Studio Build Documentation

[snow lizard]

Have you noticed the cars at night that have that same ugly blue-gray white light...?

Yes! It's one of my strongest pet peeves!

You can hardly see anything when they are coming at you...because they create a weird haze in the dark...

Behind you isn't much better except that you can flip the interior rear view and the outside ones (mostly the driver's side) are motorized. It's thoroughly distracting and annoying. I guess if I wanted to be a total prick I could aim the light back at the other driver, but propagating this type of light probably isn't the answer.

and there is science that says that color of light is bad on the eyes.

LED's throw a very narrow spectrum of light. Plants are very photoactive type things, more so than the musical types we have here at homewreckers. If you put a regular household LED light on a plant as a grow light, it won't grow. It probably won't even see the light in many cases. So I wonder why we can't see what's in the fridge? Proper LED grow lights that actually work quite well have a number of different colours including representation from the ultraviolet and infrared spectrums that we as musicians would generally want to avoid for health reasons. It creates a wider spectrum. Think Billy Cobham or something. Good LED grow lights make your plants look like alien freaking space plants from Mars or something. Trying to adapt LED technology so that we as musicians can actually fucking see properly doesn't seem to be a huge priority for anyone. Incandescent, flourescent, halogen and HID lighting can all come with variations for basic colour temperature, but all of them also emit a much wider light spectrum than LED. It's like a parmetric EQ. If you set the Q bandwidth to notch it's not like it doesn't have uses but it isn't exactly a musical choice. The sun is full spectrum and plants love it more than anything, and I don't need my glasses for most things in sunlight.

Sorry for the rant, but I hate, hate LED headlights.

Hate!


Cool looking build you got there, though. That looks like it will be an awesome space once it's complete.

 

[ecc83]

I agree about the headlight but then I am rather sensitive. I don't drive after dark except for a 5 min run to the chippy. It is not so much the 'dark' that bothers me so much as the other driver's lights. and WHY do people sit in supermarket car parks with headlights on?

Gone OT a bit have we not? Lights Miroslav: Over here you can get 'Warm White' tubes. Got a bit more red in them. Or, if you really want to push the boat out you can get specialists 'artist' lamps that they used in the screen print shop in the network gear factory I worked at. They give as close to daylight colour temp as you will get.

Dave.

 

[rob aylestone]

For me in the linked article, the key phrase was "there is not real evidence proving OR disproving that EMFs generally (or EMFs from LED lights) are really dangerous".

In a previous life I was a radio ham and still have a rather clever all singing all dancing HF receiver, but the local interference from mainly wall-wart type power supplies and nasty ones built into cheap kit radiate all kinds of rubbish - and lots uses the mains wiring to get everywhere. I don't use the radio. I also have a 25W radio repeater with the antenna around 7m above my studio that operates 24/7 and causes me no issues at all. The amount of RF in the air here is therefore quite high. I'm happy with this, and from my own research, I'm in more danger from my microwave oven, and the fumes from next door's lawnmower, plus of course the people who smoke!

The green people do seem to want a better planet, and I respect that - but some of their publicity material just science-less.

 

[ecc83]

For me in the linked article, the key phrase was "there is not real evidence proving OR disproving that EMFs generally (or EMFs from LED lights) are really dangerous".

In a previous life I was a radio ham and still have a rather clever all singing all dancing HF receiver, but the local interference from mainly wall-wart type power supplies and nasty ones built into cheap kit radiate all kinds of rubbish - and lots uses the mains wiring to get everywhere. I don't use the radio. I also have a 25W radio repeater with the antenna around 7m above my studio that operates 24/7 and causes me no issues at all. The amount of RF in the air here is therefore quite high. I'm happy with this, and from my own research, I'm in more danger from my microwave oven, and the fumes from next door's lawnmower, plus of course the people who smoke!

The green people do seem to want a better planet, and I respect that - but some of their publicity material just science-less.

