Re-location/build of Diesel Dungeon Studio!
- Thread starter RecordingMaster
- Start date
RecordingMaster
A Sarcastic Statement
Yep! Spotted it!
Nope, haha, just little led color-changing bulbs inside.
Nope! Actually if a mix isn't seated properly it will tell you. Similar to listening to your mix on an ipad...yes it always sounds "bad" in comparison to stereo speakers or a big hifi system or car, but the majority of people are cheap/lazy/careless and do not even own laptop speakers anymore. Straight up mono audio out of their crappy laptop speaker or tablet or iphone speaker. But what I have noticed is if your mix can rock on there (because I hate mixes where you cant hear the bass guitar on iphones - give it some upper harmonics!), chances are you are getting in the right direction. My goal is to be able to hear the bass guitar and kick drum on these - similar to auratones but on a smaller, even crappier reference scale. It's the age old "crap" speaker test but just a different crap perspective haha. I have more "consumer" reference speaker setups than I do "studio monitors" because that covers what people will be listening on - headphones, pc speakers with a cheap little sub, clock radio (iphone), auratone (tv's, cars, elevator music, etc), minimus 7's (pretty much a stereo version of the same purpose I use the auratone), hifi larger speakers, and then my ACTUAL studio monitors with a sub that i can turn on or off via footswitch. I normally keep it on, but not hyped, just flat lined with monitor level, so i can hear a good full range reference instantly. I keep my monitors full range and set the sub's crossover to take over where the monitors roll off and it fills in the rest.
RecordingMaster
A Sarcastic Statement
Thanks Joel!
The mic clips are actually just wall mounts for garden tools. They have these great clips on them that say "push", you know for the not-so-quick visitors who might be grabbing one. haha. They are actually quite solid especially if well attach/anchored to your wall (unlike those crappier rake mounts that have the ghastly rubber coated hooks that look like they are made from clothes hangers). These here are the exact ones I have for mic stands, but i used longer screws and anchors than the package came with: Everbilt 17 in. Wall-Mounted Spring Storage Clip Bar-01147 at The Home Depot
And the headphone hangers are something (but not exactly, mine are less heavy-duty) similar to these:
LocHook 8-1/8 in. W x 3/4 in. I.D. Zinc Plated Steel Multi-Prong Tool Holder for LocBoard-56660.0 at The Home Depot
RecordingMaster
A Sarcastic Statement
95% Complete!
Welp! I guess things have pretty much almost come to a close at DDS as far as construction goes. The last things I have left to do are build two mini bass traps (2.5'x2'x4") with materials I already have, to straddle the wall/floor corner behind desk. During tracking, they will double as mini gobos for certain little things like placing drum room mics behind them to reduce direct sound from the drums for more ambiance since it is not a giant super reverberant room. Other than that, I still have to put the bottom plate on the floor for the door and a magnetic door seal around the door. I will also be green-gluing ("soundproofing" glue) a piece of 1/2" leftover drywall onto the steel door for extra isolation since the door is always the weakest link. I will have a 2x4' scrap sheet of 2" "studio foam" on the face of the drywall since there is diffusion on the other side.
More pics when that stuff is done, but for now here are the "95% complete" pics! Note the rad custom cabinet my dad made up for me to put over the breaker panel! He managed to measure it here, and somehow make it to exact dimensions at his house and then we just brad-nailed it in when he showed up. Made from plywood but he etched a little cross-hatch design into them and sanded the edges to round them off, and then I painted it.
Welp! I guess things have pretty much almost come to a close at DDS as far as construction goes. The last things I have left to do are build two mini bass traps (2.5'x2'x4") with materials I already have, to straddle the wall/floor corner behind desk. During tracking, they will double as mini gobos for certain little things like placing drum room mics behind them to reduce direct sound from the drums for more ambiance since it is not a giant super reverberant room. Other than that, I still have to put the bottom plate on the floor for the door and a magnetic door seal around the door. I will also be green-gluing ("soundproofing" glue) a piece of 1/2" leftover drywall onto the steel door for extra isolation since the door is always the weakest link. I will have a 2x4' scrap sheet of 2" "studio foam" on the face of the drywall since there is diffusion on the other side.
More pics when that stuff is done, but for now here are the "95% complete" pics! Note the rad custom cabinet my dad made up for me to put over the breaker panel! He managed to measure it here, and somehow make it to exact dimensions at his house and then we just brad-nailed it in when he showed up. Made from plywood but he etched a little cross-hatch design into them and sanded the edges to round them off, and then I painted it.
RecordingMaster
A Sarcastic Statement
By the way...the room sounds better than any room I've been in for the purposes I intend to use it for!
