March 13th - Console is in!
Well, we have been working like crazy! We have gotten a lot done, and there have been a lot of high’s and lows. I will give you list of some of them here in a minute.
There are of course pictures of our progress below… they are kind of backwards with the oldest ones at the bottom.
First of all… a little explanation of what’s going on. We finished the isolation of the drum room and we are quite please with the results. We got an amazing amount of isolation from outside noise without having to add a huge “double-wall” structure. A combination of mass-loaded vinyl, insulation, sheet rock, green glue, and more sheet rock did a really great job. This room had really zero insulation. We didn’t expect that when we rented the building but we are quite satisfied with the final results. You really can’t tell we did anything at all (well you won’t when we get paint on the walls), we preserved the windows so they could be re-used later by simply removing some isolation boxes (a request of the owner of the building) and we got really good isolation! A win/win/win to us!
We got the treatment of the walls of all the other rooms (except the wood room) done, and fabric is going up on those as we speak. Once it’s all up, we will cover the seams with a wood trim to finish it out.
The middle section of the box behind the console is going to be covered in fabric as well. We have most of the cable run, and now it’s just a matter of soldering the ends. :)
So… high’s and lows:
Low: We spent a lot of money on a balanced power system with 2 isolation transformers and two separate tech circuits, one for 240 (the console) and one for 120 (everything else). After hooking it all up… it failed the “guitar amp test” miserably. That is the test where I plug in one of my high gain guitar amps and see how quiet it is. This test is very important because… well… we record a lot of guitar players. The amps/guitars have to be as quiet as they were designed to be and the power they are running on plays a huge part in this. Well..it was REALLY bad, hum, noise… uggghhh. But….
High: David Rochester for Technical Audio Services sold us the transformers and the hookup instructions. His partner Murphy Odom is an electrical “jedi” from WAY back in the day. He had been helping us over the phone (he is based out of Memphis), but he agreed to come help us with a solution for the problem we were having. He gave us several suggestions and a list of things to reduce “tesla fields”. The basic tweaks he gave us solved the main problem and now the power passed the “guitar amp test”! Yeah!!! We still have more to do to eliminate the “tesla fields” (which will take even more noise out of the signal), but I am greatly encouraged! If you don’t know… “Tesla Fields” are electrical “fields” that can cause a guitar to hum that can be created by items that are improperly grounded, or have ground loops, etc.. If you have noticed that when a guitar player is standing there with the volume knob on, and as he turns… the hum changes/increases/decreases, you have observed the effect of these “tesla fields”. We are going after eliminating these fields completely and Murphy was able to identify several things causing these fields (hot water heater hooked up incorrectly, AC with improper ground, etc..) So… we are fixing each of those things which will be great. The problems are already solved almost completely and these few last tweaks will be the “cherry on top”!
Low: Well, I have been having to work really, really long hours on all of this I really miss my family. My oldest daughter (3 ½) has made it pretty clear she doesn’t like Daddy being gone so much, and it’s been forever since my wife and I have been able to have a date. It’s been a real hard haul.
High: My family has been really supportive! My wife has been just amazing. Really encouraging and the kids have been great too. Even Georgia (though clear she wants me around more) and has been supportive. :) So… .it’s great to have such a wonderful crew to come home too!! I know I would have given up by now were it not for them!
Low: Wow… we have spent a lot of money. Everyone told me it would cost more than I thought it would… so I added a lot of “extra” to our budget to cover that. However, it’s gone even beyond our “extra” expectations. It’s a pretty heavy weight on me, but we know this is gonna really take off once we get it going and believe it’s worth it. (We are accepting donations from anyone that feels sorry for us of course!!) :) :) :) Anyway… if you ever do this…. get a really good estimate of what you think it’s gonna cost… then double it. You should be real close.
High: Despite the risk God has continued to provide and we are moving towards getting the studio open. We already have some days booked in April and more interest! My faith and my family have kept me going and we still believe that is going to be a place where a lot of great music of all kinds will be born!
Low: We are behind schedule. We had to push back our Grand Opening a week. We had family coming to town for that… and I feel bad about it… but it’s unavoidable.
High: We ARE having a grand opening party for friends and family despite the fact that it will be late. It will be fun, and though I know we won’t be 100% finished for the party… I am looking forward to a party!!! :)
High: JT and I both are getting really excited about getting things fired up here over the next week or two!! It’s hard to believe that I won’t have to haul my mobile rig around from studio, to studio any more! It’s hard to believe I will actually have a place to work that serves clients in a way that we can be proud of and will allow us to develop our own production company on our terms and schedule!
High: Well… it’s spring here in Nashville… or right on the edge of it. The temperature is warm, little bits of green are starting to show up. I just LOVE this time of year. It’s my second favorite season (full on heat of the summer is my favorite).
So… life is good! Whatever comes I know we have given this our all and the best of what we have. I take real comfort in that. We only have a one life… and I think we might as well try to live out our dreams so we don’t end up at end saying “what if?”, or “why didn’t I?” We know that we are going to enjoy this spot and that our clients will appreciate greatly all the work, planning and attention to detail that is going into this project!
Rock on!!