Re microwave ovens? I am qualified to service them and there is a lot of bollox talked about the dangers. Even with the covers off there is no significant MW radiation from the magnatron, the emitting anode is poking into an ally box. What WILL do you in in very short order is the 2 amp capable 2.5kV HT!

Dave.

 

[miroslav]

It creates a wider spectrum. Think Billy Cobham or something.

That album is fantastic...that's what turned me on to Cobham many years ago.

For me in the linked article, the key phrase was "there is not real evidence proving OR disproving that EMFs generally (or EMFs from LED lights) are really dangerous".

It's mostly due to a lack of long-term studies on the biological effects...but there are cases of people having health issues from being too close to excessive EMF or cumulative lower EMF. It's known that high EMF causes health issues...the questions not clearly answered are about long-term low-level EMF...cell phones, WiFi, dirty electricity, etc.

Here is info from the World Health Org. - WHO | What are electromagnetic fields?

Re microwave ovens? I am qualified to service them and there is a lot of bollox talked about the dangers.

Have you ever stood in front of a running microwave oven with an EMF meter...?
There is excessive EMF up to 5' away...but no, there's no danger.

 

[ecc83]

"Have you ever stood in front of a running microwave oven with an EMF meter...?
There is excessive EMF up to 5' away...but no, there's no danger"

Many time M. Standard requirement when the job was done (plus a PAT test) The meter always read next to FA and never got close the red zone. As I say there is virtually no radiation even with the cover off.

BTW, Hitachi who trained us told us we must NEVER fire up the oven with the HT exposed. We had to infer a faulty magnetron from 'cold checks' Bugger that! Hook an Avo up on the 2.5kV range. Upon switch on meter goes full scale but if the 'tron is working the meter drops after 20 secs or so to 1800V.

Valve guitar amps? Pah! MWOs take NO prisoners!

Dave.

 

[miroslav]

"Have you ever stood in front of a running microwave oven with an EMF meter...?
There is excessive EMF up to 5' away...but no, there's no danger"

Many time M. Standard requirement when the job was done (plus a PAT test) The meter always read next to FA and never got close the red zone.

What's "FA"...?

Well...all I know is, when I hold a meter within 3'-5' from a microwave oven...and turn it on...the EMF is quite present.
Now if you want to argue that it falls within some "approved levels"...and not in some arbitrary "red zone"...that's a different discussion...but the fact is, the oven emits quite a bit of EMF that was NOT there before it was turned on.

Same thing happens with cell phones, WiFi, your laptop, etc...they are all ADDING to EMF that was NOT there before they are powered on.
Considering that in the last several years there has been an explosion in the usage of EMF emitting devices, we are now surrounded by them 24/7...at work, at home, and even when you go in public areas.
None of the added EMF use to be there before these devices and their usage become some prevalent. I would be surprised if there is no biological effect from living in saturated EMF surroundings...even they low-level, and not in some "red zone".

Electric & Magnetic Fields

As most of these articles state...there has been little study on low-level EMF and long-term exposure...but it is clear that we have increased low-level exposure quite substantially in the last 20 years. I do also get the feeling that the convenience of using many of the modern EMF emitting devices outweighs the concern that people should have about them. We wait until someone tells us to stop using them...and for that, we might have to wait another 20 years or more.

Anyway...that's my last post in this thread on the EMF subject...I don't want to take my studio documentation thread off course...but if anyone wishes to continue the conversation about EMF, then a new thread for that subject might be warranted.

 

[bluesfordan]

ah, rats. I knew it was too good to be true. I finally find LED bulbs I like, 2700 k and nice and bright. I need a lot of light, I have poor vision and will always want 100 watt bulbs minimum. People who use 25 watt bulbs drive me bananas. It's like teasing you, it's just not enough damn light. My sister in law is terrible that way. I go over their house and I can't see shit.

