A Few Helpful Hints

Producers, musicians, audio professionals, and engineers spend a great deal of time in the control room and studio. It only makes sense that this environment should be laid out in a manner that’s esthetically, functionally, and acoustically pleasing . . . from a feng shui point of view. Creating a quality working environment that’s conducive to making good music is the goal of every professional and project studio owner. Beyond the basics of creating a welldesigned facility from an acoustic and electronic standpoint, a number of basic concepts should be kept in mind when building or designing a recording facility . . . no matter how grand or humble. Here are a few helpful hints:

^ Given the fact that an engineer spends a huge amount of time sitting on his or her bum, it’s always a good idea to make an investment in both your and your clients’ posture and creature comforts by having comfortable, high-quality chairs around for both the production team and the musicians.

^ Velcro or tie-straps can be used to organize studio wiring bundles into groups that can be laid our in a way that can reduce clutter, increase organization (color-coded straps can be used), and make the studio look more professional.

^ Portable label printers can be used to identify cable runs within the studio, identify patch points, I/O strip instrumentation . . . you name it!

^ Most of us are guilty of cluttering up our workspace with unused gear, papers . . . you know, junk! I know it’s hard, but a clean, uncluttered working environment tells your clients a lot about you, your facility, and your work habits.

^ Unused cables, adapters, and miscellaneous stuff can be sorted into plastic storage boxes with snap-on lids and stacked or easy storage.

^ Important tools and items that are used every day (such as screwdrivers, masking tape, or markers) can be stored in a rack-mounted drawer that can be easily accessed without cluttering up your space.

Some Useful Tech-Stuff for Aspiring Musicians

Noise Isolation within the Control Room:

Isolation between rooms and the great outdoors isn’t the only noise-related issue in the modern-day recording or project studio. The proliferation of multitrack tape machines, computers, digital signal processors (DSP) and cooling systems have created issues that present
their own Grinch types of noise, Noise, NOISE!, NOISE!!! This usually manifests itself in the form of system fans, transport tape noises, and/or computer-related sounds from CPUs, case fans, hard drives, and the like.

When it comes to isolating tape transport and system fan sounds, should budget and size constraints permit, it is often wise to build an iso-room that’s been specifically designed and ventilated for containing such equipment. An equipment room that utilizes glass paneling and easy-access doors that provides for current /future wiring needs can add a degree of peace-n-quiet and an overall professionalism that will make both you and your clients happy.

Within a smaller studio or project studio space, such a room isn’t always possible; however, with care and forethought the whizzes and whirrs of the digital era can be turned into a nonissue that you’ll be proud of. Here are a few examples of the most common problems and their solutions:

^ Replace fans with quieter ones. By doing some careful Web searching or by talking to your favorite computer salesperson, it’s often possible to install fans (especially CPU fans) that are quieter than most off-the-shelf models.

^ Regulate case fan speeds with variable pots. Gamers will often regulate their computer fans in order to keep noises down. Often the controls come in a stylish, LED-lit case that fits in a PC’s 5.25-inch drive space. Care needs to be taken in monitoring the CPU/case temperatures so as not to harm your system.

^ Install hard drive enclosures to reduce internal hard-drive noises. These enclosures are designed to acoustically encapsulate 3.5-inch hard drives into a design that fits into a 5.25-inch hard drive bay.

^ Place the computer in an acoustically isolated alcove. Care needs to be taken in monitoring the CPU/case temperatures so as not to harm your system.

^ Connect studio computers via high-speed network to a remote server location. By connecting a
silent computer (such as a small form factor PC or Mac laptop) to a central computer via a high-speed network, not only is it possible to eliminate computer-related noises (by locating the computer and drives in another room), but it’s also a relatively simple matter to connect the various production- and business-related terminals to a central server that can be backed up according to schedule.

Some Useful Tech-Stuff for Aspiring Musicians

Primary Factors Governing Studio and Control Room Acoustics:

Regardless of which type of studio facility is being designed, built and used . . . there are a number of primary concerns that should be addressed in order to achieve the best possible acoustic results. In this section, we’ll take a close look at such important and relevant aspects of acoustics as:

^ Acoustic isolation
^ Symmetry in control room and monitoring design
^ Frequency balance
^ Absorption
^ Reflection
^ Reverberation

In addition to these factors, the following considerations should also be taken into account:

^ Equipment noise in the control room
^ Power conditioning in the studio and control room
^ Proper grounding techniques in the studio and control room

Although several mathematical formulas have been included in the following sections, it’s by no means necessary that you memorize or worry about them. By far, I feel that it’s more important that you grasp the basic principles of acoustics rather than fret over the underlying math. Remember—more often than not, acoustics is an artistic science that blends math with the art of intuition and experience.

Acoustic Isolation:

Because most commercial and project studio environments make use of an acoustic space to record sound, it’s often wise and necessary to employ effective isolation techniques into their design in order to keep external noises to a minimum. Whether that noise is transmitted through the medium of air (e.g., from nearby auto, train, or jet traffic) or through solids (e.g., from air-conditioner rumble, underground subways, or nearby businesses), special construction techniques will often be required to dampen down these extraneous sounds. If you happen to have the luxury of building a studio facility from the ground up, a great deal of thought should be put into selecting the studio’s location. If a location has considerable neighborhood noise, you might have to resort to extensive (and expensive) construction techniques that can ‘‘float’’ the rooms (a process that effectively isolates and uncouples the inner rooms from the building’s outer foundations). If there’s absolutely no choice of studio location and the studio happens to be located next to a factory, just under the airport’s main landing path, or over the subway’s uptown line . . . you’ll simply have to give in to destiny and build acoustical barriers to these outside interferences.