Rimskidog

a little video of the old live room window coming out: [media]LcQ2B4LDEQ8[/media]

So it was finally time to take the live room wall down (doesn't seem that long since it first went up!) The solid maple frame was pretty securely anchored in so, in order to avoid any damage to it, we decided to drill out the blocks around it first: [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7333.jpg[/IMG] In this photo you can see the plastic membrane we've put up to keep the dust in the live room to a minimum: [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7337.jpg[/IMG] Until finally, it came out. Everybody was amazed at, what had looked so small in the wall, was so big once it was out. And the hole in the wall then got enlarged ready to take the new window: [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7343.jpg[/IMG] Anybody want to buy a solid maple studio window?

As many say above, it's all about what works best for the song. Be open minded and listen, but if you don't like the outcome don't be scared to say so. However, if a label is paying then the producer is usually responsible for delivering a commercial release so the final call may well be his.

Heheh. You're welcome to come see yourself bud! In other news... the front wall of the control room starts to make an appearance. You can get an idea from this how much bigger the control room window will be compared to the old window: [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7311.jpg[/IMG]

Sadly, my job is very dull right now. Chasing skip-hire companies, being let down by electricians, dealing with ordering glass and audio cable, and doors and lots of other dull stuff which sucks money out of my bank account at an alarming pace! So, while I sort out a new electrician for the next phase of the production rooms, the time has finally arrived to let you in on the control room build. The first full FTB build Northward Acoustics have done in the UK so we are doubly psyched about it. First up then, the steelwork arrives: [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7299.jpg[/IMG] Those with good eyes will see the little sticks against the wall of the live room. As my spacial awareness is very poor Thomas placed these so I could get an idea of where everything will be. You'll see that the live room window will almost double in width and the door will move to the right with an 18 inch pillar between the two.

You could always be really old fashioned and use a microphone...

Heheh. I'm certainly glad it wasn't me doing it! And finally, you can see that the formwork is now all down and you can see the fruits of our labours: concrete roofs to top off our three fully floated high-mass production rooms. Here's a shot of the finish: [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7319.jpg[/IMG] First fix wiring should have been starting this week but I've just had a call from the electrician who has said something has come up and he can't make it. Also, I didn't want to put you off what's going on here until we got to this point but work has now started on the new control room...

The shuttering begins to come down and get stored in one of the production rooms: [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7324.jpg[/IMG]

As promised, here are some pics from the concrete roofs (rooves??) of the three production rooms that we poured in-situ last week. Unfortunately they were all iphone pics so havent turned out great (I didn't want to take the nice camera into a confined space with so much fresh concrete sloshing around). Apologies for that. You can see here the concrete pump as we got going: [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/IMG-20120424-00035.jpg[/IMG] As we got into the swing of things: [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/IMG-20120424-00032.jpg[/IMG] And, sadly it's not obvious, but this was one of the guys going face down into the concrete as he tried to float the surface in a pretty confined area: [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/IMG-20120424-00039.jpg[/IMG]

Go on then Mr Wolf. Do your worst: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-LHIXeWhNY&feature=relmfu[/media]

Work began today on striking the formwork: [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7302.jpg[/IMG]

Agree with everything 51mon says. In respect of the eq on your bass, you are rolling of from 200hz. To put this in some context the bottom-end/low-mid oomf of your bass lives between 60hz and 500 hz. You've cut out almost half of that. 51mon has given good advice on how to find the bit to roll off in practice. It's all just practice and learning to use your ears from there.

Good times indeed (though times will be better when it all stops sucking money in and instead, starts blowing some out! ;-) Anyways, Haven't had everyone's iphone photos of the pour back yet but in the meantime I took the camera with me today to get a few pics of the completed roof slabs. Neither funny nor very interesting tbh but here they are anyway (the sticks were just to hold the formwork in place so that the weight of the concrete didn't break open the shuttering): [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7297-1.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7298-1.jpg[/IMG]

So... amidst some hilarious scenes (think of one hapless individual face down in the concrete as he tried to reach over and float a corner with very little headroom) we poured (or rather pumped) the concrete today. Stupid here forgot to take the camera so I'm afraid there will just be some iphone quality pics as soon as I get them back from the guys and choose the best of them!