Before the newer LED came along, I started hoarding 100 watt bulbs. I have about 7 cases of them now, or hopefully a lifetime supply. I hadn't considered the increased EMF as I wasn't really aware of it until now. Yeah, I'm saturated in it big time. Wi-fi, blue tooth, LED. My car doesn't have LED headlights but has the HID bulbs that cost a freaking ridiculous amount of money but thankfully last about 10 years.

 

[ecc83]

My point Miroslav is that many years ago there was great concern about MW leakage from ovens, it was a new technology after all.

There were meters available that were approved here for testing and they were simple passive 'sniffers' and had a simple moving coil meter which had a red zone at about one third full scale. I was merely trying to allay fears that WERE around back then and show the ovens were tested.

Of course, if you use a sensitive enough active meter almost anything with AC going through it will show a reading.

"Everything is poisonous" just depends on the dosage!

Dave.

 

[miroslav]

I need a lot of light, I have poor vision and will always want 100 watt bulbs minimum. People who use 25 watt bulbs drive me bananas. It's like teasing you, it's just not enough damn light. My sister in law is terrible that way. I go over their house and I can't see shit.

Before the newer LED came along, I started hoarding 100 watt bulbs. I have about 7 cases of them now, or hopefully a lifetime supply.

I have a closet full of all kinds of incandescent bulbs...I was hoarding too, when I heard the planned incandescent phase-out......though you can still find them, just not in any quantity or variety.
I'm not into the super-bright, I like more subdued lighting...my sister use to always complain it wasn't bright enough...

My 100W bulb stash is the smallest. Most of mine are 60W for the bulk of my home use...also there are 40W for some fixtures where there are 3 or more bulbs.
In my current (old) studio space, I ran only halogen track lights...25W per bulb. There are 4 bulbs over the console area, and then one bulb each per rack. I also have a bunch of them for my guitar wall and my amp line.
When the are all on, it's quite bright, but because they are tighter spots instead of floods, there is nice lighting effect, so you have the light without the whole room being bright.

The new studio will have typical incandescent BR30 flood lights...there only 6 of them for the entire room...and they are only 65W each...my foyer, bathroom and hallway will have only 40W bulbs...enough to light up the spaces, but without that real bright look.
I also plan to run some halogen track lights in the new studio using the 4 open beams (already had the wiring set up for them and the switches on the walls installed). They will most likely be the same track lights I now have in the old studio...I'm just going to take those down and reuse them, since the old studio will become my new master bedroom, and I really don't need all those track lights all over the ceiling in there.

Again, it's about mood and ambiance...and I find that 90% of musicians don't like it when it's real bright when they are recording...me included.
Of course, I keep at least three flashlights around the studio, for when I need to see behind an amp or a rack!

 

[miroslav]

DAY 89

Not bothering with any pictures at this time, since it's been just the ongoing drywall work, and a couple of other things.
They did the second pass with some sanding and then more spackle (aka joint-compound or "mud" )...and they are coming back to do a final pass tomorrow...though while they were working, my contractor finally finished framing out the front door wall, which needed to be redone once my old sliding glass doors were removed...so that one wall doesn't even have drywall installed, and they will need to do that and then the same tape-n-mud process...but that shouldn't be any hold-up.
In the meantime, my contractor plans to start painting the main studio space right after they finish with their third mud pass...so I expect Tue/Wed the painting will start. I'm just letting him do the primer and coat of some off-white paint all around...then I can do whatever color I want later on, depending on the additional wall treatments I do...and having the white makes for a good "blank canvas", since it's a neutral color.

We did have some issues with the back door installation, and IMO, they are going to have to remove it, and maybe replace it. It's just not setting right, and there is a lot of rub. So the contractor wants to bring in the door rep, and let him make the call. In the meantime, my replacement front door (they originally made a mistake on the sidelight placement) is arriving on Friday, and I think my studio door is also coming.

