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...

The unpacking continues.

I think we're down to the last few boxes. Kudos to David Rochester and his crew for making it so that we were able to execute this incredibly complicated move with only ONE DAY when we couldn't do sessions. Amazing!

Some rooms are still looking a little disheveled, but the rooms we needed to be online for sessions this week are looking pretty good. So, here they are...the first photos of finished rooms.

Let's start in Studio 1. Although there are still some boxes lying about, here are a couple of shots to serve as a sneak preview.

For ceiling diffusers, David decided to recycle the wooden slats from our old Studio 1. Each piece of wood was carefully removed, cut to the correct length and given a beveled edge for a more custom look. The effect is just beautiful, and we could hear the difference in the room immediately.


I'm saving the screening room wall as a surprise, but here's a shot toward the rear corner of the studio after the piano was delivered.


Now to Studio 2. This is the main voiceover/ADR room, and here it's set up from the past week's sessions.


Studio 3 is the small vocal booth. We typically leave it set up for remote ISDN voiceover sessions, mainly with Procomm - our studio partners in the North Carolina mountains.


And now for the control rooms. Since Anthony was the first to have sessions this week, his room was put together first. Since the control rooms are all the same except for fabric and color differences, these shots should give you a good feel for the vibe.






Finally, although it looks spiffier at night, here's a shot of the front lobby display case in bright daylight - with most of the stuff that goes in it. (Mike has yet to bring his recent Emmy from home, and one of my Emmys didn't survive the move. She's lying in state with broken wings and a broken base, awaiting the trip to her final resting place so a replacement can be sent.)


The reaction to this feature has been interesting. Until people get closer, they think the back wall is stone. It's actually white oak, cut in random lengths and widths. Our logo will go in the black space above. The sign company is supposed to install it tomorrow.

I know I keep apologizing for the quality of the photos from my iPhone. It's always with me, so it's the most convenient way for me to document things...but I hate it when shots like this one turn out blurry.


Here's the dream team...or part of it, anyway. From left to right:

Matt, David and John from Technical Audio services. Jerry from Denver Construction. Donnie and Zac from Technical audio services. These are some of the hands who made it all happen.

Today is Sunday. I'm here putting more stuff away, hanging pictures and posters, and attending to those all-important finishing details...like cutting new carpet pads for the music/copy stands. (The old ones were starting to look ratty.) So off I go. I'll upload more photos later in the week as the clutter subsides.

Until next time...

We're in.

After final inspections we received our Certificate of Occupancy on Friday. Not unusual to cut it that close, I'm told. Movers came yesterday morning (Saturday), and our stuff is officially in the new facility.

Sorry, no pictures for this post. We've been scrambling like demons to get everything hooked up and ready for sessions this week. So far, David Rochester and his crew (thanks John, Zac and Donnie!) are doing a bang-up job. Matt returns tomorrow for a few carpentry details like installing the racks for all of our project backups. (We have almost 2,000 discs - so it's not exactly a small job.)

Two of the control rooms are on line. Mike had the honor of first playback in the new control rooms. His choice? The Avett Brothers. Good call.

Our IT guru, James Caudill was also on hand today to make sure the ethernet connections were cooking and to move our server in anticipation of the telecom switch tomorrow.

Later in the evening I hooked up our new PS3 to the Mitsubishi 73" 1080p monitor in Studio 1. I brought two Blu-Ray discs to test the system,"The Dark Knight" and "Wall-E". Between lending a hand with this and that, I managed to sneak in a few scenes. It was wonderful, and for a very simple reason. It reminded me of why we're going to all this trouble...

To give people that feeling. There's nothing else like it.

Pictures to come when I have time to stop and snap...and when the place looks less like a disaster area.

Until next time...

Moving toward the finish line.

It's official. The first of our three new control rooms is ready for furniture and equipment.



Zac has just finished stuffing insulation above the suspended ceiling and placing the remaining ceiling tiles. That's why he's wearing the hazmat suit and mask. The black rectangle high on the front wall holds the mount for the 52" flat panel hi-def LCD monitor.

As you can see, the Argosy consoles have been assembled. It took a couple of days to put together the consoles and producer desks for all three rooms. But as usual, Mike found a way to make it fun.


I've mentioned in previous posts that Studio 1 will double as a screening room with a 73" DLP 1080p monitor. This week the custom cabinet work arrived to hold the monitor, audio components and speaker. David shows off the handiwork.


The towers to the left and right will be covered with black speaker grill cloth to give the unit a seamless appearance. The video monitor is exactly as high as the towers. A valance will drop from the ceiling to the perimeter of the top and sides. Once installed, the main theatre curtain can be pulled completely shut to obscure the unit, opened to the side of the unit for screenings, or opened all the way to the side walls to add some more liveliness to the room's acoustics.


To give you a sense of scale, the screen is 65" wide and 43" high.

Novawall fabric installation continues in the other two control rooms. Here's a sneak preview of the color scheme in Control Room A, where Anthony will craft fabulous sound design and mixes.


And in Studio 3, the small vocal booth, acoustics are being installed. To save time and money, David decided to create custom frames for Ready Traps from Ready Acoustics. Once stuffed, the frames will be covered with Guilford of Maine fabric then trimmed with oak for a custom look. The oak chase in the center will hold the mic panel and a 32" 1080p monitor where you see the gap in the chase. Studio 2, the medium sized room, is getting the same treatment only with a larger video monitor.


Moving day is now six days away. Will everything be ready? Sta-a-a-a-y tuned.

Until next time...

One week to go.

