what are the worst design problems you have encountered?

Recording Techniques, People Skills, Gear, Recording Spaces, Computers, and DIY

Moderators: drumsound, tomb

Dave Nutz
pushin' record
Posts: 274
Joined: Sat Apr 17, 2004 5:00 am
Location: NYC

what are the worst design problems you have encountered?

Post by Dave Nutz » Mon Dec 19, 2005 2:13 pm

In the long list of things to take into account before thinking about seriously building your own studio, one should include dumb design flaws.
So im curious...what are the worst design flaws/problems/oversights you see in studios?

mine would be:
1] tape machines/HDRs on opposite sides of the CR
2] Hard to access patching
3] Noisy HVAC or AC systems
4] Lack of remotes for HDRs/tapemachines located far from the console


Any input you can give is much appreciated.
01010100 01100001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01001101 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01101100 01100101 01100001 01100100 01100101 01110010 00100001

User avatar
digitaldrummer
ghost haunting audio students
Posts: 3476
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2005 9:51 pm
Location: Austin, Texas
Contact:

Post by digitaldrummer » Mon Dec 19, 2005 4:56 pm

do I dare mention the power harness on the digi 002R (hit me in the first 2 days I had it...)?

Dave Nutz
pushin' record
Posts: 274
Joined: Sat Apr 17, 2004 5:00 am
Location: NYC

Post by Dave Nutz » Tue Dec 20, 2005 7:11 am

i was thinking more like room and facility related as opposed to gear related.

thanks for the input though :)
01010100 01100001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01001101 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01101100 01100101 01100001 01100100 01100101 01110010 00100001

User avatar
;ivlunsdystf
ghost haunting audio students
Posts: 3290
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:15 am
Location: The Great Frontier of the Southern Anoka Sand Plain
Contact:

Post by ;ivlunsdystf » Tue Dec 20, 2005 7:40 am

drywall

mjau
speech impediment
Posts: 4023
Joined: Mon Sep 29, 2003 7:33 pm
Location: Orlando
Contact:

Post by mjau » Tue Dec 20, 2005 8:50 am

Flathead screws. Anywhere - facilities, gear, etc...
Can't stand them.

User avatar
;ivlunsdystf
ghost haunting audio students
Posts: 3290
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:15 am
Location: The Great Frontier of the Southern Anoka Sand Plain
Contact:

Post by ;ivlunsdystf » Tue Dec 20, 2005 10:40 am

It's hard to beat the flathead screws gripe, but I just thought of another: Water moving anywhere "upstream" from electronics, ie water pipes, drains, etc. Sooner or later everything is going to flood. At the very least, everything should be off the floor if there is any chance of water encroaching

TapeOpLarry
TapeOp Admin
TapeOp Admin
Posts: 1665
Joined: Thu May 01, 2003 11:50 am
Location: Portland, OR
Contact:

Post by TapeOpLarry » Wed Dec 21, 2005 6:46 pm

Bathroom off the control room, no decent heating or noisy AC, bus traffic nearby, complaing neighbors... oh shit, that's my studio!
Larry Crane, Editor/Founder Tape Op Magazine
please visit www.tapeop.com for contact information
(do not send private messages via this board!)
www.larry-crane.com

User avatar
Mark Alan Miller
dead but not forgotten
Posts: 2097
Joined: Wed Apr 14, 2004 6:58 pm
Location: Western MA
Contact:

Post by Mark Alan Miller » Fri Dec 23, 2005 6:53 am

Bathroom off the control room? I got you beat, Larry. My old place had no bathroom. None. Nada. Zip. Ha! :)
he took a duck in the face at two and hundred fifty knots.

http://www.radio-valkyrie.com/ao/aoindex.htm - download the new record (free is an option!) or get it on CD.

TapeOpLarry
TapeOp Admin
TapeOp Admin
Posts: 1665
Joined: Thu May 01, 2003 11:50 am
Location: Portland, OR
Contact:

Post by TapeOpLarry » Fri Dec 23, 2005 9:11 am

My new place will have a bus stop in front, so no parking. That sucks too!
Larry Crane, Editor/Founder Tape Op Magazine
please visit www.tapeop.com for contact information
(do not send private messages via this board!)
www.larry-crane.com

AstroDan
george martin
Posts: 1366
Joined: Wed May 07, 2003 12:07 pm
Location: Avoca, Arkansas

Post by AstroDan » Fri Dec 23, 2005 9:26 am

I think putting a studio where there is no talent, or anyone interested in recording, is a big disadvantage.

Cojonesonasteek
gettin' sounds
Posts: 129
Joined: Wed Nov 24, 2004 9:13 am
Location: Austin, Texas USofA

Post by Cojonesonasteek » Fri Dec 23, 2005 11:57 am

The control room I moved into was 20x20x10-1/2 - virtually half a cube, so a challenge to treat acoustically. We ended up narrowing the room to 17' and are installing clouds on the ceiling (2" 703 about 6" off the ceiling) to control floor-to-ceiling modes, then major corner trapping (4" 703) to manage the low end.

