Beginning the analog room....

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Hello everyone. In the course of getting the shop ready to build, I had to start moving all my studio fixtures up into my "womb". The first step is the plan. The analog studio plan. This is more of the acoustical stuff. But it has to do with orientation of my homemade console/floor. When I say floor, this is a temporary "floor" module that allows use of the console in a temporary situation. That is because the leg/cable chases brackets are mounted on them. Once they are situated, I lay the cableling through them, mount the OSB covers, cover with carpet, and then mount the legs, with cables up through them. Lots of them. All different types. Power, midi, Line level, mic, antenea, cable, etc.
I havn't even finished the studio plan yet, but I have to get these parts out of the shop, so I thought I would share the "installation" of my custom console from the ground up. Might give you some idea of what I am building. I'll post the plans on the Studio Building forum in a few days. I'll post the plans and pics of the console here, because it is ANALOG oriented. Some digital, for my CAD workstation.
I start work tomorrow Great location to work. 10 miles from anything. 100' from the Oregon coast/beach. Beautiful. I worked there Wed and the weather was too good. The greenhouse were building out is 10 mile out of Port Orford.

Anyway, here are some links showing the view from where the console will be and the first 3 modules of the floor/brackets. I'll take pics as I bring up each piece and install it. Sorry for the long post. But I gotta talk sometimes.

The room is a disaster as I just moved a ton of boxes in. When I post the plan, I have a bunch of questions that I need your opinions on.
Till then, heres the pics of my temporary space. Second floor, looking north out the sliding glass door of the studio.
fitZ

 

[The Ghost of FM]

Hey Rick!

I loved the view from the last picture! I was envisioning a huge console there overlooking the woods with all the gear to the sides.

I can't wait to see the studio plans you have! I am looking forward to seeing this progress and thanks for sharing all the steps along the way. This should be educational and entertaining!

Edu-tainment! Is that a word? It is now!

Very cool!

Cheers!

 

[BillyFurnett]

The room looks like a great space!

Hey it's good to see you taking a break from working to post Rick.
(I had grown rather fond of your "Saga" threads in the building forum.)

Is that handsom rascal in the first pic you? (LOL)


Good to see you.

 

[Herm]

Some times I miss the great north west Rick I lived in Seatle for 3 years and visited coos bay while I was living in washington.

I love that part of the country and the weather.
Looks like its going to be a beutiful space when completed.

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Is that handsom rascal in the first pic you? (LOL)

Laugh out loud indeed! Your going blind Billy. Ha! Why do you think the picture is blurred Hey thanks a mill Bill Ok, I admit it. Thats me. A goofball in a baseball hat. But you can see what I am working with. Not great. Just temporary. It'll do just fine for what I have in mind. Well......
Here is a couple of jpeg converted Autocad sections but the floor section is not correct. Kind of. Imagine the floor is the modules. Thats what they are. A section of floor. This is an old drawing of the construction plans for the console. The real plan is 13 "E" size plots. These SUCK here though. Because of the conversion. I am just trying to illustrate a few details as I assemble the real console. I think you will like it, but just remember, any laughs from the peanut gallery and I'll murder you Just kiddin.
Ok, let me try this. I haven't got the pic thing down yet. And some CAD jpegs are toooo big also. So I can't tell untill I hit the post button Hey, I'm going to try it 2 different ways. Nope, only one. I want the picture in the post. Not a link. But you can't have everything. Hmmmm my computer is crash............n.....g

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Well they were too big to attach, so I can only link them.
Hey Ghost, thanks a bunch., makes me feel mushy. Ok, well thats about it for now.
I'll explain more as I install. Heres the first design quandery to ponder.

This is a temporary studio. I do other things in here. Analog purists would say to keep the tape machines as close as possible to the mixer for cable lengths. MY ergonomics and other types of influences tell me to do it another way, regardless of the cable length. Which only are about 30' in length. This mostly has to do with acoustical and space limitations. I'll post 2 layouts. You tell me what you think, ok? But thats in a few days. This is a fly by the seat of your pants sort of thing I have a lot of fixtures and materials to use. Not to mention a shop to make VERY COOL stuff. Like aluminum extrusion diffusers. Hardwoods. Laminates. Colored plex. Custom LAVA LAMPS Lots of esoteric lighting. Fabrics. Custom maple flooring. You'll see. Anyway, thanks again gents. Later.
fitZ

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

cordball heaven...

ah yes, yet another battle to tame the cordball beast. I go to great lengths to tame these demons of the analog studio. Here is where they breed. Quick, break out a can of Cordball Raid......ahhhhhh theres nine more boxs of the critters

 

[BillyFurnett]

I for one am already jealous of your temp room Rick.
(Can't wait to see a pic of the complete console.)


It can be a bit expensive and space consuming, but I usually keep my chords in ziploc bags and even though they're clear I still put a label. I only had two boxes of cord ball nightmares, but it made things alot easier for storage and transport.
Kept me from leaving cables places too because I'd have an empty bag with the label telling me what I forgot.

 

[regebro]

Indeed, very nice with that big door/window with a view of loads of green stuff. Makes for a nice relaxed athmosphere, which must be beneficial. The studios I have recorded in have all been dumps.

