My New Studio Build (perhaps overly detailed)

[stevenA800]

Therein lies the rub. The picture is deceiving because what it doesn't highlight is the fact that you walk down to the door from a higher elevation. It's currently just a dirt mound, but once the electrical is in-place I'll be constructing a nice landing area with concrete pavers and concrete block stairs (2-3 steps).

When you approach the door now the sign hits me at about my sternum. I'm quite tall (6'-6"), so I had my wife walk up to it. She's a foot shorter than me (5'-6") and the sign was still well below her eye level. Sort of at the top of her chest. I specified 9" down from the top of the glazing so that the sign would be at eye level when you approach the door.

Change it, because it will obviously continue to bother you!

 

[Stevorebob]

Therein lies the rub. The picture is deceiving because what it doesn't highlight is the fact that you walk down to the door from a higher elevation. It's currently just a dirt mound, but once the electrical is in-place I'll be constructing a nice landing area with concrete pavers and concrete block stairs (2-3 steps).

When you approach the door now the sign hits me at about my sternum. I'm quite tall (6'-6"), so I had my wife walk up to it. She's a foot shorter than me (5'-6") and the sign was still well below her eye level. Sort of at the top of her chest. I specified 9" down from the top of the glazing so that the sign would be at eye level when you approach the door.

Better to have most look slightly down then most look up.

 

[stevenA800]

FWIW, the studios I have worked for have absolutely no "signage". They don't want the attention.

 

[silky smoove]

FWIW, the studios I have worked for have absolutely no "signage". They don't want the attention.

Signage for mine is a necessity. My wife's business has patients entering through a door immediately east of the studio building. When the studio was first built new patients would periodically think that building was her office and try to go in rather than looking at the sign clearly directing them where to go. This was a solution to keep them from being oblivious to signage and coming in the wrong building.

 

[Ulf_Hansson]

Being tall certainly changes your perspective and I can see why you would want it positioned higher. Good enough is never good enough when you have a high attention to detail.

I see a lot of store signs and business hours on doors that are around the level of the door hardware. You'd think that the sign installer mounted it where they normally would on this type of door. In tems of scale on the door, I think that it looks good. Where it aligns with your eye is something else.

I think that Pete makes a good point, people will look at the sign from a distance. That mitigates positioning issues.

Yes, the proportions of the current placement is great and much more important that being "eye level" on very short distance. I think the sign guys did a wise design choice.

 

[Ulf_Hansson]

FWIW, the studios I have worked for have absolutely no "signage". They don't want the attention.

That's a point. I have had some problems finding a few studios where I was booked - no advertised address, no signs anywhere - had to call the client to get turn-by-turn instructions...

 

[silky smoove]

In semi-related news; I had a bit of a debacle with the owner of Equator Audio and have since stopped using their products. My previously beloved D5s are now sold and in the hands of someone who bought them locally. To replace them I ordered a pair of Adam Audio F5s from Vintage King Audio. Adam Audio is now having problems getting them out to me (possibly they're shot on a manufacturing part or they don't have a large enough batch of orders to merit building them at this time). To make up for this they me a pair of F7s, which are a much nicer, more expensive and slightly larger monitor than the F5s, and they've offered them at no increase in cost! Two of F7s for the price of a pair of F5s! Happy day.

Now in fully related news: I'm on a staycation at home to take care of some stuff around the house and enjoy our anniversary with my wife. Today, after we take a short walk, I'm going to go and work on the insulation in the studio. I need to get the exterior walls done before I can call for what should be my last permit inspection prior to opening the electrical permit. Hopefully more updates to come soon.

 

[Ulf_Hansson]

Electricity... now it's getting exiting!

 

[silky smoove]

Electricity... now it's getting exiting!

It's still a long way out at this point. I don't want to get into the electrical until we're back from our Iceland vacation which is a bit of a question mark in terms of cost.

 

[beans-on-toast]

Nice upgrade from Adam Audio.

I've had a chance to audition a few of their models and was pretty wowed by them. When the time comes, I'd be interested in your impressions.

 

[Ulf_Hansson]

It's still a long way out at this point. I don't want to get into the electrical until we're back from our Iceland vacation which is a bit of a question mark in terms of cost.

Hmm, Iceland... From what I have heard, that can get very expensive indeed!

 

[plav1959]

For funding, do you have a 401k you could take a loan against? Nice thing about that is you're repaying the loan and interest back to yourself.

 

[silky smoove]

For funding, do you have a 401k you could take a loan against? Nice thing about that is you're repaying the loan and interest back to yourself.

I do, but I'm not going to go that route. I've got a plan in-place for funding it out of pocket that won't take too long (relatively speaking). I'm only holding off for the time being to wait to get back from a vacation in Iceland that has a bit of a question mark on the final price tag. It's an expensive country and we'll be there for 10 days, so the costs could vary greatly. I don't want to launch into the electrical work, which will require a contractor, without knowing how far I'm going to be extended from the trip.

In related news: I've been meaning to finish up the insulation so I can close out my building permit. A couple weeks ago I injured my shoulder either rock climbing, or moving a bunch of concrete blocks at my house. It's a possible tear in the supraspinatus tendon. It's now 95% of the way back to normal, and as luck would have it we're approaching a record-setting heat wave here in Seattle. It's certainly not hot for the rest of the country, but I'm not terribly motivated to go work on insulating a structure in 90+ degree heat this weekend, so... Probably going to wait until it cools off to wrap things up with that.

 

[silky smoove]

Oh! Forgot to mention that I just got notification from Vintage King that my Adam F7s have just shipped. Hooray!

 

[silky smoove]

My shoulder is mostly back to normal, so depending on the weather (heat specifically) I should be able to get some insulating done this weekend. Here's hoping!

Also, the UPS guy just dropped off my new F7s!

 

[beans-on-toast]

The speakers are a nice way to greet July.

Some interesting videos from Neumann: Neumann Home Studio Academy - YouTube.

Their room looks like a fantastic space.

 

[silky smoove]

North wall insulation is finished. Making all of the cuts for the upper triangle was really laborious and slow. Not to mention super hot since the adjacent ceiling bays aren't finished yet. Toasty!

I've got two bays on each the east and west walls, two bays and the upper triangle on the south wall and then all of the exterior wall insulation is finished. After that I'll be framing the partition wall upper triangle and doing all of the partition wall insulation. I'm going to spend some time on that on Tuesday since it's a holiday and I won't be at my office, and then will press on the following weekend. Once the exterior wall is finished I can call for my final inspection since the inspector doesn't care about the partition wall.

Finally making some progress again!

 

[silky smoove]

Also, the door saga continues anew. The new door works great... except that it doesn't properly latch without the deadbolt being engaged. Essentially the strike doesn't integrate properly with the strike plate and as such I can shut the door fully, and then push it open without turning the handle. Time to get the door guys back out for the umpteenth time.

 

[Ulf_Hansson]

Also, the door saga continues anew. The new door works great... except that it doesn't properly latch without the deadbolt being engaged.

Was it like that from the start, or did it change from the heat and moist? The door to my recording space requires regular adjustments because the blade is heavy (sound insulation+glass) and the hinges too weak. Same symptom as yours...

 

[beans-on-toast]

I had a similar problem with a door.

There was a closed cell gasket around a metal door frame. It wasn't allowing the door to close all the way and allow the strike to engage in the plate. The deadbolt, when engaged, would hold the door in place so that everything would work. The tolerances were fine. Short term, I filed the strike plate opening ever so slightly which helped. Eventually, the gasket compressed enough and the problem was alleviated.