Merry Christmas, Chappy Channukah and Joyous Kwanzaa to all my brothers and sisters out there.

Hud

djimbe
tinnitus
Posts: 1179
Joined: Wed May 07, 2003 4:55 am
Location: chicago
Contact:

Post by djimbe » Fri Dec 23, 2005 1:50 pm

Re: an HVAC consideration

For a larger space with seperate Live and Control rooms, please consider some sort of zoned HVAC thermostat. Our live room is a building inside of a building, the original space being a 6+ car garage. The outer building is brick and concrete and most of the ceiling is a concrete patio for the 2nd floor apartments. It gets cold in the winter months (which we have here in Chicago). The thermostat is in the Control room, which gets heated up by the gear. This means that the control room is often warmer than you'd like it in the summer, and nice and cozy in the winter, while the Live room is chilly. The Live room, by contrast is quite comfortable in the summer, but Control gets pretty darn hot. The problem of course is that moving the thermostat into the Live room would mean Control would be too hot in the winter, and would be even hotter in the summer than it already can get. After a few years of experience and some added air return capacity we have the balance better than it was originally.

RE: Doors

Take some time to properly fit your doors in their jams so they fit tight with the minimum amount of thin foam insulation for sound leakage protection. We did a completely crap job of hanging all of our doors. Most people probably don't notice, but it's a constant source of frustration to me that I wasn't around when the doors got hung. I like to think I'd a done a much better job than the guys who tried their best, but missed the craftsmanship mark. Just a little more attention to detail and our place would be even quiter than it already is.

Also, I know this has been mentioned elsewhere, but when building wall pass through panels for iso booths, make sure you include a well marked speaker level jack along with the usual bal. and unbal. jacks. So much nicer to be able to have a head in the live room where the performer can access it during a take.

And overhead mic cables. If you can swing it, having some cables for patching that drop from the ceiling would be ever so much more than sweet. We could have done this easy during construction, but we blew it. Adding this little wrinkle now is possible (and something I'm seriously considering), but it's gonna be a pain in my ass to do.
I thought this club was for musicians. Who let the drummer in here??

drumsound
zen recordist
Posts: 7474
Joined: Tue Jun 01, 2004 10:30 pm
Location: Bloomington IL
Contact:

Post by drumsound » Fri Dec 23, 2005 2:49 pm

djimbe wrote:Re: an HVAC consideration

For a larger space with seperate Live and Control rooms, please consider some sort of zoned HVAC thermostat. Our live room is a building inside of a building, the original space being a 6+ car garage. The outer building is brick and concrete and most of the ceiling is a concrete patio for the 2nd floor apartments. It gets cold in the winter months (which we have here in Chicago). The thermostat is in the Control room, which gets heated up by the gear. This means that the control room is often warmer than you'd like it in the summer, and nice and cozy in the winter, while the Live room is chilly. The Live room, by contrast is quite comfortable in the summer, but Control gets pretty darn hot. The problem of course is that moving the thermostat into the Live room would mean Control would be too hot in the winter, and would be even hotter in the summer than it already can get. After a few years of experience and some added air return capacity we have the balance better than it was originally.

My room is the same way. I've been bitching to my landlord (an HVAC guy...) for three years now. The Thermostat is right by the colsole. My booth is stupid cold in the winter. I'm only 2 hours south of you. Winters are strong in Central Illinois!

User avatar
;ivlunsdystf
ghost haunting audio students
Posts: 3290
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:15 am
Location: The Great Frontier of the Southern Anoka Sand Plain
Contact:

Post by ;ivlunsdystf » Fri Dec 23, 2005 3:50 pm

I lived in a house in Maine that was built in the late 1700s. There was an ancient woodstove in the standard place in the living room; when the house was modernized in the 1970s some yoyo put the heating thermostat directly above the woodstove. Think about that one for a minute.

I like the overhead cables idea. As a lifelong audio geek I really like the idea of cables built into the walls and ceiling. It's just nifty, what else can I say.

User avatar
JGriffin
zen recordist
Posts: 6739
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2003 1:44 pm
Location: criticizing globally, offending locally
Contact:

Post by JGriffin » Thu Dec 29, 2005 6:51 pm

Mark Alan Miller wrote:Bathroom off the control room? I got you beat, Larry. My old place had no bathroom. None. Nada. Zip. Ha! :)
My old band recorded our first album at White Room Studios in Detroit, which is now a very nice facility, apparently (I haven't been to Detroit in ten years or so). When I was there it was still making the transition from being Second Self's rehearsal space into being a commercial studio, so the bathrooms had not been built yet. If you had to go, you had to leave the building, cross the street and ask nicely at the 24-hour coffee shop to use their employee restroom, which was behind their counter and down the steps into their basement.
"Jeweller, you've failed. Jeweller."

"Lots of people are nostalgic for analog. I suspect they're people who never had to work with it." ? Brian Eno

All the DWLB music is at http://dwlb.bandcamp.com/

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 75 guests