I need photography lessons...

As I'm sure you've noticed by now, the quality of the photography on this blog is far from a professional. The REAL professional (Graham Smith from Red Pepper Photography) will be here this week to plan a proper photo shoot. Meanwhile, you're stuck with more of my blurry renderings.

This week, we actually got everything put away (well...for the most part, anyway) and began work in the new digs. I didn't try to stage these shots. They're as I found everything as I roamed around for some random pics.

Here's my control room. The shot toward the back of the room is particularly bad, but it at least gives you a sense of the color choices.



The break room turned out really nice. And the booths and tables finally arrived. I mentioned earlier that the booths came from the old Mantis Restaurant, a Charlotte institution - which closed a few years ago. I didn't mention that the Mantis was only a block away from a studio where I used to work often, and I used to eat lunch at the Mantis frequently. There's a good chance I sat in one or both of these booths before.




This week Mike finally broke down and bought a new guitar amp he's been eyeing. He didn't waste any time taking advantage of the fact that our quiet, spacious control rooms now allow him to mic an amp right in the room.



While the control rooms don't boast much in the way of natural light, the common areas certainly do. Here's a shot of what you see the instant you walk through the front door. (It's a rainy day here, as you can see.)


And here's Architect Brian Gaddis's display case design in all it's finished beauty.


In addition to the breakroom booths, we've also preserved some vintage vibe by bringing along our original-condition, 1940's era theatre seats. They make a comfortable spot to land if you need to step out of a session for a quick cellphone call.


Finally, there's one room I can't wait to have real photographs taken of, and that's Studio 1. I almost hesitate to post my blurry shots. But hey, it'll make me appreciate the real ones that much better.

Without a tripod, it's difficult to show the effect of the Concentrix green backlighting on the rear wall of the studio. But here's a lame attempt.


Here's another shot of the rear wall including the piano. (A 1968 vintage Yamaha C7, for you keyboard aficionados.)


And now - the screening wall. Remember, the curtain wall is over twenty feet wide, which should give you a sense of scale for the 73" 1080p monitor. The surround playback system consists of a Yamaha receiver and Klipsch surround speakers. The system will make a great "real world" reference for 5.1 surround mixes.


The theatre curtains can be pulled completely shut to cover the entire configuration and deaden the acoustics for recording, or open wide for a livelier room sound.

Well, that's it for now. I may post a few more personal shots as I see things I think may be of interest. But I hope Graham can schedule the facility photo shoot soon, so everyone can REALLY see how beautiful our new space turned out.

Until next time...