The studio door is the same brand and also an exterior 1 3/4" solid wood core, fiberglass clad door. My best friend of 40 years, who has been in the door and window biz for the last 30 years (but he's out in California now) told me that rather than going nuts with the studio door, I should just get the thicker exterior door, and at most, install some of the specialized soundproofing weather-stripping that you can retrofit on any door...but TBH, after seeing the quite beefy weather-stripping that is on these doors...I don't think I will need any. We just have to get the doors installed just right...and for that, I may bring in my other contractor who worked with me on the replacement of my 10 doors in the house this summer. He knows his shit with doors and windows (use to work for Anderson). If my buddy from CA was here, he said he could get it sorted out in about 20 minutes. Sometimes, it's just a little shim here-n-there that makes all the difference for a perfect fit.

Once those things are done...the only portion left of the original construction project will be the tile floor in the foyer and new bathroom, then the installation of the bathroom cabinets and fixtures, and finally the hardwood floor in the studio. I'm expecting all but the hardwood floor to be done by mid-Feb...and then the hardwood floor sometime in that 3rd week of Feb.
After that, I have some trim and finishing work to do around the doors, windows and the exposed beams...but I will finally be rid of all the contractors. As much as I have no bad feelings about any of the workers over the last 3 months...I am SO looking forward to not having anyone coming by every other day and banging on the walls and making dirt and dust. So I am still somewhat on-target, and expect to spend March & April doing my own finish work, loading up the studio, wiring, odds-n-ends, and then of course, the acoustic treatment, which I'm already starting to plan out...and I hope to have it all done May 1.

Of course, I do have some other things also inside the rest of my house. Once I empty my current studio space, there will be some moving of furniture and reorganization (I swear, this all has been worse than trying to move into an empty house)...and I'm replacing all my carpeting downstairs in all the rooms...but I hope that will only be a week or two of madness.

 

[grimtraveller]

What's "FA"...?

"Fuck all." ie, "nothing." It's a very English phrase, often rendered as "Sweet FA." {Some, when being proper would say "Sweet Fanny Adams" or "Sweet Felicity Arkwright" but it all means the same thing ~ "nothing"}.

 

[miroslav]

DAY 97

It's been several days since my last update...we're winding down toward the end now, and there aren't as many big changes from day to day, but things have been moving along in smaller steps...but also a couple of bigger ones the last couple of days.

The painting in the studio has been complete...just a basic off-white, prime & paint. It's not the final pass...but that's what the contractor owed me. I may add another coat just to give it a solid look, but I'm may also consider doing some other color, maybe on part of the walls, or I may first do my final wall treatments, and then decide if I want to paint more or not, since they will cover a good deal of the wall.

The other big job was the replacement of my house generator transfer switch. I had installed a permanent house generator several years back, and at the time, the transfer switches were somewhat limiting, where I had to select only a certain number of circuits to assign to the generator, since the transfer switch had individual breakers. During the construction, the electrician and I talked about the generator, with me saying how I wish I could add the studio, or part of it...and he suggested we replace the transfer switch with a whole-house....meaning, rather than having individual breakers, the new transfer switch would be tied directly to off the electric meter, being the first in line...and then my house breaker panel, and the new studio sub-panel would both become sub-panels.

I always figured I would need to replace everything, including the generator...but as it turned out...I didn't, and so we replaced the transfer switch only.
I still have to consider how many things I can power up during an outage, since my generator has its limit (15kW)...but at least I don't have to be stuck only with specific circuits tied to it. At some point, if I want to go to a bigger generator (like 22kW), the new transfer switch would not need to be replaced, only a heavier wiring harness to accommodate the added kW.
So it all came out really well, and now all my house and studio circuits have access to the backup generator...which is great.

Today I'm getting my AC mini-split installed...and the rest of my outlets/switches will be wired up by the end of the week. After that...just tile work in the foyer and bathroom, and installing the fixtures...and finally the hardwood floor in the studio and the final wood trim...so I'm almost there, the end is getting close.

