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In a previous post I announced that I (The Music Tech Guy UK) have quietly been building a new studio. I started the process in March, 2024 and moved in in the 3rd week of June, 2024
But for someone that follows me these were the steps that i undertook to get this new studio up and ready of operation.
Ground works
What works? For those no familiar with the term "Ground Works' is the process to prepare the ground for the strucutre that you intend to erect.
There are a number of schools of thought on this subject. The various vendors' basically state that you just need to poor a concreate slab and some actually state what depth this should be!
But actually the depth of the base depends on where you live and the size of the strucutre you are putting on it, in this case my new studio. After talking to the builder that has undertaken alot of the work on the main house we dug out footings to approximately 400mm, poured in 250mm of concrete and then put two course of bricks on top. Then the rest of the slab was poured over a meshed 'rebar' to a depth of approximately 150mm.
As I said how you pour the base is your choice. I did it this way so I could have a thinner centre, with the concrete retained within the brick edge. And while it might have cost a little more than a straight slab pour, the brick edge looks nicer in the setting.
The other thing I should mention is curing time. And this is dependant on the type of concrete that is poured. While 48 hours after pouring you can stand on the slab, you need to give the concrete sufficient time to harden. In my case the builder recomended 7 days, but we actuall gave it 10 days before we started to build the structure.
Building my Log Cabin or New Studio
There are many options for buying or building your external space. I opted for a kit build log cabin as my new studio. This means that a supplier will supply everything off the back of the lorry ready to be errected.
While the supplier stated an all day delivery, they were able to provide an approximate time the day prior to delivery and were here before 10am so we could get a good day at it.
Top Tip: Make sure you have a few friends around as the supplier delivers to the kirb side and there is alot of wood to carry to the installation site!
By the end of the first day we had the shell of the building up, despite it raining most of the day. It then took another day to put the roof on. That was roof boarding that you see internally, the insulation, the felt and trim. So essentially it took two people two days to make the new studio water proof.
It then took 1 person a further 3 days to lay the internal floor, window and door furniture, additional trim and paint it to fit into the garden setting.
The floor was augmented over the floor supplied by the supplier with additional insulation and a second floor made out of 18mm ply. I think that the floor supplied by the supplier would probably have done the job, but it is my intention to have rack cabinets in the new studio and they will put point loads on the floor so the second floor was to allow those loads to be better distributed.
New Studio - Services installed
Of course in order to be useable the new studio needs power and a way to connect to the internet.
I use my electrician to run a new armoured supply into the new studio with a seperate studio fuse box for the new circuits. I also had the internet hard hardwired into the new studio. This was done with armoured cat 6 cable. (And yes this is a thing!)
As you can see we had a plan. Well sort of!
All the power and network cables were intalled in trunking. You don't really need this. But it hides all the wires neatly and also means if I need to extend or move sockets / data points in the future it is really easy to make modifications without damaging the walls.
You can see the second floor clearly in these photos.
New Studio - Carpet
Bare walls and floor will create an echo, so I needed something on the floor to take away the floor reflections. And as the channel colours are Blue and Red. A red carpet it was.
Top Tip: Tell the carpet shop that you are going to be using an office chair and have point loads on the carpet as you will need a more dense underlay to stop you destroing the carpet.
Moving into the New Studio
So still lots to do. And I'll write some more as the configuration evolves. But this is what my New Studio looks like as I am writing this blog. And everything you can see works!
Till next time....
About the Author
Jon describes himself as a frustrated musician with a passion for the electronic instruments that help him and other musicians be creative. He started playing keyboards in his late teens and re-ignited his passion and built a new studio following his seperation.
About the Blog
The Music Tech Guy UK's Blog, Website and YouTube channel were started to share Jon's experiences and views on the industry at large and how these effect the small musician. Plus technical tips how to configure and maintain the equipment he owns.
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