Mine is cheap also but holds a keyboard, speakers, computer and 4u. Best part is its on wheels if I need to reconfigure the room. I find that part of it useful.
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My New Studio Build (perhaps overly detailed)
- Thread starter silky smoove
- Start date
Sound Construction makes some really cool desks, including two models specifically designed to house a 61-key keyboard/controller.
One is simple, and one is built to integrate two Euphonix MC Mix control surfaces, and a Euphonix MC Transport controller. I love that built-in look which feels really high end, but I don't know if I want my desk to dictate the gear I use as opposed to the other way around.
The problem with the Sound Construction 61 models is that they only accommodate a 28" wide monitor screen. Mine is 32" (nominally) and I really don't want to work on anything smaller. This presents some acoustic problems as the space between your monitors, if located on a wall, should be packed with as much absorbing material as possible. That doesn't work with a big monitor in the way. I do as much compositing and editing as I do mixing (probably more), so using a tiny screen just doesn't work for my purposes.
One is simple, and one is built to integrate two Euphonix MC Mix control surfaces, and a Euphonix MC Transport controller. I love that built-in look which feels really high end, but I don't know if I want my desk to dictate the gear I use as opposed to the other way around.
The problem with the Sound Construction 61 models is that they only accommodate a 28" wide monitor screen. Mine is 32" (nominally) and I really don't want to work on anything smaller. This presents some acoustic problems as the space between your monitors, if located on a wall, should be packed with as much absorbing material as possible. That doesn't work with a big monitor in the way. I do as much compositing and editing as I do mixing (probably more), so using a tiny screen just doesn't work for my purposes.
- Jun 29, 2006
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- President, CEO, CFO, CIO, Chief Engineer, Technician, Janitor - Reiner Amplification
Have you thought about using firecore drywall? It's only 1/8" thicker and a couple bucks more a sheet, but it's really dense. I did my whole basement in it,with a double layer on the ceiling in my sound room - really solid.
I'm going with what Rod Gervais recommends in his book, which is 5/8" type X drywall. I'll be doing two layers with a layer of Green Glue in between. That sound isolating sandwich (soundwich? I couldn't resist) gets hung off of hat channel which is attached to Whisper Clips that get mounted on the wall studs. None of the drywall touches the floor, adjacent walls, or ceiling, and no drywall screws attach to the studs.
- Jun 29, 2006
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- 3,217
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- President, CEO, CFO, CIO, Chief Engineer, Technician, Janitor - Reiner Amplification
Isn't the science of sound waves incredible? I mean really. The way sound travels through walls like that is amazing.
That's kind of what has me most geeked out here. There is a reason and way to treat all of it. Actually got upset a gig the other week by a guy was trying to get rid of feedback by fiddling with every knob on the board. I'm thinking, the acoustic engineers would diagnose what's happening first, then come with a solution.
I'm taking a Studio Recording class at SU, and I have even more respect for projects like this. We just covered studio acoustics and design. Have you heard back on what size design is going to be allowed?
Slight delay with the scheduled meeting yesterday, so now we're out until tomorrow. I should have all of the required info by tomorrow afternoon.
The city might be squashing the project entirely, or at least in its current configuration. There's a 15' wide ECA (environmentally critical area) buffer from the top of the terraced gardens, which are still considered a steep slope. That leaves insufficient room to even place the reduced size building that I was planning.
I might have to move the project to a different site. I have a "lower" lot where it could live. It's not an ideal location in that I couldn't just walk out my backdoor and go to work in my studio, but it is a larger building pad, so potentially the studio could be larger.
The other option is to build in the originally planned location, but with a reduced footprint and a second story. I would have to set it up such that one floor was the control room and the other was the live room. That presents a number of acoustic challenges, and only one of the spaces would have vaulted ceilings. My guess is that the ground floor would be the control room and the upper (the one with vaulted ceilings) would be the live room so I could take advantage of the larger room sound. That makes loading gear in and out more challenging, but would also likely keep bands from bringing in their crappy drums and bass rigs. They'd be forced to use my quality gear. A silver lining!
More to come as this develops.
I might have to move the project to a different site. I have a "lower" lot where it could live. It's not an ideal location in that I couldn't just walk out my backdoor and go to work in my studio, but it is a larger building pad, so potentially the studio could be larger.