 

[bluesfordan]

If i ever get back into a house again I want a whole house automatic transfer generator.

 

[miroslav]

DAY 98


Today they installed the mini-split AC/heat pump unit. I don't know why they call it a "mini" split...the unit is pretty damn big!
It's a 2.5 ton compressor (put that on your guitar tracks )...it's quiet as a mouse, both the outside unit and the inside unit.

I can't wait to see how this cools when the weather gets hot...but I'm expecting it's going to do a great job, since it's a bit oversized for the space, but I wanted to make sure it could keep things nice and cool in the dead of summer when I have a good deal of my audio gear on. In my old space, the central AC was pretty adequate (much smaller room), but on the real hot/humid days, if I had my console and tape deck on (the big heat generators) the room would get warm after a couple of hours if I was in there during the mid afternoon...so I always avoided that, or I avoided using the console and tape deck during the hot part of the day.
This new AC unit and new room will not have that problem.

Today I had it on heat, and it certainly kicks out a good deal of it. It will be really nice when I get the two ceiling fans installed...they will move the air around the room quite well. The AC unit also has a dehumidifier mode...so you can suck out the moisture without running the cooling...so it will be a great climate controller for the new studio.

Today I also got most of my power distribution outlets wired up and installed. I just have the network and phone outlets to do tomorrow.

 

[miroslav]

DAY 103

Nothing major to update about.
Right now I'm doing a second coat of paint, since the contractor only quote for primer + paint. It looked OK, but a good second coat makes a noticeable difference.

We are nearing at the end.
Waiting on the electrician to finish some final wiring...he was here a couple of days ago, but needs to come back to finish some outside lights mostly, and a couple of items inside.
Also the tile work will be started this week for the bathroom and foyer...and then installation of the cabinets/fixtures...front door and studio door...and then only the hardwood floor for the studio and final trim around windows, etc.
We look to be on-target for the end of February for the end of the construction...and then I can start moving into the new studio.

 

[Mickster]

Man.....I've been following miro's studio build since day one. It's been a learning experience for sure.........but I'm about as jealous as I ever get now.

Can't wait to hear the first tracks.

 

[miroslav]

Can't wait to hear the first tracks.

You and me, both!

I'm guessing it won't be until sometime in June...judging by how slow this whole process has been, and it's not going to go any faster when I start moving in gear, wiring, then acoustic treatments and tweaking. I hope May 1 that's all done...then I figure a few weeks to test out the room, see what it does, and any adjustments I need to make.

 

[rob aylestone]

It's been 14 years since my last studio build, and my God, I have got old! A re-build has taken me two weeks, worn me out, I current have healing cuts on both hands, two new ones today, and a band-aid on one finger from the brand new hand saw that is mega sharp. I've just spilled half a can of paint, and realised I forgot to pull the power through from the cavity before I sealed it! Miroslav - I'm in awe of your new space and the quality of the build!

 

[miroslav]

It's been 14 years since my last studio build, and my God, I have got old! A re-build has taken me two weeks, worn me out, I current have healing cuts on both hands, two new ones today, and a band-aid on one finger from the brand new hand saw that is mega sharp. I've just spilled half a can of paint, and realised I forgot to pull the power through from the cavity before I sealed it! Miroslav - I'm in awe of your new space and the quality of the build!

Thanks.
This certainly wasn't a DIY build.
Even though I've been busting my ass throughout the construction process (been painting for 4 days now)...I couldn't have done this on my own...way too involved.
Maybe 10-15 years ago I would have taken on more as DIY, though when it comes to excavation and laying foundations, that's not a one man job or something to get intot with out the equipment and know how. These days I can only hump it for so long, though this build has certainly pushed me to my physical limits day after day, and I've still managed to hang in there...but yeah, cuts and bruises, and mostly just being physically beat up day after day.