22 thoughts on “Show 221 – Building Jon’s New Studio and more!

  1. Hi guys, GSAA.

    Continuing to work my way through the archive. On one show you talked about Ikea furniture for your studio. I have a mod of my own, that I think is original; I used a RIBBA frame to make an illuminated recording sign for my studio, so that my kids don’t barge in during takes!

    I soldered about 50 white LED’s to a circuit board, printed and laminated the word “recording” that I placed behind the glass and glued and screwed it all together. It’s powered by a 12v DC adapter that powers up with the rest of my gear.

    Take a look:
    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202173151632520&set=o.339632181277&type=1&relevant_count=1

    It hasn’t stopped my kids barging in, but hey, I think it’s cool!

    And on the subject of Ikea, I think the company are aware that home recordists are using their furniture. I thought this video was pretty neat showing how family life and having an organized recording space can be done. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9–bFPxKg3E

    Keep up the great work guys!!

  2. It looks like I get to rebuild a studio next month when I move to Florida. My plan is to simplify my studio and lose a lot of the low end gear that I amassed over a number of years of mediocre productions. I scored a Mackie Satellite interface with Onyx preamps and I am thinking about trying to add in some better monitors and call it a day for a while. I don’t have any plans on tracking drums or really anything louder than a singer and acoustic instrument. But treating the room and creating a workflow will be fun and games enough. I did manage to cut down on the number of acoustic guitars to 8 so here’s hoping I can eliminate the other crap on Craigslist in a few weeks.

  3. Jon- how long is the extension cord? That is where I would start looking at the hum… The new breaker run will help you out a ton! I recently did my studio with a new ground rod..8 ft into the ground, and then ran my ground wires seperated from the main power runs…keeps noise at bay…actually the capacitance will be at bay…Power comes in from the ceiling, and ground wires are all below the boxes…

  4. GSAA !

    Re: Roxul Rockwool & Safe’n’Sound

    The semi-rigid version of Roxul is called Rockboard. It is about 2x the price of the floppy stuff. But the standard 2’x4’x2″ sheets holds together like Corning 703. I purchased a 6-pack from ATS. Delivered, it was cheaper than brand-name 703.
    http://www.atsacoustics.com/cat—-106.html

    All the best…


    Andrew

  5. Hi guys,
    A couple months ago the amp section of one of my Focal Solo6 monitors stopped working. I shipped it off to have it repaired but the shipping company damaged it in transit and for some reason chose to buy me an entirely new speaker and give me back the broken one as well. The damage done by the shipping company was very minor cosmetic damage (still not sure why they replaced it, but I’m sure not going to argue) and so now I have an extra, non-working speaker and I’m trying to decide what to do with it.

    My options seem to be:

    A – pay $650 to have it repaired and keep it as a backup
    B – Don’t repair it but keep it around for parts in case I lose a driver.
    C – Find some cool DIY project to do with the drivers and cabinet of the non-working speaker.

    Suggestions? Kinda seems a shame to have it just gather dust. You guys know any good DIY projects I could do with a Focal Solo6 with a busted amp?

    Thanks
    Dean W

  6. Hi!! i had not long a go a “AHA” moment that i wanted to share… i was looking for a midi controller for controlling my daw (cubase7) yes
    there are a few options some are cheap (not only the prize also the quality)some are too expensive for having just 1 fader and a few knobs…a friend of mine told me about his new gaming mouse which he use for playing cod…. instantly i felt like scooby doo eating a scooby !!
    so i hit the almighty internet.
    i bought a wireless gaming mouse with 13 programmable Buttons and also some cheap cubase shortcut keyboard stickers.both together less then 80 euros!!!
    opening the mixer or an instrument with one of mouse buttons is such a joy. this has highly improved my workflow.now
    i don t want an controller anymore.
    just wanted 2 share! with greetings from berlin.

    p.s. you guys rock !!keep on!!

  7. ups sorry for my english it is not my main language..
    i meant scooby snacks and maybe i should have used the phrase:

    instantly i had one of ” this gonna change my life moments”;)

    instead…

  8. Ryan,

    You couldn’t have sounded less interested last episode, sounded like you were dying for it to end. In fact, last 3 or 4 episodes have sounded that way.

    Many of us really look forward to your show, it’s the most consistent and highest quality podcast on the subject, out there – hope you will recover from the burnout it sounds like you have.

    Jon, you sound like you enjoy doing it, thank you.

    I almost always learn something, and appreciate the effort it takes to produce a show.

    thanks guys.

    • Guys, if you ARE kind of burned out like JH mentions… (man, I can’t believe I’m saying this)…. It’s OK if you don’t send out my diploma within the next week……

      But seriously, I think everybody understands that you’ve both been busy, with tons of work, moving to a house and all that. So if you need to tone it down for a bit in order for it not to become a sour chore, it’s OK. That’s better than starting to hate “having to do” another podcast and have that shit looming over your head. I mean, there are many ways to relieve the pressure (as I’m sure you know, wink wink). I for one wouldn’t mind it you skimped on the editing and post production (go all lo-fi and garage). You could even skip the comments section, or skip the pre-recorded segment – like just pick a subject and talk about it for twenty or thirty minutes and call that a podcast.
      And if you’ve hit a dry spell regarding inspiration, put out a call for listener subjects to discuss. Hell, you could even put out a call for segments. I’d gladly do a couple if you want it.

