WHEN MACHINES DREAM

I just finished building the new When Machines Dream studio and once again, as many of my friends are also music producers, I thought that you would be interested in how I did it.
Having built two studio's prior, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted the new facility to be like and tried to incorporate what I had learned from my first two studios into the design and implementation of this one. Building this studio was a bit easier than my previous two, due to the fact that there was no actual "construction" involved, I was simply "installing" a studio into an existing room.
As for design considerations, I needed a space that I could produce music in, using my primary DAW and MIDI setup, track vocals and master the final product. In addition, I wanted to be able to shoot video in the studio as well. Of course it had to have good acoustics, pristine audio quality, good ergonomics and look cool so that I would enjoy working there. A pretty tall order for an existing room in a rented townhouse!
The first order of business was to put together the workstation desk for the DAW.  I have researched and purchased a variety of studio furniture (designed specifically for recording studio use) and I have found that just about everything that is commercially available is just shit - totally designed to not actually work. Harsh? I know (baffling).  Don't believe me? Google it and then try to envision all of your basic stuff set up on it (computer monitor, nearfield monitors, control surface/ keyboard controller, etc.) See? Doesn't work. I should note here though that RaXXess makes some fine studio furniture, but it unfortunately doesn't fit into my budget.
That being said, I have found what I believe to be a near-perfect recording workstation desk. Actually Kyle Ward, my musical partner found it. He bought three on the spot and gave me one (which I was unfortunately unable to ship to my new location and had to purchase my own.) It is available through the office superstore Staples. Here
Anyway, on to the studio building...

 

For acoustical treatment, I chose once again, Auralex products. You have to give them credit for figuring out how to sell foam for so much money, but the products sound good, look good and they offer a free acoustic design service as well. As you can see from the following photos, I use just about everything they sell. As this space is being rented, I devised a mounting system using self-adhesive velcro strips. It worked out well. I recomend buying it in rolls and cutting it into tabs yourself (see pic) as it is much more cost effective this way. It should be noted that I was less concerned with damaging the townhouse walls with my foam installation as I was in being able to take my foam with me when I move. Also, I did have to glue the bass traps using Auralex's adhesive, as they were too heavy for the velcro.

 

 

Now that the acoustic treatment was installed and the furniture built, it was time to wire everything up. For all of my power conditioning and cable, I chose Monster products. As with the Auralex, I believe in Monster products and haven't found anything better. Everything that could be ran balanced, is.

 

And now some pix of the completed studio:

 


 

The studio seems to be working out pretty good. I have done some mastering and the mixes translate well - no big suprises in the car or on the home stereo. I still have to tweak the bass a bit, as in a room this small it is not quite accurate. It should also be noted regarding bass, that there is a closet in this room (not pictured) that is filled with bass traps as well to try to tame those frequencies down a bit more.  I still have to install some lighting for shooting video. I am saving up for some LED floods and a DMX controller to keep the heat down and add some pizazz to my productions. As usual, feel free to contact me with any questions or comments.

~ J

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