It just feels perfectly neutral with a natural ambiance that is still bright but not overly reverberant. It's not dead in a way that's it's uncomfortable to the ears to be in there, there is no one end of the frequency spectrum that is overbearing or attenuated compared to the others (ie too boomy, too echoey in the highs, too dead in the highs, too boxy, etc). Everything sounds neutral but still has a lively enough "room" sound to it. Like a good early reflection vibe without the nasty "early reflection" artifacts if that makes any sense. No (audible) ringing at any frequencies, no slap or flutter echoes, bass is even ALL AROUND the room no matter where you stand, sit, lay (give or take a few dB here and there in places further away from mix position), drum area is a little livelier than the middle area and control area (my intention).
Already tracked 4 separate vocal sessions in here with 4 different people (male and female all different ages and styles and different mics). With the mic placed a little off center of the room and under a ceiling cloud (and making sure to place it in line with a wall panel for the wall it was closer to), there was no need for my home-made "vox guard" aka "Mic Reflection Filter", no need for blankets or free standing gobos infront/behind/around the singers, etc. Just the mic in the room (with a pop filter of course). And it sounded perfect imo. Not overly dead but no audible sustain from the room captured even from condenser mics. I will ask the guy who is mixing it how it turned out but the tracks sounded great that day upon playback, both in headphones and the monitors.
It just feels perfectly neutral with a natural ambiance that is still bright but not overly reverberant. It's not dead in a way that's it's uncomfortable to the ears to be in there, there is no one end of the frequency spectrum that is overbearing or attenuated compared to the others (ie too boomy, too echoey in the highs, too dead in the highs, too boxy, etc). Everything sounds neutral but still has a lively enough "room" sound to it. Like a good early reflection vibe without the nasty "early reflection" artifacts if that makes any sense. No (audible) ringing at any frequencies, no slap or flutter echoes, bass is even ALL AROUND the room no matter where you stand, sit, lay (give or take a few dB here and there in places further away from mix position), drum area is a little livelier than the middle area and control area (my intention).
Already tracked 4 separate vocal sessions in here with 4 different people (male and female all different ages and styles and different mics). With the mic placed a little off center of the room and under a ceiling cloud (and making sure to place it in line with a wall panel for the wall it was closer to), there was no need for my home-made "vox guard" aka "Mic Reflection Filter", no need for blankets or free standing gobos infront/behind/around the singers, etc. Just the mic in the room (with a pop filter of course). And it sounded perfect imo. Not overly dead but no audible sustain from the room captured even from condenser mics. I will ask the guy who is mixing it how it turned out but the tracks sounded great that day upon playback, both in headphones and the monitors.
Great job!
RecordingMaster
A Sarcastic Statement
Thanks guys!
I just had to report my latest find at a weekend flea market!...a Shure M68 "microphone mixer" circa late 50's-60's for a measly $10. I've heard of these things having a Shure "Level-Loc" (refer to the Soundtoys remake plugin 'Devil Loc') sort of limiting when pushed and can be cool when used as character-heavy analog distortion circuit in mixing. Apparently they overload quite easily and have a pretty unique vibe to them. Could also use it us an actual (dirty) mic pre-amp and it accepts both hi and low z mics on the back. My salt shaker hi-z mic slammed through this thing just might be the ticket for a groovy trash mic on drums on vox. Sweet. Time will tell. But it fits riiiiight in. Must have been meant to be.
I just had to report my latest find at a weekend flea market!...a Shure M68 "microphone mixer" circa late 50's-60's for a measly $10. I've heard of these things having a Shure "Level-Loc" (refer to the Soundtoys remake plugin 'Devil Loc') sort of limiting when pushed and can be cool when used as character-heavy analog distortion circuit in mixing. Apparently they overload quite easily and have a pretty unique vibe to them. Could also use it us an actual (dirty) mic pre-amp and it accepts both hi and low z mics on the back. My salt shaker hi-z mic slammed through this thing just might be the ticket for a groovy trash mic on drums on vox. Sweet. Time will tell. But it fits riiiiight in. Must have been meant to be.
RecordingMaster
A Sarcastic Statement
Because you can never have too much bass trapping...
I added two 4" thick OC703 bass traps (2'x2.5' each) behind the mix desk in the floor/wall corner. They just sit there so they are easy movable if I need to get back there to fiddle around, but I have a patchbay and a mic snake to avoid all that jazz most of the time.