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Hello regebro, thanks for the comment. I value all of your input. I want everybody to know something though.
My studio is an expression of self indulgence. Never was able to before. I've NEVER been in a real studio, and really don't care, as this is a hobby for me. Therefore, whatever design criteria I use, it's to please me only, and not satisfy some esoteric acoustic and soundproof principles. This is in my home, and I really don't plan on recording for clients at this point. At least in here. The real studio is going to be in a Pole barn that is on my property, but that is going to require a lot of money and time. Both of which I have very little of at this point. I came here to find happiness and contentment, which I desperately needed, so those are the main criteria. Design is my fetish, and I am thouroghly engrossed in studio design and acoustical/soundproof concept study, as I am a member of John Sayers studio design forum, and have been studing studio design and acoustics for a very long time. But this little ole temporary studio is mostly for listening and recording myself and friends. And to exploit design the way I like it because I am a builder and have a shop.
And tons of materials. I even went to the Bandon Lighthouse beach yesterday, and loaded my pickup with beautiful sun and ocean bleached Port Orford cedar logs and other woods. I love driftwood, and have a woodbutchers shed, cantilevered out into to the creek 50' below. I'll use a lot of the driftwood for building decks, cabinetry, structural stuff, and anything else I find a use for them. My crafts business is called Environmental Woodcraft, which means I use only recycled wood for materials. There will be some driftwood in the studio, although only as resawn boards for slot absorbers. You can find lots of beams, and old planks on this beach. I'll resaw them on my bandsaw into boards. The wood doesn't know its old. When I resaw it or plane it, it looks like brand new wood. I love to use old hardware, lights, anything that I can use that I don't have to buy. God I hate spending money on this type of stuff. Wow, I even found 30 2'x4' sheets of Owens Corning 703 rigid fiberglass panels in the woodbutchers shed here. Cool. Enough for all the acoustical absorption required in my studio. Free! It was what they used in a grid ceiling. Just pull the vinyl off one face and voila! Absorber panels!

So, you will see some things in the future that will lead less towards studio design practices and more for my day to day living and work in this room. I am a CAD draftsman, so there will be lots of things in the room aimed at the work end of that vocation. For instance, my console has a removeable cover over the mixer, which is actually a drafting board. But it also will be an acoustic panel when reversed and hung on the ceiling(diaphamatic absorber) as it will lock into a sealed frame. The interior of this frame is lined with 3" 703 as part of a fabric covered bass trap. Hard to explain, but I will post pics as soon as I have the plan drawn. And a big plotter will also be in there. It's 5' long.
And all kinds of graphics parafinallia. Also, you will see things that are for design only, and have no practical value in a studio. But I like them. Like lava lamps. And these aluminum extrusions that I get from a company called Stylmark. They are beautiful. Going to make a lot of stuff from them. Like quadratic residue sequence(QRD)diffusers. I'll make the primitive root diffusers from wood. And there is my collection of special colored plex. Thats for art/lighting. Ha! Too much fun.

Hey regebro, where are you? Tell us about your studio and stuff. I'm always interested in other peoples studios and ideas. Especially when they have been pro engineers and have their own studio. Hey, do you think extending buss cables out to 30' will have a noticeable noise impact on recordings, vs 10' by moving the recorders to a closer proximity to the mixer? I want to mount 4 reel to reels in a custom steel
rack mount frame in the closet at the rear wall, instead of at one side of the listening position, which will allow for shorter cable lengths, but take up floorspace, and make for noise of the recorders themself. But by the time I run cables up the legs of the console, distribute them to patchbays at the console and under the recorders in the closet, the snakes will be somewhere around 30' long. Maybe longer. I don't know. This is probably nonsence anyway because it's all -10. Ha! See how I get.
.... damn can I ramble on or what. Must have been the coffee this morning....sorry bout that. Ok, I'm done. Wait, here is a quasi studio side elevation, vertical section kind of showing what I am aiming at. Not really a plan, just design studies.
Kind of goofy, but what I like.

fitZ

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

GAAAAAWD, do those drawings suck when they are converted

 

[The Ghost of FM]

Rick,

30 footer, RCA's should be ok as long as you are using a high quality cable that is very well shielded with both a braid wrap and foil rap outer shield. Something from Belden, Canare, Monster-cable or similar ilk should do the trick.

Make a channel in the floor and run it straight back to the machine room/area and that should cut some mileage down as well as cost of cabling and added fidelity.

Long un-balanced cables are prone to high frequency loss and picking up hum and other crap, the longer they are so, yeah! Shortness is a good thing!

Cheers!

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Hello GFM, thanks for the answer. I am planning on custom making snakes. Mogami or
similar. Don't have to be any of those $1k high end cables. Some guy was selling 3' stereo cables for $1500 on ebay. Ha! Are they delusional? Well anyway, thats what I'm planning. The rackmount stuff will be on Tascam roll arounds on each side of the mixer. That way I can roll them to a place where I can sit and play, or something to that effect. I have guitar and midi processors on one rack. Recording stuff in the other. Some in the console too. and under it Biggest problem is the noisy computer. I'm going to open the east wall, as there is a large bathroom linen closet on
the other side. I'll build a soundproof rackmount in the wall, with some kind of cover on the front. Most likely will be hidden by a bass trap or something. Who knows. But I'll vent it up through the roof with a silent fan. Ok, got to go unload the driftwood
see:

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Hey Herm...

I lived for 3 years on Whidbey Island. When did you live in Seattle?