      Well, look at me being all sensitive and gay…

      (apologies to any sensitive and/or gay listeners out there)

      BR,
      Michael

  9. GSAA. Jon, I don’t envy your new situation, but at least you have a good plan of where to go with improving things now. A positive is that the traffic noise is relatively constant, so you know what your dealing with. My studio is in the country, but its kind of hard to plan ahead for how much noise might go in the two times of the year that farm machinary drives right by the studio. If you are thinking of adding some extra dry wall for isolation purposes, definitely do look into using some green glue between the new layer and the old one. Its particularly good for low end attenuation. If I were you the noise floor would be the first thing I’d look to address because you might now be mixing at a higher level than you used to in the own place, in terms of volume, so that might be fatiguing etc…if you aren’t of course, then there might be some low level detail your now missing out on. Obviously you know what your doing at this stage, so your standard of work is very unlikely to suffer much. Check out the Green Glue though, they have some other great products also.

  10. Hey guys,

    Great podcast as always!

    I was working on a song in my home studio this week. I am working on a section requiring gang vocals. I’m looking for some ideas on tricks to recording these when you only have 1-2 warm bodies to scream into the mic and not much room for more than that. I think using multiple tracks is probably obvious but think there are a few more tricks I should consider to help the voices seem different per take. Are there any tricks you’ve used in that situation? Any ideas are appreciated!

    Also, a couple amazon purchases last week should be getting to you soon and also I would like to request my diploma as after a small bit of catch up am current again.

    Thanks as always for what you do for the home recording community.

    Joey

  11. If Jon is feeling non-committal about mudding his drywall and still wants an air tight seal, maybe he should get himself a big fat tube of removable caulk.
    (Which of course has nothing to do with a certain song by King Missile.)

  12. Hey Guys, great show.

    This one is particularly relevant to me as I just moved into a new house with similar circumstances, but I’ll get into that in excruciating details in another post.

    Jon, I am also in Canada. New Brunswick to be exact. I’ve never read anything on or come across OFI in my research. You referred to it as Owen’s Corning 70x’s Canadian equivalent. Can you elaborate or post a link to this product?

    Also, Home Recording Studio – Build it Like the Pros by Rod Gervais describes a way to isolate windows with a hinged mechanism that allows you to open a window when you need to get some airflow while closing it when you need the isolation.

    Cheers and KFTGF,
    Marc Landry

  13. Did you here your mention on the Audionowcast? See min 117 reference… Maybe its time again for Ryan to get back with them! Looking forward to the new podcast… Did you know HRS has a Facebook Page- Please like and subscribe! Good job guys

        • Just listened to the portion to see under what context the comments were made under. They were boosting themselves as a podcast that is not out there to help newer people to get into recording, how things are supposed to be difficult etc. Then they went into the type of work they were currently working on and how many of it is so important that they can’t even talk about.

          To each their own but there are also folks like Dave Pensado and Ronan in the community that are willing to put in segments that help beginners without needing to boost any ego in the process.

          What I find commical is that the hosts of HRS do indeed do this for a living and almost all of not all guests on the show do this for a living.

          We’ve had our own roundtable just as well and the guests very well do this for a living too.

          I mean this shouldn’t be too surprising that we have these kinds of people like ones in audiocastnow in the community. Just log onto Gearsluts and the same cunts start popping up like worts everywhere.

  14. Hey guys. You rock. Fact.

    Question probably for Jon: I’m just getting into Reaper and so far am mightily impressed. I think I even may be able to get my ProjectMix working at least as efficiently as with Cubase (so if anyone’s struggling I might be able to point them in the right direction :).

    In your previous show you discussed parallel compression but didn’t mention the wet/dry feature available on each and every insert/effect in Reaper. Was there a reason for this? It seems like the obvious solution – unless you need to eq the parallel signal or suchlike… Haven’t investigated myself as yet – thought you might be able to save me some time if it’s not a viable option.

    Look forward to your thoughts as ever cheers Garfield

  15. Love the show and I’m happy to donate a few acoustic sound panels from my company ( http://MixmasteredAcoustics.com ) to your new studio for all the help you have given me over the years. Feel free to take a look at the site and contact me directly when you are ready.

    Thanks Again for ALL of the effort you guys have put into the show!

    Dan

  16. Hey boys

    I’m in the process of finishing my basement and this is the first time that I’ve ever used Roxul Safe’n Sound. It reminded me of this episode where you discuss how awful it is to work with.

    Agreed! It doesn’t cut, it just crumbles and tears. It’s super itchy.

    Half way through my project, I did a little research, and for $15 at Walmart (probably $10 in the States) you can buy an electric carving knife from Black & Decker. Perfect cuts. Much less airborne fibres. It is so much easier to work with.

    I thought I’d share for anyone who is ever planning a project with Safe’n Sound.

    Got the tip from this video of a guy named Dozer making bass traps.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I1revxApwQ

  17. GSAA,

    old windows definitely play tricks. I went on a job interview at an industrial concern recently. the walls there were massively thick. cinder blocks on the inside regular bricks on the outside. the windows however we’re from the 1970s and were single pane glass. all day throughout the interview I kept hearing a radio that was left on a static Channel. just imagine white noise is a soundtrack to your job interview. we broke for lunch and I opted to stay in the room and eat alone. I had an ulterior motive there was no way in hell I was sitting through the second half of the interview with a god damn radio going. I never found the radio. fast forward a couple months I got the job and now I’m back on a mission to find that goddamn radio. turns out about 400 yards from the building there is a relief tank that continually lets out steam (white noise) at around 120 decibels. the walls were so dead that it made the windows sound like a radio was in the room.

    screw the deposit mud that chicken

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