Hi, my name's Mike. I'm a musician (well a drummer!), recording engineer, producer and studio owner.

In January this year I started on a project that has so far taken 6 years to get up and running - building a new recording studio in south east England.

The studio is being built from the ground up and sits on 4 acres of its own land in the countryside. We're aiming to provide a service that fills the gap between the (sadly) few remaining large studios and the many smaller project studios. Not an easy feat in itself and one that's even tougher in the current climate!

As such, the studio will feature a large, beautiful sounding recording room (big enough for 25 musicians), good sized control room, iso booth, lounge and a separate machine room.

There will also be some nice equipment including a restored 1960s Decca valve mixing console, baby SSL, 3 Studers (A827 Gold 2" 24-track, A80 MKIV 1" 8-track, C37/EAR 1/2" stereo), some interesting outboard (including a unique echo chamber), plus the ubiquitous Pro Tools...

The backline will include a grand piano; Hammond C3 and Hammond M102; a good collection of vintage drums, cymbals and snares and Ampeg and Fender amps.

Although not residential, we have access to some great accommodation a few minutes away covering all the bases from luxury to basic.

The build has been going on for about 10 months and we're just getting into the nitty gritty phase of the build, where the studio is really starting to take shape. Up to now, it's basically been a building site - now there's actually something resembling a studio!

There are plenty of photos - here's a few to be starting with...these are from January and February this year...

Concrete beams for the floor



Beams installed

Wood arrives at site for wall construction



Stud work going up











Beautiful day onsite :-)

First oak arrives onsite :-)



Crane to lift the Glulam beams for the roof ridge



View from the field





Roof construction







Rockwool aplenty



Beam and block floor construction



Looking through to the studio live room

Excellent. Good luck with the build.

Thanks Brenton! Still a long way to go...

Your build is looking great!

Thanks!

View from the machine room, looking down on the studio, where the oak frame will sit.


View from the live room

Neoprene rubber for the floating floors


Rubber strips underneath the floor joists


Floating floor with cable trays in the control room


Outside, there's loads going on. Main construction started on the roof...




The big gap in the middle of the building is the live room. The room is built around a green oak frame which was delayed by a few weeks - hence the lack of a roof over this section!


At the far end of the building you can see the doorway into the machine room, which sits above the control room


Everything ready for the oak frame delivery :-)

The green oak frame construction method is the bit that started this project off 6 years ago...

I found a barn in Devon constructed of green oak that was one of the most comfortable rooms I'd ever been in. It looked, felt and sounded wonderful and, although the building was only 15 years old, it seemed timeless.

It was a really relaxing environment and I thought it would be perfect for a studio...be careful what you wish for - it may come true!

Here we go...

Delivery truck arriving. Unfortunately the oak company didn't send a flat loader, as requested. This made craning the oak beams (which are so dense they weigh several hundred kilos each) a bit tricky!






First post going in!




The huge purlins that run the length of the room. There are 2 on each side, capped off with the roof truss




There aren't any metal nails or screws used to hold the frame together...everything gets pinned with these oak nails...


The 3 arches (for the middle and ends) are put together on the ground and then craned into position


And here we have it...the finished frame :-)


Phew! right, that's me done for today - off to do some actual work :-)

Thanks for viewing and the positive comments. I'm away for a couple of days but will post another update early next week.

Just to wet your appetite (this is gearslutz, after all) :-)

Here a few pics of the valve console we'll be installing











And a low quality pic of the console in the current studio

I'm finding the construction pics just facinating. Your method of building is so much different than here in the states. Is there a specific reason for the concrete beams and block floor versus a poured slab? And your roof system looks different too. Like a form of slats versus sheathing.

I was thinking the same about the floor/concrete beams/block.

Looking supreme, keep up the great work.

Very, very cool. To start a project like this at this moment in time takes real commitment.

My guess is that the building has had to sit on piles, the beams and blocks are how you sit a solid dense slab on top of the pile legs.

