My New Studio Build (perhaps overly detailed)

[silky smoove]

My wife just sent me a picture of the work he did today, and it appears that he put the grounding rods in a location where they'll be tripping hazards for anyone walking around the front of my studio or my house's back steps. I'll need to get that rectified (electrical pun) before he returns on Wednesday. Not rectified in that I'll do any physical work, just that I need to make sure he knows not to put them where they'll be a problem.

Quoting myself here for context. He definitely put the first grounding rod in a bad spot. Impossible not to trip on it. I'll have him move it, which unfortunately will be to the tune of $90/hr, but at least it'll be done correctly rather than me bashing a toe on it or tripping and careening head first into the studio door.

 

[beans-on-toast]

Well the purpose of a ground rod is to help with tripping. I wonder what he was thinking when he chose the location for that rod.

 

[silky smoove]

Well the purpose of a ground rod is to help with tripping.

Electrical tripping of a breaker, or physical tripping of a pop singer who's come over to my shop to lay down vocals on her latest bangin' track, but the only thing that was bangin' was herself as she collided with the side of my studio building after catching a toe on a piece of pipe and rod protruding out of the ground?

I wonder what he was thinking when he chose the location for that rod.

My suspicion is that he was trying to utilize the pipe trench that I had already dug rather than needing to bust up any additional ground to get the rod deep enough into the earth.

 

[silky smoove]

The grounding rods turned out to be a miscommunication. The locations where he had them installed were just fine because the finished product gets completed buried. They stick up about an inch from the bottom of the conduit trench, which means they'll have about 19" of dirt piled on top of them and eventually a bunch of concrete tile hardscaping above that. No tripping hazard at all.

The electrician told me that today will likely be the last day of work to get all of this wrapped up.

 

[beans-on-toast]

Have you decided if you will be getting a 500 series rack and if so which one? I recall you mentioning the possibility of 500 series modules earlier.

Rupert Neve offers a good six slot unit that I'm sure is well designed, the BAE ones are interesting with a power supply that suppprts up to 250mA per slot, then there are the API lunchboxes. Some have summing mixers built in, higher cost. Vintage King makes a basic one that looks good for the price.

I see more 500 series products coming out. With AES NY comming up this month, there will no doubt be even more. I like 19" rack gear but they take up a lot of space. There are some very nice options out there.

 

[markjazzbassist]

Have you decided if you will be getting a 500 series rack and if so which one? I recall you mentioning the possibility of 500 series modules earlier.

Rupert Neve offers a good six slot unit that I'm sure is well designed, the BAE ones are interesting with a power supply that suppprts up to 250mA per slot, then there are the API lunchboxes. Some have summing mixers built in, higher cost. Vintage King makes a basic one that looks good for the price.

I see more 500 series products coming out. With AES NY comming up this month, there will no doubt be even more. I like 19" rack gear but they take up a lot of space. There are some very nice options out there.

i worry the tiny transformers in those 500 series things don't impart much sonically and therefore they aren't really great tonally. i've tried some and listening to some blind A/B with Neve 500 and Neve real deal and you can tell the difference. But the cheapskate in me wants to dive full on into 500 series. The purist doesn't. i'm torn.

 

[silky smoove]

Have you decided if you will be getting a 500 series rack and if so which one? I recall you mentioning the possibility of 500 series modules earlier.

500-series was never on the table for my studio space. Maybe at some point I'll consider it, but for now I'm staying lean and mean. I'm now gravitating towards an Apogee front end with 16-channels (8-channels of Ensemble Thunderbolt for the "hub" of the whole thing with another 8-channels of Elements to expand it). Add the Apogee Remote and a Slate Raven MTi and the whole setup gets VERY slick.

 

[beans-on-toast]

i worry the tiny transformers in those 500 series things don't impart much sonically and therefore they aren't really great tonally. i've tried some and listening to some blind A/B with Neve 500 and Neve real deal and you can tell the difference. But the cheapskate in me wants to dive full on into 500 series. The purist doesn't. i'm torn.

I get what you are saying. You see units that take up two slots such as the unit below so transformer real estate is less of an issue. The solution is a bigger rack I suppose.

The larger format 10 series racks allow the modules to be bigger. Another option.

Three 500 slots

Series 10 rack

 

[beans-on-toast]

500-series was never on the table for my studio space. Maybe at some point I'll consider it, but for now I'm staying lean and mean. I'm now gravitating towards an Apogee front end with 16-channels (8-channels of Ensemble Thunderbolt for the "hub" of the whole thing with another 8-channels of Elements to expand it). Add the Apogee Remote and a Slate Raven MTi and the whole setup gets VERY slick.

Equipment decisions are always difficult. All nice selections.

I figure that in a few years when specs improve, I may need to upgrade my Focusrite box. Thankfully, I don't see ever having to upgrade a BAE or Neve unit.

 

[markjazzbassist]

500-series was never on the table for my studio space. Maybe at some point I'll consider it, but for now I'm staying lean and mean. I'm now gravitating towards an Apogee front end with 16-channels (8-channels of Ensemble Thunderbolt for the "hub" of the whole thing with another 8-channels of Elements to expand it). Add the Apogee Remote and a Slate Raven MTi and the whole setup gets VERY slick.

i was wondering if your gear choices would change, looks like they have. i remember you were going to go Mackie Onyx, but I think the Apogee would be a nice step up. Good Choice. Do you mix ITB?

