More finishes are showing...

...bringing us ever closer to being finished.

First the control rooms.

Diffusers have been installed in the rear wall of all three rooms. Here are a few different angles.




Fabric will cover the remainder of the rear walls using the Novawall system.

Studio designer David Rochester and his crew (props to Matt and Zac) continue to impress with their attention to detail. For example, although the metal conduit in the front wall is strapped to the wooden surface beneath, all pipes were caulked to make sure they don't ring or rattle. Only then is the wall stuffed with unfaced R-30 insulation.



Although most of the wall surface in the control rooms will be fabric, there are wooden accents like kickplates and vertical chases. David decided that instead of trying to match the floor finish, why not just use the same material we're using on the floors? It's a pre-finished natural wood product, and I think it looks terrific. Here are a couple of pics of kick panels at the front and rear walls to show the effect.



Creates a nice seamless effect, doesn't it? It also works on the vertical chases shown in this shot.


The chases are not only a handsome aesthetic choice. They provide a hard surface for mounting dimmers, outlets, and pre-wired connections for surround speakers. They'll be edged in oak trim with a chamfered edge. The remaining exposed walls will be lined with Owens-Corning 705 compressed fiberglass then covered with fabric, which will meet the oak trim. I think it's going to be beautiful.

Each guy got to have input on the fabric choices for his room, in consultation with our interior designer Bobbie Phillips of Custom Dragonfly Design. The nice thing about using the Novawall system is that fabric choices can easily be changed later - or repaired if damaged.

And speaking of Bobbie, this week the flooring crew installed what I think is one of her cooler ideas. Our budget wasn't unlimited and sheet linoleum was a cost-effective and durable choice for the breakroom and restrooms. But it can look so, well - ordinary. So Bobbie came up with this idea to spice up the space a little.





If you look at the space to right in the photo just above, that's where we'll be adding two old-fashioned, four-person lunch booths. Bobbie was able to acquire the real thing from the Mantis Restaurant, a landmark Charlotte eating establishment that unfortunately closed not long ago. We're going to clean them up and install them just like they were left, providing a comfortable place for up to eight people to dine - as well as preserving a small piece of Charlotte history.

Now that's my kind of design choice.

Until next time...

The new studio at night.

Now that almost all of the lighting fixtures are in place, I was able to drop by after dark yesterday and take a load of well-lit photos. (The iPhone doesn't have a flash, and likes lots of light.)

Let's start in the breakroom. Here are some shots of the cabinets, with openings for the refrigerator, dishwasher, stove and microwave. All the comforts of home. The wall color (for you, Elaine) is called Wheat Grass.




In an earlier post, I'd mentioned the beautiful lobby display case designed by our architect. Now that the lighting is in place, you can begin to get a sense of just how cool it's going to look. The slots are for laminated glass shelves, which are being cut in one piece to conform to the angles of the display. The front edges of the shelves will be supported by slender cables extending top to bottom, with industrial looking grommets attaching above and below the glass. Then a pattern consisting of strips of white oak will go over the painted sheetrock, with white oak trim all around. (You can see the beginnings at the bottom of the display.)

I think it's a great design on two levels. It'll look great as well as maintain clear sight lines to the displayed items. Our logo will go in the black space above, which is lit by really cool contemporary track lights. (Of course, I picked them out - so I would say that.)



For energy efficiency, all overhead lighting fixtures in the common areas use compact florescent bulbs. I like the effect, which you can get a sense of in these shots of the lobby and various corridors. It feels bright and cheery. (Studios don't have to feel like caves, you know.) As you can see, drywall touch up is underway before the second coat of paint.





And now on to more geeky details of the studios and control rooms.

Studio designer David Rochester has decided to use hanging panels in many of our bass traps. These have affectionately been dubbed "Flapulators" (Trademark pending, I'm sure.) He has explained to me how they work and why he made this choice. But once again I fear descending into geeky detail madness. (You should have heard some of the comments after my Hemholtz Resonator post!) Plus I wouldn't want to give up any of David's trade secrets.

In this sequence from Studio 1, you can see the bass trap cavity minus the lower Flapulators, the process of hanging them, and a finished trap. The back sides of all the Flapulators are covered with rock wool, but David has selectively left some of the front surfaces hard to add some diffusion. The entire trap cavity will be fabric covered using the Novawall system.





Here are a couple of shots of Studio 1's back wall, including a close up of the the HVAC return plenum. Framing to the left and right of the curved stone wall will support oak diffuser panels installed at angles.




And turning to the control rooms, if you've been following our progress you've seen photos of the rear wall bass traps under construction. Here's a control room with all Flapulators installed. The framing in the center will hold six 2'x2' wooden diffuser panels.



This wall will also be fabric covered using Novawall.

So lots of pics for this post. We're officially one month from move-in, and things are progressing right on schedule so far. Another tip of the hat to Denver Construction Company and our first-rate Construction Superintendent Jerry Hyde.

Until next time...don't try building those Flapulators at home, kids. Someone could get hurt.

Happy New Year!

With the hubbub of the holidays, it's been almost two weeks since I contributed a new blogification. But that doesn't mean a lot hasn't happened during that time. Let's start with those baseboard details I promised. As I mentioned, architect Brian Gaddis came up with a handsome look for our white oak wooden baseboards. It was milled off site, received a clear stain from the painting crew, and is almost all in place. Here's a shot of the baseboard around one of the hallway columns, then a longer piece leading to the entrance to the breakroom.



This close up shows how the notch and chamfered edge give even more of a three dimensional look at the corners.


One of the most exciting new items last week was completion of the some of the hardwood floors. I pulled back the protective cardboard to get this shot of the 3/4" tongue-in-groove flooring we'll be using in all the studios. (This photo was taken in Studio 2.) All studio floors are floated on Enkasonic underlayment (an amazing product) and 2 layers of 1/2" playwood.


Here are some images of control room hardwood floors, in progress - and completed. Floors in all control rooms are 3/8" glue down. We're using pre-finished floors throughout.





And here's the floated floor for Studio 3, the small vocal booth, in progress.


From earlier posts, you may remember a cool control room feature, the floorbox under the producer's desk - which will include stuff like power for a laptop, input for talkback mics, even a jack for the Hearback headphone monitoring system we'll be installing, so musicians who like to perform in the control room can get the same headphone feed as players in the studio(s). Here's a closeup of one of the cutouts, including a shot with my foot for scale. (That's a size 13, in case you're wondering.)



Our intrepid studio designer, David Rochester, doesn't just design 'em - he helps build 'em. Here he's cutting ductboard for the control room HVAC return plenums.


And let's not forget that we'll be making music in these rooms when they're completed. So of course, we need to allow for conveniences like wall-mounted guitar hangers. David has already marked the locations...as only a musician would.



I'll take the Flying V!

Until next time...

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...