This looks amazing! You're a man after my own dream of an oak frame in the studio! I am sure that when the build is finished it will exceed your expectations of comfort and the sound!

Did you hire in an acoustician to help the design process? How much is your design compared to the architect's contribution? Who have you drummed for in the past?

Good luck,

subscribed!

Adam

Hi guys - thanks for your interest!

The choice of the beam and block floor was mostly due to ground conditions.

Whilst we didn't have to use piles, there is a lot of clay on the site so this meant extra deep foundations.

As far as the roof construction is concerned, my understanding is that it's pretty standard for the UK...with the exception of the huge amounts of rock wool insulation we put in (for soundproofing as much as thermal insulation) - nearly double the amount you would use in a regular building.

Thanks Adam.

Yeah, I hope so!!!! No going back now :-)


Yep, the wonderful Kevin van Green is the acoustician who's designed the studio. I've known Kevin for 10 years and he's a genius, as well as a good friend and one of the most trustworthy people I've met! Kind of important on a project like this...

As far as the original design goes, the basic layout of the rooms is pretty much at my end, but the overall design and details of the building was done by a really good architect.

It's only now the building is nearing completion that the extent of the architect's work comes through - there are so many little things I wouldn't have thought of (and wasn't aware of) that just work.

Most of my touring and recording work has been with blues and rock and roll bands - likely no one you've heard of but good stuff all the same :-)

Some more photos of the live room oak frame before the roof goes on...











The roof boarding starts going on




The live room at floor level (with scaffolding above). The opening to the outside will be floor to ceiling glazing...should be some relaxing views!


First part of the insulation going up


Outside, the aircon units are delivered and installed


Hundreds of sheets of rubber (impregnated with lead) are delivered - all of the walls will get covered with this stuff to help with soundproofing


First pic of the control room


Wall insulation


Roof and oak cladding (on this side of the building) complete - busy month!

Not too many photos for August - mostly external works (access, drains, utilities) and roofing...not the most interesting!

Inside, work continued on the soundproofing. This felt pretty relentless. The general construction was OSB board, rock wool between the studs, more OSB board, a decoupling bar and then a layer of 15mm soundboard, rubber mat and two more layers of 15mm sound board, all with staggered joints...


Aircon pipes


Outside, more oak delivered for the cladding

Loads of soundproofing work done this month - plaster boarding nearly completed and external works well underway.

Here's a pic of the live room with plaster boarding completed


and another...with (the requisite) soundboard and rubber matting


The outer shell of the control room - there'll be an internal floating room within this


Roof of the live room receiving its layer of rubber


Looking up from the live room towards the machine room (above the control room)


The machine room


Looking down on the live room from the machine room

Fantastic.

Rimshot-

Beautiful work. Congrats on making it happen.

One question: Why float the floors if you're in a free-standing building on 4 acres?

Best of luck to you as you continue.

Thanks!

Although there's lots of space around the studio, we still have a road that goes by so that's one of the reasons for floating the floors. The main one though is for isolation between rooms.

Thanks for your interest :-)

As well as that combine harvester in the field next door!!

That too :-)

Another busy month (aren't they all...)

The rafters for the oak frame were delivered to site. Although the frame is structural, the rafters aren't (the real rafters are hidden behind layers and layers of soundboard, rock wool and rubber matting...

The plan is to slot Melotech acoustic foam in behind the rafters which should give us our finished ceiling.

sorry for the blurry photos...




Next, we sandblasted the entire oak frame - this gets all of the crap off the wood and also brings the grain out a bit more. We're leaving the oak unsealed so it will look and feel more natural















Outside, plenty of landscaping stuff going on


In the control room, the wall boxes were delivered. These are custom made by Green and Green design


Some of the acoustic boxes were delivered




Lots of 1st fix wiring completed


And the control room is taking shape

All that bare timber looks amazing!...is this all your design Mike?

No, can't take credit there, I'm afraid!

The oak frame is loosely based on a design I saw years ago. Everything else is the work of the whole team - architect and acoustician, builder and family.