Private studio in Slovakia

#196

The electrician completed the wiring for the lighting. Here are lights that didn't work before.

I will be taking a break from working on the studio as I need to get back to rehearsing after a long gap. This will give us an opportunity to check how much sound escapes from the studio, hopefully not enough for anyone to notice.

It coincides with Slovakia having entered a new Covid lockdown at midnight.

Here is wishing you all a wonderful Christmas season and rapid and successful progress with your studios.

#197

Amazing work Starlight! Enjoy your rehearsal and hop the lockdown isn’t too prolonged.

#198

Ah I’m loving revisiting this thread, such beautiful work being done, Love a job done with Love! Well done!

#199

Thank you for the compliments, I should pass them on to Josef the builder and all round handyman who has done most of the work, Slavo the ceiling guy, the plumber, the electricians, the (linoleum) flooring company, my wife, neighbours, friends and others who have helped.

#200

Looking great... :mrgreen:

#201

Starlight wrote:Source of the postI will be taking a break from working on the studio as I need to get back to rehearsing after a long gap.

I got a much appreciated PM from Gareth as I haven't posted any updates in a while. The shelving and couch are now in the studio as they have been cluttering up our lounge for the last 4 years since we closed our previous place.

There are plenty of other things that I have been putting off that can keep me busy until probably after Easter. In the meantime I have to get back to my plans for the acoustic treatment as I don't know how much wood to buy and my plans do not currently include soffit-mounted monitors. My plan is to go and listen to some monitors at Thomann in Germany on my route to the UK in the summer (which has been cancelled these last 2 summers) so that I know which monitors I should plan for. All in all I am being sort of intentionally slow at the moment - or busy with other things, depending on how you look at it.

#202

That's a cool couch!

A while back you had a drum kit in there and were going to see how much sound escaped into the rest of the building. How did it go?

Cheers!
Jennifer

#203

endorka wrote:Source of the postThat's a cool couch!

Thanks, Jennifer. It has a hollow base so I can fill it with insulation and have it double as a broadband trap.

endorka wrote:Source of the postA while back you had a drum kit in there and were going to see how much sound escaped into the rest of the building. How did it go?

The drum kit is still in there. A short story will explain.

During the first Covid lockdown in 2020 the shop next door closed down. Last year an undertaker set up shop, with its office on the other side of the studio wall. Pun withstanding, it is dead quiet in there and the couple running it made the far half their living quarters so they are there pretty much 24/7.

Since the latest lockdown ended in January I have been focussing on the sound of my main kit in a church across town, playing with the sound of the kit in the very reverberant building and figuring out how best to close mike it using 8 mics, aiming to get the best sound (to my ears) with minimum bleed from the rest of the band. Neither studio nor live miking techniques quite work in this situation so it has given me an interesting challenge. Here is a quick glimpse of the setup so far, starting with the overview where the high-hat and snare mics are most clearly visible.

Here is an experiment to mike the ride and 18" crash cymbals from underneath.

Likewise, the 14" and 16" crashes from underneath and showing the 3 tom mics.

The bass drum mic needs more work to find the sweet spot inside the drum.

What does this have to do with the drums in the studio? I have been changing heads, experimenting with muffling and more in the studio. The only constant so far is the snare, which has a Remo Silentstroke head so it is quiet enough that I don't need hearing protection. As such, I am not really making a noise in the studio - 70dBC SPL which the undertakers cannot hear, that much I know - but in a few weeks, once I am happy with the main kit, I will reconfigure the studio kit for learning and rehearsing and then can take up our undertaker neighbour's offer to have my wife go in there while I play the drums and also play some recorded music so that we can determine (measure) how much they can hear and what level of isolation the build provides.

Sorry, that was a bit long-winded but you have a fuller picture of how my not really getting on with the studio build right now fits in with my loudest bit of kit.

#204

What a fascinating update, thank you. I am fascinated that you can get a kit quiet enough to use without hearing protection. These days I find even the smallest jazz kits too loud when the drummer skelps the snare with sticks.

Have you tried any drum kit micing approaches similar to this? I used it on a couple of recent recording sessions with other musicians in the room at the same time. One had a jazz quintet. This one was drums and two electric guitars with amps in the room. There are four mics in total - left and right "kit" mics, one close mic on the kick and another on the snare.

You'd think there would be a lot of bleed on the kit mics but there really isn't These are figure 8 pattern ribbon mics, and the key is to place the other instruments / amps as much as possible in the nulls (bottom / top or sides) of these where they reject most sound. With a good balance of instrument sounds in the room there is remarkably little spill into them. Apparently figure 8 condenser mics work even better.

I've attached a couple of photos of that session. If you'd like some more let me know and I'll send clearer ones from other sessions.

Cheers!
Jennifer

#205

I've been missing your updates, how's the studio coming along?

Cheers!
Jennifer

#206

Thanks for asking, Jennifer. I took a break through the winter of 2021-2022, after which President Putin started a war right next door, so helping Ukrainian refugees and delivering humanitarian aid alongside some post-covid musical opportunities opening up quickly filled the next year and a half. My time is now filled playing guitar in one band and drums in another.

I planned to focus on the studio this summer to get all the sawing done outdoors and then complete the studio's acoustic treatment this autumn and winter. I had a few questions for John H. Brandt, my studio's designer, which has resulted in us agreeing to change the front wall to include flush-mounted Neumann KH310 monitors and KH750 subs and John took the opportunity to update the plans for the other 3 walls. The news plans arrived two days ago, so I am poring over them right now with the intention of getting stuck in ASAP.

My biggest need is to delegate or drop some things to commit more time to finishing my studio and be more active here.

#207

Good to see you back and also getting back into the studio build. I know John Brandt has been subjecting many standard acoustic designs and assumptions to laboratory tests recently and revised his thoughts accordingly. It's great that you have the opportunity to take advantage of this.

KH310 speakers, nice

Cheers!
Jennifer

#208

Starlight wrote:Source of the post agreeing to change the front wall to include flush-mounted Neumann KH310 monitors and KH750 subs

That's a very, very smart move! Great set of speakers, with great possibilities. Looking forward to seeing that happen!

And great to see you getting back into "studio build" mode!

- Stuart -

#209

Thank you, Stuart, I take that as an encouraging endorsement from you.

#210

Starlight wrote:Source of the post Thank you, Stuart, I take that as an encouraging endorsement from you.

I've used both the KH310's and the KH750's on several projects, and they are great. Neumann was very smart to not change anything but the logo on the old K+H line, then continue developing in the same direction as before, when they bought out Klein & Hummel all those years ago. K+H were legendary speakers back then, and they still are. The 750's especially are excellent: they beat their own specs, actually! They are basically the old K+H O800 with some design tweaks and a Neumann logo. With a pair of 750's set up as a plan wave bass array, you can do magical things for stubborn acoustic issues that treatment alone didn't completely deal with. And the 310's are basically revamped K+H O300's: smooth and clean across the entire spectrum (with good room treatment, of course).

I think you'll be very happy with those, once you get them set up and running.

- Stuart -

Soundman2020 - Studio Design Forum