One slab at a time...

(Fourth in a series. If you're here for the first time, you might like to go to the first post to get the story from the beginning.)

In my previous post, I described the efforts we're making to "decouple" the concrete slabs of each of the Control Rooms and Studios, in order to prevent sound transmission from below. We hit our first snag this week. When we raked back the gravel for slab preparation, we discovered a nasty surprise...a 2 foot deep column footer radiating 7 feet from the center. Pouring a slab over that footer would couple it with any other slab making contact with it, including the space next door.


But our fearless construction supervisor, Jerry Hyde, came to the rescue. He rightly figured that placing a layer of foam between the slab and the footer would decouple the two, and life would be good again. Here's a control room ready for the pour.


Notice the black box in the center of the room. This is a floor box which will set under the producer's desk. Under a flip-up lid will be power for your laptop, connectors for talkback microphones, a telephone desk set and an ethernet connection for internet access in case your computer doesn't have Wi-Fi. Client convenience is what our new studio is all about! Here's another shot of the slab prep.


Since I mentioned Jerry Hyde, I have to get a plug in for our General Contractor, Denver Construction Company. One of the reasons they got the gig is that from our first meeting with DCC's Tracy Reitzel, they just "got it." Building a studio is not like building a house. In fact, compared to standard construction, many aspects can feel weird - or just plain wrong! We've had problems in the past with workers trying to "fix" the design, or "doing it the RIGHT way" instead of the way it's supposed to be. Not Tracy and Jerry. They not only understood but embraced the unique challenges, and have already come up with creative solutions of their own. As I told Jerry the other day, I only have three words..."You Da' Man!". Take a bow, Jerry. (I'll try to get a pic of Tracy, architect Brian Gaddis and studio designer David Rochester as soon as I can.)


All the slabs should be in place by the middle of next week (around October 1st) and it will be exciting to watch the walls start going up. As I've said often, we've been in our current location for 18 years and I expect we'll be in our new studio for another 18...or more, if I live that long.

As usual, click any of the above photos for a larger view.

'Til next time!