My New Studio Build (perhaps overly detailed)

[silky smoove]

Making lots of progress.

Getting ready to drop in another irrigation conduit. My landscaper is coming by tomorrow to run the irrigation hose through it.

Stopping to eat some food. Fired up the grill and grabbed one of these. This is proving to be an excellent summer brew. A little limey, but good in the heat.

 

[Stumbo]

A little limey, but good in the heat.
View attachment 3466303

I too enjoy boutique brews made by small English people.

 

[silky smoove]

I too enjoy boutique brews made by small English people.

I was thinking that as I typed it, haha. This is a pale ale made with citra hops (my favorite kind of hop that happens to be grown about two hours from here) and sun dried black limes. It’s interesting. I could do with half the lime, but on a hot day it’s doing the trick!

 

[Fat Freddy]

I too enjoy boutique brews made by small English people.

 

[silky smoove]

Lots of progress today!

The main walkway from the alley to the back of the house and the entrance to my wife’s business is finished.

Capstones on the edge of the walkway are complete... Well... Close enough. I can’t finish them until I rent a wet saw to cut the last capstone where they meet the stairs, but it’s plenty good for the time being.

Those capstones are 3.25” tall. Makes for a nice divider. We’ll be putting planters on top to divide the parking pad and the walkway.

Excavation for the steps down to the studio walkway.

First few blocks (same as the ones used under the studio itself) and the matching capstone are in-place. Total drop is 9.25”, which is a little much for a step (they typically max out at 8”), but it’s still a pretty comfortable step.

For those of you who don’t know how stairs work, my wife is doing her best to demonstrate the process

This is the extent of the walkway down to the studio entrance.

Here’s the completed step down. I’ll clean up the dirt and everything tomorrow when I start the walkway over to the studio door.

 

[Stumbo]

Lots of progress today!

The main walkway from the alley to the back of the house and the entrance to my wife’s business is finished.
View attachment 3467552

Capstones on the edge of the walkway are complete... Well... Close enough. I can’t finish them until I rent a wet saw to cut the last capstone where they meet the stairs, but it’s plenty good for the time being.
View attachment 3467544

Those capstones are 3.25” tall. Makes for a nice divider. We’ll be putting planters on top to divide the parking pad and the walkway.
View attachment 3467547

Excavation for the steps down to the studio walkway.
View attachment 3467545

First few blocks (same as the ones used under the studio itself) and the matching capstone are in-place. Total drop is 9.25”, which is a little much for a step (they typically max out at 8”), but it’s still a pretty comfortable step.
View attachment 3467548

For those of you who don’t know how stairs work, my wife is doing her best to demonstrate the process
View attachment 3467553

This is the extent of the walkway down to the studio entrance.
View attachment 3467549

Here’s the completed step down. I’ll clean up the dirt and everything tomorrow when I start the walkway over to the studio door.
View attachment 3467550

Seems like you need a few more beers!

Nice work. It would be cool to have an overhead pic of everything. You have a lot of stuff going on. Looks Good!

 

[silky smoove]

Seems like you need a few more beers!

Nice work. It would be cool to have an overhead pic of everything. You have a lot of stuff going on. Looks Good!

An overhead pic can happen. It’ll have to wait until we’re done. It won’t all get finished this weekend and then I’m booked with gigs and travel plans until August. Let’s plan on a finished overhead shot by September, haha.

 

[silky smoove]

Progressing off the front of the studio heading back towards the steps. I’m not convinced we’ll get this done today, but we’ll be most of the way there.

 

[silky smoove]

So close, and yet so far.

 

[silky smoove]

All done until August

 

[silky smoove]

Interface problem appears to be sorted. The folks at Apogee had me try all sorts of things to resolve the “slave unlock” issue. They suggested replacing the optical cables. The ones I was using were brand new, so I was skeptical. Wanting to get as good a test case as possible I asked them which cables they used in-house and that I would purchase those as replacements. Expecting some ultra high dollar cable, imagine my surprise when they sent me an Amazon link to some Monoprice cables. They said “these are what we use because they have a slightly narrower 5mm barrel.” I grabbed a pair for a whopping $4.29, removed the previous cables, installed these, and magically everything works again.

Next week I’m shipping my ADAM Audio Sub8 back to Sweetwater for repair. With that I should be good to get everything calibrated and fine tune monitor placement as soon as the sub is back from the shop.

 

[beans-on-toast]

ADAM Audio has been bought by Focusrite. Should be a good thing.


[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[silky smoove]

ADAM Audio has been bought by Focusrite. Should be a good thing.