Thanks guys! You can see here how the structural engineer specced the roof: [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7263.jpg[/IMG] starting to come together: [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7260.jpg[/IMG] and a longer shot: [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7254.jpg[/IMG] in the other direction: [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7285.jpg[/IMG] and during their afternoon nap: [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7288.jpg[/IMG] heh

Lots of not so heavy metal on the agenda today then. Here's an early morning view: [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7281.jpg[/IMG] it was then a matter of cutting to rough dimensions before getting it up about 15 or 16 foot in the air where it could be cut to exact size: [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7271.jpg[/IMG]

Builders still going at it like knives. You can see some of the joinery in these shots of the shuttering that the concrete will be poured into. First of all a close up of how the panels have been built flush into the room cavity and the gaps filled with some kind of frame sealant: [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7243.jpg[/IMG] Then a longer shot: [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7242.jpg[/IMG] Then a shot looking up from the ground: [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7264.jpg[/IMG]

Wow! Well impressed with the builders. I went down this morning only to find them on site working away. They are moving really fast now. All three rooms have the frameworks up, wooden boards fitted to the ceiling void. They were busy sealing up the gaps when I arrived: [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7259.jpg[/IMG] The crossmembers that actually support the shuttering are at 18 inch centres so this gives some idea of scale: [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7257.jpg[/IMG] More tomorrow! They tell me the plan is to pour concrete by Wednesday so they are keeping up the pace!

So work has been going on all week on a number of fronts. At the start of the week a truck pulled up with what looked like a massive load of scaffolding. It soon turned out that it was a very clever shuttering system which, apparently, tends to get used for large commercial buildings where large floor plates are poured insitu. The guys soon set about putting it up. You can see here that it effectively looks like upmarket scaffolding with a substantial crossmember section: [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7250.jpg[/IMG] The basic idea is that each room is filled with this scaffolding system, with narrowly space crossmembers on top. After that is done the roof is shuttered so that, effectively, a big basin is built on top of the walls. A large DPC is then fitted, the basin is filled with metalwork and the concrete is poured in. More photos to follow.

Thanks guys. I think the booze money thing may be spot on. I hunted the boss down on Friday and he told me they will definitely be back this week. Let's see eh...

[color="#000000"]Thanks guys! Hearing that people are getting something out of this makes it feel worthwhile dealing with the admin involved in uploading pictures and penning updates. I'll have another one up soon.[/color] [color="#000000"]In the meantime... it's funny isn't it. When you pay your builders first stage invoice. The day after it's rendered. And they immediately disappear. And don't show up at all. For two weeks now.[/color] [color="#000000"]HOHOHO.[/color] [color="#000000"]Not.[/color]

So the ceiling props arrived today as promised. Metalwork is due to arrive tomorrow. I spent the day dealing with mundane but absolutely necessary tasks like arranging for the alarm system to be extended into the new build. Getting quotes for studio glass, researching hvac systems, audio cabling etc. Even though I've done this before I'd already forgotten how many things there are to think about to pull all of this together!

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1334073381' post='1610525'] Cool. Studio 2 being the control room in fact yeah? With a ickle vocal booth type thing off it opposite the main entrance door. You are clearly going to be completely overworked with all this studio real estate to play with, you should give it to me and save yourself being worked into an early grave Nice to hear that the expected end date of the build is getting nearer rather than further away, that's more than a tad unusual! Did the main contractor manage to find an excuse for not telling you of their unexpected hols then? [/quote] Yeah studio 2 is the control room. The booth mark on the right of it as we look at the plan will actually be a machine room. According to the contractor they had ordered the shuttering and metalwork required by the structural engineer and it hadn't arrived... and perfect timing for the easter holidays too... Glad you are all still getting a kick out of seeing it grow! It makes the admin worthwhile

A little update on yesterday then. Had a good site meeting today with the main contractor and my architect. Things are going to start to happen quite quickly now it seems. Shuttering of the concrete roofs on the production rooms should start later this week. They are currently awaiting the shuttering and the metalwork recommended by the structural engineer. Props will arrive onsite tomorrow. In a slightly unexpected move work will also start on the changes to the current live room and the control room tomorrow (unexpected because I thought we were not starting the control room until the production rooms were completely finished.) All of this will shorten this phase of the build by 4 weeks (which means I need to stop posting here and get on with ordering glass and audio cabling, sorting the electrician etc...) As a reminder then, here's the overall floor plan we are working to (each room has much more detailed plans as you might expect but I'm afraid I wont be posting these in order to protect the IP in them - note also that the big room drawing isn't at all accurate, it doesnt show the non-paralel walls etc and is only there so that you can see clearly the overall studio plan): [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7142.jpg[/IMG] I'll keep you in the loop as it happens!

Just realised I'd taken this and hadn't posted it. You can see that all three production rooms are now at full height waiting for their concrete roofs. [IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/Rimskidog/DSCN7222.jpg[/IMG] As an aside, the rest of the studio is now being taken out of action so that the changes to the big room can take place and work on the control room can start. Unfortunately, last week appeared to have been a builders holiday that nobody mentioned to me in advance because nobody turned up all week and their mobiles just went to answerphone. I have a site meeting with the main contractor first thing in the morning to discuss how we are going to sequence things from here. I'll let you know more once I've spoken to him.