 

[beans-on-toast]

I have a Mackie Onyx that I now use as a sub mixer. Apogee or Focusrite boxes are much improved. An indication as to how fast the technology changes.

 

[silky smoove]

i was wondering if your gear choices would change, looks like they have. i remember you were going to go Mackie Onyx, but I think the Apogee would be a nice step up. Good Choice.

You're slightly off. My current setup has a Mackie Onyx Blackbird at the center of the chain. I was never intending to keep it in service once the new studio was up and running. My initial plan was to use a Focusrite Clarrett 8PreX as the centerpiece with a Clarrett OctoPre added in via ADAT to expand to 16. I recently had a chance to play around with Apogee's updated Ensemble and the Apogee Remote. I really liked the functionality, and expanding via their lower priced Element series (same preamps, same converters, lack of a front panel interface) seemed like a solid choice.

Do you mix ITB?

Entirely. I had a hybrid setup for a while, but never really felt like anything was improved and there was a lot lost due to the lack of recall in the outboard equipment I was using. I suspect that if I went all in on an OTB setup with full recall I would dig it, but it's simply not cost or space feasible for what will be my finished space.

 

[markjazzbassist]

You're slightly off. My current setup has a Mackie Onyx Blackbird at the center of the chain. I was never intending to keep it in service once the new studio was up and running. My initial plan was to use a Focusrite Clarrett 8PreX as the centerpiece with a Clarrett OctoPre added in via ADAT to expand to 16. I recently had a chance to play around with Apogee's updated Ensemble and the Apogee Remote. I really liked the functionality, and expanding via their lower priced Element series (same preamps, same converters, lack of a front panel interface) seemed like a solid choice.


Entirely. I had a hybrid setup for a while, but never really felt like anything was improved and there was a lot lost due to the lack of recall in the outboard equipment I was using. I suspect that if I went all in on an OTB setup with full recall I would dig it, but it's simply not cost or space feasible for what will be my finished space.

gotcha. yeah i was gonna say with your space size definately matters so ITB makes sense. The apogee converters i've always felt sounded a lot better than the focusrite and others, they had a sweetness to them i always liked.

 

[silky smoove]

gotcha. yeah i was gonna say with your space size definately matters so ITB makes sense. The apogee converters i've always felt sounded a lot better than the focusrite and others, they had a sweetness to them i always liked.

Size is a major concern. It'll feel very spacious for me when it's done, but that's also by virtue of the fact that I've always worked out of what felt like broom closets. Regardless of my perception, it is NOT a huge space. OTB could possibly work if I pushed everything all the way against the front wall, but giving up recall is not something I'm ready to do, and I don't really want to lay out the cash for a board with full recall of all parameters. ITB has gotten so good these days that it's not really a concern to me at this point. DAWs are great, interfaces are great, control surfaces are great, plugins are great... It's all great. Never been a better time, and the future will only get better.

The Apogee converters are reportedly based on Rupert Neve designs. Now, what "based on" actually means is highly debatable, and probably inconsequential. What does matter is that they sound very good. I've always felt that they were a little "softer" on transients than a lot of their competitors. I have a tendency to mix a little too bright and stiff, so having something that pushes against that tendency in a softening direction is often a good thing for me personally. I could see someone with a tendency to mix a little dark and squishy preferring a snappier and more crisp set of converters, but that's not where my ear wants to take most things when I get rolling.

EDIT: Also, since I work out of Logic Pro X the Apogee stuff makes a ton of sense. The integration with Logic is absolutely stunning. Really well thought out implementation.

 

[silky smoove]

Grounding!

 

[beans-on-toast]

Someone's gonna trip in that trench!

 

[silky smoove]

Someone's gonna trip in that trench!

I knew I was forgetting SOMETHING.

 

[silky smoove]

Coordinating with my electrician this morning on the dimmer for the interior lights. I'm hoping to use a variable transformer for dimming rather than a conventional dimmer. Variac provides some pretty slick units. Expensive, but since there's only a single dimmer required I think it should be fine.

To quote a user over at the John Sayers forum:
most AC dimmers work by cutting sections out of the phase cycle - cut more sections = less power = dimmer lights - which means spikes and noise and these occur as base and harmonics of the line frequency... and can get picked up by equipment with sensitive preamps - like guitar amps, mic preamps, etc... variacs work by adjusting delivered voltage like a "variable transformer" where you select some number of coils = fewer coils = less power = dimmer lights... much cleaner but harder to make = more $

 

[silky smoove]

If the Variac doesn't work out the other option will be to have a separate "mood lighting" circuit that's on a separate switch. Turn on the track lighting when I'm in there working on things that need to be fully lit, then switch that off and turn on the low wattage incandescent circuit when I've got people in there tracking and setting a mood is preferable to full light.

 

[markjazzbassist]

If the Variac doesn't work out the other option will be to have a separate "mood lighting" circuit that's on a separate switch. Turn on the track lighting when I'm in there working on things that need to be fully lit, then switch that off and turn on the low wattage incandescent circuit when I've got people in there tracking and setting a mood is preferable to full light.

A couple lava lamps and a string of Christmas lights won't do the trick?