[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Interesting. I hope ADAM maintains its brand identity under Focusrite. The founder of ADAM, Klaus Heinz broke off from ADAM a few years ago when they were having financial troubles, and introduced Heinz Electrodynamic Designs (HEDD). The company has been gravitating away from its original vibe for a while and I suspect this will continue even more with Focusrite in the picture. My current F7 and Sub8 setup will serve me just fine for years to come. When it comes time to replace my monitors I'll likely go all out on something crazy like Barefoots.

 

[mrface2112]

@silky smoove, I've read every page of this thread over the last 2 months. Fantabulous stuff. The trials and tribulations, the ups and downs, the maddening futility of dealing with government bureaucracy, it's made for very riveting reading.

Prior to my divorce, I had somewhat of a home studio in my unfinished basement, largely because my ex wouldn't support actually building the space out. So I made due with packing blankets on the wall, homebrew absorption and bass trapping with OC703 and OC705, and I got decent results out of the room.

Due to said divorce and subsequent move into a smaller (rental) house, my "studio" has been relegated to the space that houses my home office and amp building workspace. As such, recording acoustic guitars, vocals, even amps and everything DI'd is fine, but drums are out of the question.

I have plans to purchase a house in the coming 12 months (my dad's passing and subsequent handling of his estate has thrown a wrench into my timelines), and "suitable space for a studio" is at the top of the list. I *really* miss playing my drums.

Anyway, long story short, I will absolutely be leveraging a lot of what you've documented here. Thank you for letting us all into your life for the last few years and sharing your journey!


Cheers,
Wade

 

[silky smoove]

Anyway, long story short, I will absolutely be leveraging a lot of what you've documented here. Thank you for letting us all into your life for the last few years and sharing your journey!

Wow, thanks Wade! Sorry to hear about the hard times, but it sounds like you’re on the road to better things. If you start another studio build be sure to keep us posted.

 

[Microbass]

@silky smoove, I've read every page of this thread over the last 2 months. Fantabulous stuff. The trials and tribulations, the ups and downs, the maddening futility of dealing with government bureaucracy, it's made for very riveting reading.

Prior to my divorce, I had somewhat of a home studio in my unfinished basement, largely because my ex wouldn't support actually building the space out. So I made due with packing blankets on the wall, homebrew absorption and bass trapping with OC703 and OC705, and I got decent results out of the room.

Due to said divorce and subsequent move into a smaller (rental) house, my "studio" has been relegated to the space that houses my home office and amp building workspace. As such, recording acoustic guitars, vocals, even amps and everything DI'd is fine, but drums are out of the question.

I have plans to purchase a house in the coming 12 months (my dad's passing and subsequent handling of his estate has thrown a wrench into my timelines), and "suitable space for a studio" is at the top of the list. I *really* miss playing my drums.

Anyway, long story short, I will absolutely be leveraging a lot of what you've documented here. Thank you for letting us all into your life for the last few years and sharing your journey!


Cheers,
Wade

Wow, thanks Wade! Sorry to hear about the hard times, but it sounds like you’re on the road to better things. If you start another studio build be sure to keep us posted.

+1

You will absolutely need to start a thread now that Sily is pretty much all finished up!

 

[mrface2112]

Wow, thanks Wade! Sorry to hear about the hard times, but it sounds like you’re on the road to better things. If you start another studio build be sure to keep us posted.

Thanks, but really, no hard times here. Like many marriages, it simply ran its course and we both needed to move on and we knew it. It may have been the easiest divorce ever. It was basically a mutual extraction. LOL.

But there are always financial setbacks and fallout. But I'm at the end of that process. And yes, another studio will absolutely happen.

+1

You will absolutely need to start a thread now that Sily is pretty much all finished up!

What would life at TB be like without a studio build thread?

 

[silky smoove]

I’m actually working on the interior again. It’s only been MONTHS since I’ve done anything inside, haha. I did about half of the vestibule caulking this afternoon. Tomorrow I’ll get that wrapped up and will put in the stringers for the storage shelves.

 

[silky smoove]

Home Depot has 626 1”x2”x8’ furring strips in stock, but couldn’t find them. I bought 1x3s which they gave me at the 1x2 price. The extra inch won’t matter as these will be hidden under plywood shelves in the vestibule.

 

[silky smoove]

Got the vestibule caulking and touch-up paint all finished. I also did all the caulking around the sound door trim. Lastly I marked out the placements for the firing strips that will support the storage shelves. I also marked out stud locations. Should be easy to install those tomorrow.