Recording studio

[Carlosfandango]

I've been tasked with wiring a private recording studio. The setup is that the owner used to rent out a glorified shed to bands. He now has some money and wants to create a proper studio in the barn with a main room, vocal booth and recording room. He's very worried about penetrating the walls (apparently any holes at all have a massive effect on the sound proofing) so I'm wiring it all surface in Pvc trunking and conduit, but that's by the by! I'm looking for some ideas for lights I could use as I've never even set foot in a studio!! I'm guessing fluorescents are out due to the interference and noise on the recordings? Also, will this require a fire system. It is one big room with glass partitions and one entrance. The problem is that the music will be loud so will I need visual warnings?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Carlosfandango]

Meant to say, the guy is as tight as a crabs bum so it won't be anything too fancy. He talked about pendants but I think it will look naff!

 

[Geordie Spark]

Meant to say, the guy is as tight as a crabs bum so it won't be anything too fancy. He talked about pendants but I think it will look naff!

The studios I fitted out used track lighting

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=t...&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=FjjJVLS7Bq3Y7Ab80ICgDw

Think about having a clean feed for the mains to avoid hum etc. especially in the control room.

I once spent DAYS trying to track-down a hum on the reverb which was a spring line job and then found it was picking-up the engine noise from a fire engine that was sitting idling in the fire station yard next door.

Ok .... isolation transformers / clean feeds etc wouldn't have stopped that one, but still ........


As an aside; Duane Eddy (Mr Guitar Man) used an oil storage tank with a mic. & speaker in it outside the recording studio to get that distinctive sound which was great until flocks of birds landed on top and started pattering around on it!!

I have used a concrete stairwell and the tiled wall of of a Gents bog to get some interesting effects.

 

[Anthony S]

Give it a miss then if he's tight, otherwise he will do your brain in wanting it for next to nothing.

 

[Geordie Spark]

Give it a miss then if he's tight, otherwise he will do your brain in wanting it for next to nothing.

Been there - done that.

He wanted a Rolls Royce for the price of a Roller Skate.

 

[Carlosfandango]

He's a good guy to work for, money's in the bank same day as the invoice is sent. Just likes to spend his money sensibly! I'm going to put seperate ring circuits to each room to cut down on noise/interference. Might just go with the pendants and then he can put long flexes with shades. Simple but effective.

 

[Welchyboy1]

He's a good guy to work for, money's in the bank same day as the invoice is sent. Just likes to spend his money sensibly! I'm going to put seperate ring circuits to each room to cut down on noise/interference. Might just go with the pendants and then he can put long flexes with shades. Simple but effective.

If pendants is what he wants then give him pendants, if theres no budget on the job why bother trying to make it anything else?

 

[Tidy Max]

If your doing a studio make sure you are aware of ground loops otherwise you will be doing plenty of this :mad2:

 

[Geordie Spark]

If your doing a studio make sure you are aware of ground loops otherwise you will be doing plenty of this :mad2:

Correct!! :yes:

 

[Tidy Max]

Either that or you will end up responsible for killing a band member. A good tip for any spark whos working with a band is check the plug tops!

 

[Geordie Spark]

Either that or you will end up responsible for killing a band member. A good tip for any spark whos working with a band is check the plug tops!

Yes .... ALL of them!

You'd be amazed at how many brilliant musos haven't a clue how to fit a plug top and that's before we even think about those who disonnect the earth connection in the plug top of their equipment to get rid of a mains hum.

It's fine - it works really well. Equipment as as silent as the grave - until the muso touches a mic at the same time as his unearthed equipment and then he becomes as silent as the grave!!

It happened to me when I was playing in the late 60's at an open air gig - Woodstock it wasn't but never mind!

The twist in this case was my equipment WAS earthed and perfectly safe but the stage lighting rig wasn't and I leant on one of the lighting towers while my other hand was wrapped around the neck of my guitar and I got the full enjoyment and delight of some volts travelling up my arm on their way to earth.

So there you have it - no matter how well you take care of your own gear there's always somebody who doesn't share the same ethics and they are the ones who will get you.

 

[Carlosfandango]

What is required for the ground loop? Would it be a 4mm earth wired round all sockets in a ring??

 

[jimmymac]

I've been tasked with wiring a private recording studio. The setup is that the owner used to rent out a glorified shed to bands. He now has some money and wants to create a proper studio in the barn with a main room, vocal booth and recording room. He's very worried about penetrating the walls (apparently any holes at all have a massive effect on the sound proofing) so I'm wiring it all surface in Pvc trunking and conduit, but that's by the by! I'm looking for some ideas for lights I could use as I've never even set foot in a studio!! I'm guessing fluorescents are out due to the interference and noise on the recordings? Also, will this require a fire system. It is one big room with glass partitions and one entrance. The problem is that the music will be loud so will I need visual warnings?
Thanks in advance.

Do you know that you need a special ticket to sign this job off? There's a city & guilds course, Google it, it's called 'Testing, Testing 123'.

 

[davesparks]

Do you know that you need a special ticket to sign this job off? There's a city & guilds course, Google it, it's called 'Testing, Testing 123'.

Nonono, sound engineers stop at 2, they never go as far as 3 because you lift on 3!

 

[davesparks]

What is required for the ground loop? Would it be a 4mm earth wired round all sockets in a ring??

No, ground loops are a potentially dangerous fault which occurs when the screen/ground of a signal cable is connected to a different potential at each end and thus current flows through it.

 

[Carlosfandango]

Forgive my ignorance here but how would I overcome this? Provide a common earth termination/plug type thingy?

 

[Tidy Max]

There are multiple issues that cause ground loops and also multiple effects that ground loops have. Google ground loops and you will find some good information on them.

 

[davesparks]

Forgive my ignorance here but how would I overcome this? Provide a common earth termination/plug type thingy?

The simple answer is by doing the job properly! If all earthing and bonding is present and correct then you have done all you can. Then it is up to those using the studio to look after their equipment properly and know what they are doing.

 

[Engineer54]

I've been tasked with wiring a private recording studio. The setup is that the owner used to rent out a glorified shed to bands. He now has some money and wants to create a proper studio in the barn with a main room, vocal booth and recording room. He's very worried about penetrating the walls (apparently any holes at all have a massive effect on the sound proofing) so I'm wiring it all surface in Pvc trunking and conduit, but that's by the by! I'm looking for some ideas for lights I could use as I've never even set foot in a studio!! I'm guessing fluorescents are out due to the interference and noise on the recordings? Also, will this require a fire system. It is one big room with glass partitions and one entrance. The problem is that the music will be loud so will I need visual warnings?
Thanks in advance.

As far as i know, it's not so much soundproofing a recording studio needs to be, but a room or rooms that are acoustically neutral. That's normally achieved by acoustic wall coverings, so any small cable holes you may have behind the acoustic tiles/material isn't going to affect much at all...

 

[Geordie Spark]

As far as i know, it's so much soundproofing a recording studio needs to be, but a room or rooms that are acoustically neutral. That's normally achieved by acoustic wall coverings, so any small cable holes you may have behind the acoustic tiles/material isn't going to affect much at all...

The studios I've worked in have had either those funny shaped acoustic tiles stuck on the walls or heavy curtains hung in front of them and cabling surface run in conduit and/or or trunking. (at least they were when I had finished with them!!)

Acoustic tile ---->

A cheap alternative is pressed cardboard egg trays which I've also seen used. (take the eggs out first though .... )