Good thing we moved our moving date back a week. There are always more final details than you think.

Can't remember if I've mentioned the cool flooring detail in the lobby our Architect Brian Gaddis came up with, but here it is...


Not only does the design create a virtual pathway between the hallways, but it accents the angles of the lobby display case. Looks great from the main corridor looking into the lobby as well.


Meanwhile, Novawall installation continues in the control rooms. Here's David Rochester installing the last piece of fabric in Control Room B, where Michael McGinnis will hold forth.



Mike has gone for shades of dark brown and tan in his room.



He seems please with the results.


The room will liven up when he gets those chipotle colored chairs and loveseat against the dark brown back wall. The work of our interior design consutant Bobbie Cox is starting to show in the studios and control rooms now.

When our Anthony Fedele first saw the lighting effect on the rear wall of Studio 1, his first reaction was, "The pictures don't do it justice!" And he's right. I need to get a better camera, since my iPhone is pretty lousy in low light. Nonetheless, this blurry shot might give you a sense of the effect. Novawall fabric hasn't been installed in the corners, yet. Can't wait to see the finished effect when it is.


Here at our current studio, it still looks like a cyclone hit the place. The moving company brings packing crates in a couple of days...and not a moment too soon. So now, I'm off to dig through more closets and throw more stuff away. As excited as we are about our new digs, everything comes with a price...and this is it.

Until next time.

The tipping point is near...

As one of David Rochester's team told me a couple of days ago, with projects like this there are periods where it looks like nothing is happening, even though lots is happening. Then everything starts looking finished very quickly. I think we're almost to that tipping point.

For this post, we start with doors. Heavy doors. Very heavy doors. Studio doors weigh in at 480 pounds, and control room doors at about 250. No wonder the guys took a moment to brace for the task.


Here are a couple of shots of installation, from inside Studio 1 and outside after the door has been hung.



With all the Novawall track complete in this control room, Zac has finished installing compressed fiberglass in the side walls and the room is now ready for fabric wallcovering.



The little black squares are wood blocking for the guitar hangers. This will be Mike's control room, and he likes to have his guitars within easy reach.

In addition to the six 2' x 2' diffusers on the rear wall, 4 additional diffusers are strategically placed in the control room ceiling grids.


So now are you ready for something really cool? As I mentioned, rear wall diffuser panels in Studio 1 will be installed at angles, overlapping one another. Inside the overlaps will be two 14 foot strands of Concentrix green rope light which - when complete - will cast a soft Concentrix green glow onto the beautiful wood panels. One of the panels has been installed on this wall, and the rope lights are now working as you can see.


And finally, if you've wondered why we're going with so many solid colors on common area walls, I can now reveal the reason. The carpet is anything but solid. It's from InterfaceFLOR's "Pop Circles" collection. It's called, "Lennon". The circles tie in nicely with our logo, the colors are cool, and since Becky is one of the planet's biggest Beatles fans - the synergy couldn't be ignored.


This weekend, painting began on studio and control room doors. (They'll be black with signage reflecting the green orb and emanating circles of our logo.) Novawall track and fiberglass continues going up in the other two control rooms. Jerry is almost finished with his work of random wood art in the front lobby display case, and the hardwood floor in the lobby should be finished in a day or two, completing the floors for the entire facility. In fact, final cleaning is now only 5 days away.

Meanwhile, in preparation for the move, we continue to sort through and discard unneeded stuff from 18 years at our current location. The place looks like a tornado hit it. There won't be any pictures of THAT. But I will leave you with this shot of the building exterior and our front entrance with the new canopy we had installed by Carolina Canopies. Can't have folks standing in the elements waiting to be buzzed in.


Until next time...

Delayed gratification.

Some things take longer than you think...like installing precision-made soundproof doors. So yesterday we had to make a tough choice...delay the move. Hey, it's only a week. After 18 years in our current facility, what's another week, right?

The new moving day is now February 14th. Valentine's Day. How appropriate is that? We're already in love with our new digs, and...

Okay, maybe I'm stretching.

Here's a another look at the door frame installation. I mentioned that the frame cavities need to be filled with mortar...like this.


Then the entire, massive thing needs to be wrestled into place. Jerry, Matt and Zac do the wrestling on this one.


Then John makes everything nice and airtight.


Add some case work - and you're ready for a door and threshold.


Meanwhile, installation of Novawall track continues in preparation for the last piece of the acoustic puzzle in control rooms, Owens Corning 705 compressed fiberglass in the side walls, covered with fabric that's stretched and tucked into seams in the track.

David and John determine the position of the mounts for the hi-def flat panels to mark the boundary of the Novawall track.



Donnie makes another precision cut in a length of Novawall track.


Matt is handling wood finishes for Studio 1, our main tracking room/screening room. Here are a couple of shots from the early stages...oak trim along the edge of the stone walls and wood framing for the interior of the studio door.



Among the less sexy areas of the building is the electrical/telecom closet. But every studio needs a nerve center. David and Zac have all the Cat 5 cable run, labeled and ready for hookup to phones and internet. The T1 lines have already been installed.



So that's it for now. Carpet, baseboards and hardwood floor for the lobby will be finished within a few days. Basically all flooring will be complete and the place will be ready for final paint and trim touch ups. It's possible that we'll begin moving in new furniture and equipment early next week. To say my anticipation is building is like saying...

I'll refrain. I've used up my weak humor allotment with the Valentine's Day thing.

Until next time...

Oh, one more thing. Tomorrow is Becky's birthday. (January 29th). I'm buying her a new studio for her birthday. Think she'll like it?