The other option is to build in the originally planned location, but with a reduced footprint and a second story. I would have to set it up such that one floor was the control room and the other was the live room. That presents a number of acoustic challenges, and only one of the spaces would have vaulted ceilings. My guess is that the ground floor would be the control room and the upper (the one with vaulted ceilings) would be the live room so I could take advantage of the larger room sound. That makes loading gear in and out more challenging, but would also likely keep bands from bringing in their crappy drums and bass rigs. They'd be forced to use my quality gear. A silver lining!
More to come as this develops.
My head would've exploded in rage and disappointment with all these issues. But you're clearly a little more level headed than me, and it seems like you've got a lot of backup plans.
How far away is the lower site? I know zoning laws vary but here a garage or out building has height restrictions..I wonder if you would have been better off if you didn't "totally" remove the old structure.
Aw crap. Now if you only wanted to tear down a few charming single family residences and put up a cheap slab-sided aPodment building the DCLU would be FINE with that. [For those of you not aware of the allure of Seattle's building boom, an aPodment building is basicallly a 21st century boarding house packed with tiny high priced apartments and shared kitchen units.
My contractor is digging into this right now. There is a 15' height limit for garages, but there's nothing spelled out explicitly for accessory structures. Since there are different permitting requirements for these two different types of structures, our hope is that the two can be looked at separately in this case as well. My neighbors have a three story house, which is well above the 15' height requirement, just on the other side of the alley. My only concern here is that the setback from the alley will be increased if we go to a two-story configuration which would similarly kill the project.
My head exploding and me diving head first into a series of horrifying murderspasms happens later if things go completely south on this.
The lot is effectively 50' wide, and a bit over 10,000sf in total area. That makes the entire lot roughly 200' long. So... 150' or so away from the backdoor, and at an elevation that's 35-40' below the house. The kicker is that it would either requiring walking about a quarter of a mile around the block to get down there, or hopping in my car.
As for not demolishing the existing garage beforehand; It was a non-starter. The existing garage was too close to the house. That would have gotten around the steep slope concern, but had I done anything to it I would have triggered building and fire code requirements for separation of structures. It was either tear the thing down and be able to do something interesting and cool with my backyard, or just live with a hideous garage that was built horribly and was frankly undersized to park anything buy a Mini Cooper inside. I'm glad I knocked that thing down, regardless of the outcome with the studio building.
We don't have many of those going in around my neighborhood, or my previous one in West Seattle. I'm sure they're popping up elsewhere. We're getting two things in my neighborhoods. Mixed use developments (i.e. retail shops on the bottom, condos on the floors above), and Borg cube houses. To other folks reading this thread: Are these Borg cube houses going up elswhere in the country? They're all over Seattle.
svtb15
Inactive
- Mar 22, 2004
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- I play it all. Whatever works for the gig. Q+
Borg cube houses popping up in Austin and west side of NYC. IIRC The experimentals were done in NYC a few years ago. The UN Agenda 21 documents are calling for a large roll out of them in the USA.. Reminds me of the movie BladeRunner and the tiny 250 sq ft cubical people were forced to live in..
These definitely aren't tiny 250sf cubes. My neighbors have a three-story tall one across the alley that's well north of 3,000sf.
We're going to be pursuing this based Seattle's small building exceptions to the ECA (covered under CAM 327B).
http://www.seattle.gov/DPD/Publications/CAM/CAM327B.pdf
Hopefully this works out. I just did some investigation and the lower lot would require too much work to put in a structure. I'd have to do significant vegetation clearing, excavation, slope retainage in the range of 8-10' tall, ground prep, storm drainage, etc. Since that's the kind of work I do for a living (environmental and civil engineering), my educated guess as to the costs of the required site prep would be in the ballpark of $20,000-30,000. That's too much for me to put down for this right now. Give it five years and I could swing it, but I'm not ready to swallow that particular pill at this point.
http://www.seattle.gov/DPD/Publications/CAM/CAM327B.pdf
Hopefully this works out. I just did some investigation and the lower lot would require too much work to put in a structure. I'd have to do significant vegetation clearing, excavation, slope retainage in the range of 8-10' tall, ground prep, storm drainage, etc. Since that's the kind of work I do for a living (environmental and civil engineering), my educated guess as to the costs of the required site prep would be in the ballpark of $20,000-30,000. That's too much for me to put down for this right now. Give it five years and I could swing it, but I'm not ready to swallow that particular pill at this point.
