows not to bring food into the studio or wipe his boogers on stuff. I became a little lax as far as locking the studio doors.

So one day I came home and the house was a mess. It turns out my sister in law and her 5 year old tornado of a daughter were over. I went down to check the studio. The doors to both rooms were wide open. There was auralex foam all over the floors (in bite size pieces). There was a rack of 7 guitars tipped over with all 7 guitars lying in a pile on the floor. All the mic stands around the drums were knocked over, including two with AEA ribbon mics on them. One stand was half over and lying on the keys of my Dave Smith PEK. To top it off, one of my cats got in the studio and pissed all over the wiring behind my console.

Thankfully, I have since moved the studio, so it is not part of my residence, but the moral of the story...KEEP YOUR SHIT LOCKED!

[biggator6]

Pet studio alligator.

[Jake Dempsey]

My place is in a commercial space. It's not in my house, but I bring my 14 mo daughter to work with me all the time while I'm working solo. I have delusions of her becoming a great engineer and taking the business over. She is ultra grabby with everything in the place. I've found the things she's really into (MIDI controller, guitars, empty tape reels, etc) and I let her go nuts with them. You can bring a pack & play to confine them, or just grab stuff away from them and replace with things they can have.

There is no way to childproof a studio. To many wires and switches.

[mohthom]

Worrying about children ruining my beautiful gear is the best form of natural contraception one can possibly hope to have!

MohThoM

[dontfearthringo]

I suggest using bass players as testers, since most of them are just children who can buy their own cigarettes.

Release a bass player into the studio, watch his actions and record them. This is preferably done before they've had bong hits, since most activity after bong hits involves involves sitting on the couch and loudly and frequently asking when the pizza is arriving.

You can also punch them if need be.

[fross]

"every few weeks she'll say "Let's go record this song!" and I'll go down and play engineer for a 4 year old. Too much fun!"

That's hilarious!

[guittarzzan]

My cure-all was to get snipped. I simply don't have any spawn running around here to worry about. I do wish I could borrow one and wife for a few days to qualify for a bigger federal rebate to buy more gear.

[Jake Dempsey]

Originally Posted by dontfearthringo

I suggest using bass players as testers, since most of them are just children who can buy their own cigarettes.

Release a bass player into the studio, watch his actions and record them. This is preferably done before they've had bong hits, since most activity after bong hits involves involves sitting on the couch and loudly and frequently asking when the pizza is arriving.

You can also punch them if need be.

[michaels]

I don't have kids but I do have Rottweilers - which are just very large children with fangs that crawl around on all fours.

Being raised the way I was I took my dads approach when he'd catch me in his "weed closet" and transferred it over to the dogs. Dad would scream and yell and beat the hell out of me. After a few times of that I didn't go in his "weed closet" anymore. Well, not while he was home anyway!

I take the same approach with the dogs and yell at them and get very animated and generally they run the hell out of the control room and don't come back in there except to peek around the corner ocassionally. I can't hit 'em cause they'd eat me - so on that we have reached a mutual agreement. I don't hit them and they leave my penis attached to my body.

When I'm not here though, the control room door is shut and locked and I have those baby gates up on all the doors leading into the tracking room. So I guess I would not try to kid proof the studio, but rather studio proof the kids.

[hanuman]

Put your USB key/Ilok in the back of your PC/MAC. Other then that, train them very young. They just might get brilliant. Imagine you had all that access as a child.....