Early signs of finishing touches.

According to the schedule, we're about 6 weeks away from move-in. And the place is starting to look like it.

Framing for the acoustic treatments in Studio 1 is complete, and the ceiling grid is in place. Now the electricians can begin hanging fixtures.


David and his capable crew - Matt, Zach and Randall - hang one of the custom-made HVAC plenums. (Sorry again for the blurry pic. The iPhone doesn't do well in lower-light settings. And apologies to Zach, whose back is all you can see.)


Here's a view of the corner near Studio 1's entrance.


Meanwhile, work continues in the control rooms as well.



The ceiling grids are complete and HVAC supply plenums are in place. I think it's clever how David has designed the system so that air comes into the room down through a ceiling reveal at the front of the room.



At the rear of the room, the HVAC return will be inside the bass trap and partially concealed by a loveseat and two side chairs. As you can see, installation of the lighting fixtures has begun in here as well. (That REALLY bright light is a test of the battery powered fixtures that illuminate in case of power failure.)


Meanwhile, the ceiling grid is taking shape in the common areas. (Geeky detail alert!) To prevent even the slightest acoustic vibration from penetrating recording and mixing spaces, any ceiling grid running along the outside wall of a studio or control room is disconnected from the wall, and further separated by a strip of black neoprene. The neoprene disappears into the black ceiling grid and completes the acoustic decoupling.


I also had a request to show more of the paint colors. This photo doesn't do it justice, but the short hallway leading to Studio 1 (with restrooms on the right) is a warm brown called "Hopsack". The restrooms get this same color.


Door frames will be painted black, and common area doors and baseboards will be natural light wood with clear stain. Brian, our architect, came up with a handsome contemporary detail for the baseboards. They're being milled and finished off site, but I'm told I'll get a look at them this week. Which means you will, too.

Until next time...

Beginnings of a vibe.

I know, "vibe" is one of those throwback words. But it's still a word freely used in musical circles, and one we take seriously when it comes to the feel of our new facility.

Fortunately, we found Bobbie Cox of Custom Dragonfly Designs to guide us in the quest for great vibe. And now we're finally seeing the first signs of her excellent interior design consultation. The first coat of paint has been applied in the common areas, and it's lookin' good. ("Riverway" is the name of the color, if you're interested.) You'll see much more of Bobbie's input going forward.




Meanwhile, even Construction Superintendents have to eat now and then. Here's Jerry in a makeshift lunch spot. I don't want to embarrass him here on my humble blog, but credit must be given where credit is due. On time, on budget and lookin' good. You run a tight ship, Jerry. Props to you and Denver Construction Company.


Until next time...

Acoustics!

This week the first acoustical treatments began showing up in the control rooms. In this shot of the front wall of Control Room A (remember, they're all identical except for color and fabric treatments) you see layers of rock wool attached to the framing for the corner bass traps. Unfortunately, I didn't get a shot of what's inside the cavities - namely loosely stacked unfaced pink insulation. The traps will be sealed on all sides except the front.


As you can see, rock wool extends beyond the line where the acoustical ceilings will hang, all the way to the hard drywall ceiling. Suspended ceiling height for the front of the room will be 8' 6", with the hard drywall ceiling at 12'. Plenums for HVAC supplies will set atop the corner traps and feed air into the room through a 6" reveal between the suspended ceiling and front wall. Very clever and discreet.


Believe it or not, this isn't quite all the conduit. Two-inch pipes will also be included to handle larger 16-pair microphone and line level connections to the machine room patchbays. The framing cross member in the center is to hold the flat panel wall mounts. Each control room will feature a 52" 1080P monitor in this spot.



And now for the rear wall. Ceilings at the rear will be 10' 6" high, then slope down to the front wall height of 8' 6" beginning about the middle of the room.


That's not a picture window in the center. It will hold six 2' x 2' wooden diffusers. Not only will these help the room's acoustics, they'll look cool too. Beneath will be a plenum and HVAC register for the return air. If you notice the short joists across the top, these aren't just structural supports for the front of the wall. Hanging diagonally will be double-faced rigid bass traps. By being suspended from above, they're more effective at trapping those insidious, rogue bass frequencies. David tells me the frequency response of our new control rooms will be superb, which is exactly why we're going to the effort. It's great knowing that we'll be making critical mixing decisions in that kind of environment.

Now on to the largest room in the new place, Studio 1.


I wrote about construction of the stone walls (and their acoustical importance) in earlier posts. Here, the framing is complete for the bass traps which will angle gently into a 14' high theatre curtain at the front of the room. David will use the same rigid bass traps in these cavities that he's using in the rear wall of the control rooms. You'll notice that the hanging joists are in two tiers. The raw material for these hanging traps only comes in 8' heights, so it takes two tiers to get the job done - 8' at the bottom, and just over 5' at the top. Total height of the traps (and the stone walls) is 13' 6" and the suspended ceiling will be at 14". Compared to our current tracking room, that's some extra cubic feet of room volume!


