Studio Temperature

J

Justplay

New member
I'm not sure if "Newbies" is the right forum for this question, but here goes -

My studio is a fully insulated stand alone building with electric wall heater in the Pacific NW. With the exception of a Yamaha keyboard, I do not keep any instruments there. I do have amps, mics, PC, BR1600 and other electronics there all of the time.

What is an acceptable temperature to maintain when the room is not in use?
 
Room temperature! :D


j/k ;)

Is your stand alone building in the Pacific NW, or just the heater?

ok, j/k again! :)

All kidding aside, I swear:
I'd say keep it cool, but not necessarily cold, and think as much or more about the humidity in the room as the air temperature.
 
My minimum studio temp is not below 63-64 degrees...when I'm not around and don't want my furnace running too much, and then I'll let it come back up to 68-70 over a couple of hours before using the room.

You don't want to go much lower, because you get into too many contraction/expansion issues when you get back up to 70-ish degrees...with wooden instruments and even electronics/PCBs ("board creep" and whatnot)...not to mention, it takes time then to warm the room back up, and the whole time, everything is "shifting", so forget any stringed instrument tuning until it settles back down again.

Finally...if too cool...you could get condensation with some of the gear/connections as it's warmed back up...and that can cause other issues.

If you must keep things cooler...warm it back up very s-l-o-w-l-y...of course, too cool, and you can actually damage stuff permanently.
 
Thank you Miroslav for your detailed comprehensive reply.

As I indicated, I'm not keeping any instruments in the room with the exception of an electronic keyboard. Humidity is typically quite low and condensation or general feel of dampness has so far been non-existent.

I do pre-heat the room (mostly just for personal comfort) before using it. When not in use, I have been keeping the temp at a constant 50 degrees (F). For the month of December that cost me about $50 in electricity - cheaper than gear repair or replacement. My thought was if I dropped the temp by about 5 degrees, it may have a significant impact on cost.

Following your recommendations, I guess I may be going the other direction increasing the temp by 10 degrees. So much for trying save on energy expenses. The good news is our freezing weather around here is limited to only a couple of months.

The other question is what about high-temp? I have no A/C in the room and we can get a week or more of 90 - 100 degree summer heat. This never lasts long, but it has been more the norm every year. My guess is, if it is 90 outside the room may be 80ish.
 
I have several live systems in different vans and trucks that are there in the vehicles year round. The equipment sees -0 in the winter and +90/100 in the summer.
Load into any venue is 2 hours before anything gets fired up so as the equipment can acclimate to the room temperature or outdoor venue and I haven't had any issues going on 25+ years.
 
Humidity and condensation would be my main concerns. There are definite concerns with condensation on electronics if you let them get too cold. Wood that goes hot and cold can crack. Tuning on stringed instruments. Battery life if you let them get cold. And lots of concerns. Climate controlled is always best. Depending on the climate. I try NOT to store any electronics in environments that are not climate controlled. My recording gear is probably hardened enough to cope, but why risk it if you don't have to?

I'd say control it, but as long as you keep it between 60F and 80F you should be okay IMO. I've recorded in 40F to 110F with my field recorder and mics without climate issue or failure. But I've also pulled a digital camera out of the car on a 40F day and when brought inside to a 75F and humid house the condensation factor killed it almost instantly when it was turned on. Technically it still worked, but windows 95a would be considered stable in comparison. YMMV

Any time that I pull in any electronics from outside, I let the sit and dry out for 24 hours before I plug them in or turn them on.
 
moresound said:
I have several live systems in different vans and trucks that are there in the vehicles year round. The equipment sees -0 in the winter and +90/100 in the summer.
Load into any venue is 2 hours before anything gets fired up so as the equipment can acclimate to the room temperature or outdoor venue and I haven't had any issues going on 25+ years.
Click to expand...

No question about it...lots of audio gear will still operate even with huge temp swings...but I just think the OP's question was more about how to best treat his gear, rather than push its limits. ;)

Waaaaaay back...in my early band days, we needed a place to rehearse, so we ended up doing it in a closed porch. It was fine in the fall when we set up...but by December it would get real cold in there, since there was no built-in heat...and we would have to heat up the room before each session.
It didn't take long for one of my PA power amps to blow. I dunno...it might have done it anyway, but those huge cold/hot swings didn't help.
 
I think that the fact that all of the equipment in the vehicles are in racks may have something to do with the non effect with the temperature.
 
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