A Long List of Compromises - new music space

[Drew Stephenson]

Chapter whatever: of progress and impediments...

Working on the wide diffusers for the back wall.
Step 1, cut, plane and sand wood:


Step 2, cut to random size, tidy with rasp, and layout to confirm backplate size:


Step 3, realise that you've forgotten to factor that you're creating two plates and have therefore only done half the requisite cutting, planing, sanding and rasping.

Step 4, buy more wood and repeat step one:


18 meters in total, if you're interested...

Step 5, cut to size and split for two boards:


Step 6, decide things are going too well so trap finger in car door and half-sever the tip.


Step 7, glue blocks to back boards:


Step 8, add a bit of trimming and mounting plate:


Step 9, read wall diffusion complete:


And that actually completes the main build and treatment.
I just need to build a cabinet for the computer now and then we're back up and running for recording and mixing. After that there are a few cosmetic jobs like some nice lights and the nameplate for the front, but a) they don't affect the use of the room and b) I can clear all the tools out of the room and do that work in the garage.

[Folderol]

Yay!
So when is the grand opening?

[Drew Stephenson]

Well, the cabinet build will probably take a couple of days - longer since I've decided to paint it actually. And I've got a couple of weekends coming up that I can't dedicate to this (shocking I know), so I'd guess we're still a month away. Allow time for me to balls things up again a couple of times, and Life to stick its oar in, say, end of March?

[Wonks]

Do the diffusers make any obvious difference?

[Eddy Deegan]

Step 6, decide things are going too well so trap finger in car door and half-sever the tip.

Yikes - given my primary instrument this sort of thing terrifies me. Lovely work on the diffusers but more to the point, be careful Drew! I hope it heals well and fast

[Eddy Deegan]

Do the diffusers make any obvious difference?

They look lovely, so from an aesthetic viewpoint I'd say yes

[Drew Stephenson]

No idea on the diffusers. When I was reading the audio handbook and doing the maths it was borderline with a room of this size. But I've probably got about 24 square feet of diffusion there (counting the rest of the bookcase and the diffuser/absorber bit) so it should be enough to make a difference, if only slightly.
I've not yet done any kind of critical listening in the room as it's still more like a carpenter's workshop than a music studio so we'll wait and see.

But yes, I think they look nice.

[Martin Walker]

Oh most tasteful diffusers - like a pair of miniature skyscraper cities.

Bravo that man!

Martin

[Drew Stephenson]

I think they're the only thing I've made that my other half actually likes the look of.

[Folderol]

I think they're the only thing I've made that my other half actually likes the look of.

be careful... they may disappear

[Drew Stephenson]

Not that much!

Not a lot of progress on the cabinet today but on the positive side the finger is healing up nicely.

[ManFromGlass]

You're not supposed to pull it that hard . .

[Drew Stephenson]

Ba dum tsh!

[MOF]

sync errors can also be caused by the viewing equipment, particularly if you take audio from a TV to reproduce via a hifi system or external 'sound bar' as so many do.

I listen to 99% of TV on the built in speakers. Occasionally I’ll fire up the hi-fi but it’s an analogue connection and doesn’t cause delay issues.
The rest of the programmes are in sync’ it just seems to be archival material that’s not correctly synchronised.
A mate of mine recently bought an OLED 4k TV and sound bar and there are issues.

[Drew Stephenson]

Whisper it, but I think I'm almost done...

[Folderol]

Oh dear. Didn't anyone tell you? A D.I.Y. project is never actually finished

[Drew Stephenson]

Oh I've still got some nice lights and nameplate to make, don't worry, it's only for a given definition of 'done'.
What I won't have any excuses for is not finishing off my various projects.
Anyway, I'll 'finish' it tomorrow and post some rough sample recordings. Proper ones will follow in due course along with some REW measurements.

[Drew Stephenson]

The last job was building a cabinet for the computer.
Ends and sides:

Add some left-over acoustic plasterboard for mass:

Glue and press:

Make a box:

Opening front end:

Handle and panel clips:

Lick of paint, wheels and clips:

Ready to go in:

[Drew Stephenson]

Still a bit of tidying up to do but here we go:







But how does it sound?

[Logarhythm]

Looks great, Drew

[Folderol]

Looks good.
Now you need to invite people in to assess the performance and usability.
This should be a range from highly experienced mix engineers like Eddie, to laymen like... um... Me
{This latter group to simply go Ooo, and Ahh at appropriate moments}

[Wonks]

I must say that a computer using 300-500W of power in a small thermally insulated enclosure with no ventilation isn't going to work for very long before achieving meltdown.

[Drew Stephenson]

It really doesn't seem to run that hot actually. It was in a closed cabinet before and had no issues. If it does start playing up I can always add some additional vents on the back board and stick a little fan in the enclosure.

[Drew Stephenson]

So here's how the empty shell sounded:
https://youtu.be/pJnGeDsly6M
here's how it sounds singing to the 'live' end:
https://youtu.be/t2iIhiyjm6A
And here's how it is singing to the dead end with the baffling moved and the duvet down:
https://youtu.be/7c4hKBWk6Ac

[Sam Spoons]

That sound's a tad better Drew