Lighting, lighting, lighting

[OldGrover]

Something I just learned from experience - make sure you think about lighting before you start doing your work. Black or dark accoustical foam really seems to suck up the light in a room and a room that was painted white gets a whole lot darker.

I had that problem, but found a relatively cheap and somewhat easy solution to it. I went to the Home Depot and picked up a halogen track light - the kind with 3 lights (mine look like funky space ships - they fit well with the overall industrial/high tech look of the room (oooh, now I'm a home decorator, too)) Anyways, they can be adjustable in direction, but they are really bright so I didn't want them to be shining in anyone's eyes. They cost about $35 bucks, which wasn't bad at all. And that's Canadian too - so I expect you Americans can buy them for - what, about a buck fifty?

I ended up putting the lights on the wall, rather then on the ceiling where they are designed to go, and pointed them up at the white ceiling. The reflected light makes a HUGE difference in the room - it was dark and gloomy and now it is nice and bright and easy to work in.

Installing the lights was a huge pain (the walls in that room are plaster over lathe and the framing is somewhat... nonstandard) but it wasn't too bad. I ended up carving a hole for the track lights in the studio foam on the walls - it looks pretty cool and it was the best location for the lights

Anyways, moral of the story is to think about the lighting and, I guess, that you can use standard components in a bit different way to solve problems in the studio.

[John Sayers]

Yo Grover - yes lighting is important. BTW you know you can spray paint the foam and it still works.
The other problem is light dimmers - some of them put hum in your system...be sure you test a dimmer before buying them

cheers
john