These traps will also be sealed. The sheetrock on the back wall wraps around to the back of the trap. The theatre curtain will be installed 2' from the back wall (flush with where the traps end) so we can store mic stands, music stands, stacking chairs and such behind the curtain for a nice neat appearance. The cavities behind the traps to the side walls create a perfect nook to tuck the theatre curtain when it's open. As you can see, rock wool is ready to line these structures as the work continues.

Meanwhile, drywall finishing in the common areas is almost complete and painting of the hallways, offices, restrooms and break area may begin this week. Next week installation of the ceiling grid will commence.

The only problem with all this great progress is that every time I visit, it's getting harder and harder to drag myself away and get back to writing some music!

Until next time...

Word of the day...Infrastructure.

(I've stopped counting how many posts this thread contains. But if you like to track progress chronologically, you might want to jump back to the beginning.)

The structure is complete. Now comes the INFRA-structure...all the pipes and wires and metal and wood that make the place work. This week studio designer David Rochester arrived from Nashville to begin turning all those four-walled rooms into proper studios and control rooms. Here's a shot of the acoustics framing for the front wall of Control Room A.


Once the details are nailed down for this room and the framing infrastructure is in place, it will be precisely duplicated in Control Rooms B and C. Then the acoustic materials will start going in. LOTS of rock wool and Owens-Corning 703 compressed fiberglass.

In this shot, you see the HVAC and sprinkler pipe penetrations for Control Room A.


And here's how they look in Studio 1.


Meanwhile, drywall finishing is progressing in the common areas.



So far, right on schedule. Very cool.

Until next time...

Stone walls completed.

If you're following my musings with any degree of regularity, you may be relieved that all talk of Hemholtz Resonators ends with this post. They're finished!

Here's a shot that gives you an idea of the process.


Stone by stone, the wall sections have risen to their finished height of over thirteen feet. This section along the back wall is eight feet wide.


These two sections on opposing side walls are each six feet wide.




This shot, taken from a side angle, shows the stone in more relief. You can see how the wall will reflect sound in a random fashion. "Random diffusion" is the acoustical term, I believe.


Electrical and plumbing inspections having passed, drywall installation begins tomorrow in the offices and common areas. The place feels more like home every day.

Until next time...

Details, details, details.

Jerry, our intrepid construction superintendent, told me a couple of weeks ago that construction would reach a point when all the "big" stuff is finished, after which we wouldn't notice nearly as much drastic change from day to day. I'm not sure if we're there, yet. But even if we were, I still appreciate and enjoy seeing all that little stuff happen.

If you saw earlier photos of the common area framing, here's another shot of the front offices with electrical wiring in progress.


Jack, the honcho electrician, makes sure it all gets done right.


The first layer of drywall has been hung on the ceilings of the studios and control rooms. Here's a shot of an upper corner of Control Room C.


Another application of green glue will go between this and the next layer of ceiling drywall, then acoustical sealant will make things airtight around the perimeter.

The curved stone walls/Hemholtz Resonators have been prepped for the masons. First a layer of construction felt, to keep moisture from the mortar from penetrating into the wood. Then a layer of wire mesh for the mortar to adhere to. The photo turned out blurry, but I think it's good enough to give you the idea. (Almost all the photos shown in the blog are taken with my iPhone, which doesn't have a flash.)


The stone will start going up within the next day or two. This will be the first "finished" surface of a studio or control room, so I'm pretty excited about seeing it happen. You'll see the photos when it does.

Until next time...

A quick update...

I thought you might like to see the completed forms for the curved stone walls/Hemholtz Resonators. They're six feet wide on the side walls, and eight feet wide on the back wall. And to give you a complete sense of scale, they're thirteen feet high, stopping 6 inches short of where the finished ceiling will be. Later this week, they'll be covered with beautiful Kentucky grey stacked stone. I'll post pix as soon as they're complete.




Until next time...

A Hemholtz WHAT?!

A Hemholtz Resonator. It's one of the neat new things I've learned during the process of building our new studios.

The original idea was to build three curved, stacked stone walls in Studio 1. Not only were these designed to be a stunning feature visually; but between the curved shape of the walls and the random surface of the stone, they would provide for random diffusion of mid and high frequencies. But studio designer David Rochester is taking things one step further. By filling the cavities with fiberglass insulation, then cutting small holes at the top, each of the three structures will also serve as a sort of giant Hemholtz Resonator.


Now I have to admit, I'd heard about Hemholtz Resonators but was never exactly sure how they work. So I did a Google search and started reading. I'd share what I learned, but I think the geeky detail meter would zip right off the scale. The short version is this: Hermann von Helmholtz made a discovery in the 1850's about the phenomenon of air resonance in a cavity. Think of the effect of blowing across the top of a bottle or the hollow space inside a guitar or violin. What happens to sound as it enters and exits a cavity through small openings involves resonance at specific frequencies. If you fill the cavity with damping material (such as insulation), a much broader range of frequencies is affected. So functionally, a Hemholtz Resonator helps tame the buildup of undesirable bass frequencies.


The electrical junction box in the center is for a handsome contemporary sconce which will throw light both up and down the stone.

The end result will be three structures which:

1. Are a beautiful architectural feature.
2. Diffuse mid and high frequencies for smooth reverberation.
3. Tame low frequencies to help give the studio an even frequency response.