There are of course pictures of our progress below… they are kind of backwards with the oldest ones at the bottom.
First of all… a little explanation of what’s going on. We finished the isolation of the drum room and we are quite please with the results. We got an amazing amount of isolation from outside noise without having to add a huge “double-wall” structure. A combination of mass-loaded vinyl, insulation, sheet rock, green glue, and more sheet rock did a really great job. This room had really zero insulation. We didn’t expect that when we rented the building but we are quite satisfied with the final results. You really can’t tell we did anything at all (well you won’t when we get paint on the walls), we preserved the windows so they could be re-used later by simply removing some isolation boxes (a request of the owner of the building) and we got really good isolation! A win/win/win to us!
We got the treatment of the walls of all the other rooms (except the wood room) done, and fabric is going up on those as we speak. Once it’s all up, we will cover the seams with a wood trim to finish it out.
The middle section of the box behind the console is going to be covered in fabric as well. We have most of the cable run, and now it’s just a matter of soldering the ends. :)
So… high’s and lows:
Low: We spent a lot of money on a balanced power system with 2 isolation transformers and two separate tech circuits, one for 240 (the console) and one for 120 (everything else). After hooking it all up… it failed the “guitar amp test” miserably. That is the test where I plug in one of my high gain guitar amps and see how quiet it is. This test is very important because… well… we record a lot of guitar players. The amps/guitars have to be as quiet as they were designed to be and the power they are running on plays a huge part in this. Well..it was REALLY bad, hum, noise… uggghhh. But….
High: David Rochester for Technical Audio Services sold us the transformers and the hookup instructions. His partner Murphy Odom is an electrical “jedi” from WAY back in the day. He had been helping us over the phone (he is based out of Memphis), but he agreed to come help us with a solution for the problem we were having. He gave us several suggestions and a list of things to reduce “tesla fields”. The basic tweaks he gave us solved the main problem and now the power passed the “guitar amp test”! Yeah!!! We still have more to do to eliminate the “tesla fields” (which will take even more noise out of the signal), but I am greatly encouraged! If you don’t know… “Tesla Fields” are electrical “fields” that can cause a guitar to hum that can be created by items that are improperly grounded, or have ground loops, etc.. If you have noticed that when a guitar player is standing there with the volume knob on, and as he turns… the hum changes/increases/decreases, you have observed the effect of these “tesla fields”. We are going after eliminating these fields completely and Murphy was able to identify several things causing these fields (hot water heater hooked up incorrectly, AC with improper ground, etc..) So… we are fixing each of those things which will be great. The problems are already solved almost completely and these few last tweaks will be the “cherry on top”!
Low: Well, I have been having to work really, really long hours on all of this I really miss my family. My oldest daughter (3 ½) has made it pretty clear she doesn’t like Daddy being gone so much, and it’s been forever since my wife and I have been able to have a date. It’s been a real hard haul.
High: My family has been really supportive! My wife has been just amazing. Really encouraging and the kids have been great too. Even Georgia (though clear she wants me around more) and has been supportive. :) So… .it’s great to have such a wonderful crew to come home too!! I know I would have given up by now were it not for them!
Low: Wow… we have spent a lot of money. Everyone told me it would cost more than I thought it would… so I added a lot of “extra” to our budget to cover that. However, it’s gone even beyond our “extra” expectations. It’s a pretty heavy weight on me, but we know this is gonna really take off once we get it going and believe it’s worth it. (We are accepting donations from anyone that feels sorry for us of course!!) :) :) :) Anyway… if you ever do this…. get a really good estimate of what you think it’s gonna cost… then double it. You should be real close.
High: Despite the risk God has continued to provide and we are moving towards getting the studio open. We already have some days booked in April and more interest! My faith and my family have kept me going and we still believe that is going to be a place where a lot of great music of all kinds will be born!
Low: We are behind schedule. We had to push back our Grand Opening a week. We had family coming to town for that… and I feel bad about it… but it’s unavoidable.
High: We ARE having a grand opening party for friends and family despite the fact that it will be late. It will be fun, and though I know we won’t be 100% finished for the party… I am looking forward to a party!!! :)
High: JT and I both are getting really excited about getting things fired up here over the next week or two!! It’s hard to believe that I won’t have to haul my mobile rig around from studio, to studio any more! It’s hard to believe I will actually have a place to work that serves clients in a way that we can be proud of and will allow us to develop our own production company on our terms and schedule!
High: Well… it’s spring here in Nashville… or right on the edge of it. The temperature is warm, little bits of green are starting to show up. I just LOVE this time of year. It’s my second favorite season (full on heat of the summer is my favorite).
So… life is good! Whatever comes I know we have given this our all and the best of what we have. I take real comfort in that. We only have a one life… and I think we might as well try to live out our dreams so we don’t end up at end saying “what if?”, or “why didn’t I?” We know that we are going to enjoy this spot and that our clients will appreciate greatly all the work, planning and attention to detail that is going into this project!
Rock on!!
Steve Lamm
www.crypticglobe.com
www.cgrnashville.com
www.clubcubasenashville.com
www.crypticglobe.com
www.cgrnashville.com
www.clubcubasenashville.com
posted by Steve Lamm at
8:45 PM
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