So in total for bass trapping at the mix position I now have 2 floor to ceiling corner superchunks made up of the fluffy roxul type, two 4" wall/ceiling corner bass traps, two 4" wall/floor corner bass traps, and two 4" wall traps spaced 2.5" off wall. Bass trapping in the rest of the room consists of two superchunks in the other end of the room covered with diffusors, two 4" rear wall traps and then three 12"x12"x24" foam "bass traps" (for whatever those are worth) in a side wall/ceiling corner. The rest of the treatment in the room aside from diffusion is all broadband 2" oc703 panels spaced 2" off walls and the same on the ceiling everywhere. The only foam "studio wedges" in the entire place are the ones I put in the empty gap between my two ceiling panels above mix position.
I think I am finally done with treatment now, although I now have an extra 2" OC705 panel (finished) left over and a 4" OC705 bass trap with a reflective face (butcher paper under the fabric). What to do, what to do. I also have a crap load of old "studio foam". Time for a sale I guess!!!
I added two 4" thick OC703 bass traps (2'x2.5' each) behind the mix desk in the floor/wall corner. They just sit there so they are easy movable if I need to get back there to fiddle around, but I have a patchbay and a mic snake to avoid all that jazz most of the time.
So in total for bass trapping at the mix position I now have 2 floor to ceiling corner superchunks made up of the fluffy roxul type, two 4" wall/ceiling corner bass traps, two 4" wall/floor corner bass traps, and two 4" wall traps spaced 2.5" off wall. Bass trapping in the rest of the room consists of two superchunks in the other end of the room covered with diffusors, two 4" rear wall traps and then three 12"x12"x24" foam "bass traps" (for whatever those are worth) in a side wall/ceiling corner. The rest of the treatment in the room aside from diffusion is all broadband 2" oc703 panels spaced 2" off walls and the same on the ceiling everywhere. The only foam "studio wedges" in the entire place are the ones I put in the empty gap between my two ceiling panels above mix position.
I think I am finally done with treatment now, although I now have an extra 2" OC705 panel (finished) left over and a 4" OC705 bass trap with a reflective face (butcher paper under the fabric). What to do, what to do. I also have a crap load of old "studio foam". Time for a sale I guess!!!
RecordingMaster
A Sarcastic Statement
The extra traps - keep handy to use as gobos. The foam - put it on ebay - just say "make your home recording studio LOOK professional with these ..." - don'tallude to any acoustic properties!
Haha yeah! Actually I have no need for more gobos (see the 4'x4'x6" beasts below). And screw ebay! lol. I'll put em on the Canadian version of craiglist called kijiji: Kijiji: Free Classifieds in Canada. Find a job, buy a car, find a house or apartment, furniture, appliances and more!. And I know I've made this joke before, but "wit da extra foam I will fill an empty closet wit dem n' have a professional vocal booth like da pros cause I'm a producah!"
RecordingMaster
A Sarcastic Statement
My lovely wife bought me some Himalayan Salt Rock lamps to add to the decor and give it some cool ambiance (when main lights turned off). Aside from cool (warm) looks, they also have a few health benefits I choose to believe as true! Haha!
RecordingMaster
A Sarcastic Statement
I added some up-lighting from behind/under the mix desk. It adds even more warm gushiness to the vibe of this place when the main lights are off. Super cool vibe going down here now, especially with the addition of floor lamps on either side of the drums with yellow light bulbs. No need for dimmers on the main lights.
RecordingMaster
A Sarcastic Statement
Even though I have a steel door on the place, I still wanted more isolation, so I added a sheet of drywall to the face of the door and adhered it using Green Glue "soundproofing" glue. So in essence I added two more layers to the door. Then i covered it in acoustic foam I had laying around unused. I know the foam doesn't do much for "soundproofing" at all, but I didn't feel like painting the door and on the opposite side of the room, directly across from door, I have no absorption, just diffusion; so I wanted to continue with the trend I have in there where there is always absorption on the opposite side of where diffusion is. Low and behold, this method actually worked quite well! Way less leakage!
I will soon be screwing in a bottom weather strip plate into the floor too for even more sealing.
Drywall drying
Foam added
Total thickness
Complete
Far view
I will soon be screwing in a bottom weather strip plate into the floor too for even more sealing.
Drywall drying
Foam added
Total thickness
Complete
Far view
RecordingMaster
A Sarcastic Statement
"Salt lamps", eh? See that's why I need to give my wife a Santa list, or I might end up with something like those!
Looking real good!
Hey, salt lamps rule man! haha I asked her for them as a bday gift. They are dimmable and they let off negative ions in the air which is awesome for better air, better attitude and overall well-being.
Oh and I'll take those over a pink lava lamp any day!
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mjbphotos
Moderator
Oh and I'll take those over a pink lava lamp any day!
Oh, sure! My lava lamp is purple/red, though.