Proving once again - when you want it done right...hire professionals.

Meanwhile, here's a giant stack of R-30 insulation ready to go into studio and control room ceilings before drywall goes up. You'll see the photos here soon.


Until next time...

The World Is Watching.

I have to admit, I'm not really into blogging. When we began the process of building a new recording facility (after 18 years at our current location) I decided to start this blog at the urging of my wife Becky. (A link to her blog is to the right. I think it's wonderful. But of course, I'm biased.)

I don't have anything against blogging, mind you. I just assumed that few would be interested in what I affectionately call the "geeky details" of our new facility. It was mostly a way for me to document the process and ramble about things I learn and stuff I find interesting. I emailed the link to a few friends and colleagues. Other than that, I only mentioned it on the Concentrix website and on one or two internet discussion groups frequented by professional composers like myself. Not many responded in those forums, so I took my assumption to be correct.

Then Becky told me I should add a gadget to my blog called "ClustrMaps", which lets you track the geographical location of blog visitors. Now, ordinarily I'm the one digging into the technological gobbledygook and Becky is more the Luddite. So, it was fun having her show me how to imbed the app on my blog page. (The link is down and to the right.)

I thought it would be neat if I discovered one or two red dots on the map. So imagine my surprise when I discovered that over 150 people have dropped in from all over the globe! Japan, the Phillipines, Indonesia, Australia, Chile, Canada, India, Isreal, and from numerous points around Europe and Scandanavia.

If you'll forgive my naive enthusiasm - this is really cool! So to those of you across the globe taking a moment to check in on the construction of our humble studio...

Thank you. And welcome!
धन्यवाद. और आपका स्वागत है.
Tak. Og velkommen.
Bedankt. En welkom.
Salamat. At welcome.
Merci. Et bienvenue.
Danke. Und willkommen.
תודה. וברוכים הבאים.
Terima kasih. Dan selamat datang.
Grazie. E benvenuto.
ありがとうございました。と歓迎する。
Obrigado. E bem vindos.
Gracias. Y la recepción.
Tack. Och välkomna.
Dziękuję. I mile widziane.
Děkujeme vám. A vítaná.
Kiitos. Ja tervetuloa.

I THINK that covers all the red dots on the map. It's difficult to pinpoint the exact location of some of them. If your language isn't represented, leave a comment and I'll promptly rectify the situation.

Next time, more photos and geeky details.

Remaining rooms take shape.

(We started the process of building our new studio back in May. If you're here for the first time you might like to start from the beginning. Links to earlier posts are to the right.)

We've been so focused on the integrity of the studios and control rooms, let's not forget that a functioning studio still needs offices, a place to eat (always a critical issue with musicians, engineers, producers and directors), and essential spaces like, oh...restrooms. With most of the big work complete, framing began this week on all the "common areas".

As you enter the lobby, there's a window looking into to the administrative office on your right.


Look straight ahead, and you see down the long hallway toward Studios 1 and 2, Control Rooms A and B, as well as the breakroom and restrooms.


Look just slightly to the right and there's an angled wall which will hold a beautiful glass shelf display case designed by Architect Brian Gaddis. (I'll share photos when it's complete. Brian's design is REALLY cool.)


Down this short hallway is the entrance to Studio 1. Restrooms are on the right.


And if you turn right from the lobby, you see Studio 3 at the end of the hall. Offices are to the right, and Control Room C to the left.


While the framing crew was at it, work was also underway applying additional sound isolation layers to the walls inside studios and control rooms; completion of HVAC ductwork overhead; and the running of electrical conduit.

It was pretty exciting being able to walk through the actual layout of the entire facility. I had to drag myself away. But another deadline loomed and there was music to be written. During the short drive back to our current studio, all I could think about is how great it's going to be working every day in those fabulous new rooms!

Until next time...

The Dream Team.

Up until now, most of the information and photos in my humble blog have been about the building of the studio itself - the technical details if you will. But I never forget that none of it would be possible without the great people who have come together on our project.

This past Friday, they all came together briefly for a meeting to discuss the maze of technical details that come into play at this phase of construction. Studio designer David Rochester traveled from Nashville for the meeting. Also on hand were Architect Brian Gaddis, Denver Construction Vice President Tracy Reitzell, our Construction Superintendent Jerry Hyde, and representatives from the companies handling everything from HVAC to electrical to the fire sprinkler system.


It was a chance for David and the various building pros to discuss the best way to incorporate these systems into our studios and control rooms in a manner that doesn't compromise sound isolation or acoustics.


Everyone chipped in with ideas and suggestions, while Brian sketched things out for clarification.


Since we'll begin framing for all the common areas this week (offices, breakroom, restrooms, etc.), Tracy and Brian took the opportunity to refine the layout.


And as promised in an earlier post, here's a photo of all the principles on the project. From left to right: David Rochester - Technical Audio Services; Brian Gaddis - BEG Architects; Tracy Reitzell - Vice President/Denver Construction; Jerry Hyde - Superintendent/Denver Construction.



Thanks Guys! Now...get back to work.

(I'll pay for that crack, I'm sure.)

Until next time...