Another Baffle for the Home Studio

Earlier this year I had the priviledge of helping some clients convert part of their home into a home studio.  This was no ordinary conversion either- we vaulted ceilings, added lots of mineral wool insulation, and then built enough acoustical treatments to make a room inside the room.  It was a blast.  (See these posts).

Anyway, they called me again today to build a couple more baffles to stick in the corners to help absorb more of the low end frequencies in the control room downstairs. 

The majority of the baffles were made out of a wood frame around mineral wool insulation that is covered with acoustical fabric.  These are hung from the ceiling to absorb reflections and hopefully help the engineer get an accurate impression of the recording.

To fight those pesky low frequencies, I took 4" thick mineral wool insulation and built a small frame with some 1x2 that would go on the back.  This would offer some support, but mainly I needed a place to staple the fabric.  At this thickness, the insulation will basically stand on it's own in the corner.

I put these in each corner behind the baffles I had previously made.  I'm not an acoustic engineer, but my client tells me that the lower frequencies should get trapped in the airspace behind the new thick insulation and hopefully reduce the boomy low end and make it clearer.

Right.  I just built the baffles and installed them.  He says it sounds better.  That works for me!  :)

-Peter

http://www.carpentryguy.com/

Installing a Simple Light Fixture

The other day I was installing some light fixtures for the studio I was working on in Brentwood. Installing a light fixture is not (usually) a difficult project, but can be one of the most rewarding and effective ways of updating a room's decor.

The first step is always to locate the correct circuit breaker and make sure the power is off to this circuit. I like to double check this with my tester as well as making sure the switch is off.

With the power off, I stripped the wires back (FIG. 1) and unpacked the light. They will usually come with all the hardware and screws that you will need for a typical installation, that is, except easy-to-understand instructions. :)

The next step was to install the mounting bar (FIG. 2) that screws into the electrical box. There is a threaded post in the center that will slide through the light's back plate and then get a nut to hold the light in place.

With the mounting bar ready, it's time to make the electrical connections (FIG. 3). For a basic installation, this is pretty simple. There are three wires in both the box and light fixture: black (or hot), white (or neutral), and the copper wire which is the ground.

I like to connect the ground wire first. On the mounting bar is a small green screw. This is where you attach both of the ground wires. I like to twist them together first and then tighten them around the screw.

Next, I connect the white wires together with a wire nut. (These are often provided, if not, they are available at any hardware store.) Then, I do the black wires. That's it for the connections. You want them to be good and tight so that they won't come loose.

At this point, I gently push the wire connections further into the box and slide the light fixtures base over the mounting post. This is threaded so that you can adjust it to make the fixture tight to the wall. Put the nut on to hold it there.

Next, all I needed was a light bulb and then I could finish the installation. This was a wall light so the shade just hung from the light's base. With ceiling fixtures there are often small screws to hold things together.

These particular fixtures were handmade out of cherry wood in Montana by a company called Cherry Tree Design. They look great!

Different installations may include variations on this basic process, but it's not usually much more difficult than that.

-Peter

http://www.carpentryguy.com/

Cutting a Wide Angel Bevel on the Miter Saw

This studio project that I've been working on has presented many opportunities for me to learn new skills and use new tools. The basic room was fairly normal, but on top of the finished walls I built acoustical baffles that basically covered every wall throughout the recording space. In addition, many of them were installed at weird angles so that no major surfaces were parallel to each other.

The baffles were 2x4 frames that had sturdy acoustical insulation hung inside (so it can swing freely) and then we covered the frames with acoustical fabric. (Seriously, this stuff is not cheap!) After all the baffles were built and secured to the walls, we covered them with wood slats, alternating soft pine and harder red oak. The goal was not to just absorb all of the sound, but rather to control it better.

Here's a picture:

It's hard to see in the picture, but the corner pieces are slightly angled to cut off the corners of the room, and hopefully eliminate 'bass traps'. It looks great, but when it came time to finish the trim, we realized that the correct angle to make the piece fit perfectly was 60 degrees. My compound miter saw, like most, will only go to around 50 or so unless you hold the board perpendicular to it, which is difficult and dangerous when you're talking about a bevel cut.

After much thought, we came up with a solution that actually worked well. I made a jig that holds the board at a 15 degree angle to the saw. That way, we can bevel at 45 degrees and end up with the 60 degree angle that we needed. Here's the jig that we dubbed the 'sailboat' because it looked like a toy boat or something:

It even worked for cutting boards that were 8 foot long or more, if I had someone hold the other end for me. Of course some cuts weren't as accurate as I would have liked, but in the end, it looked really sharp.

Another wall needed an even wider angle and I was worried that we might be out of luck. However, we were able to add a higher piece to our boat, a.k.a. the 'sail', and it worked fine, although it was really pushing my saw to the max!

TIP: For cutting wide angles across the face of the boards (not a bevel cut) I was able to temporarily screw another piece on the side of the board so that there would be more width at the end to square against the saw's fence. The worked great and I had a lot of these to cut once we got to the higher baffles where the surface angled as well as the ceiling. The main thing to remember is to think things through completely before you cut. Otherwise, you might be doing it again!

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Studio Soundproofing- Automatic Door Bottoms

Yesterday was the day to install the door 'gaskets' for the entry into a home studio project that I've been working on for a few months. The idea is to block as much sound coming in or out of the studio as possible.

The 'gasket' is similar to fancy weatherstripping for an exterior door. The most difficult part of the installation is to mortise the cavity for the 'automatic door bottom'. This is a product from Zero International that goes along the bottom of the door and actually has a lever that drops it to the floor as the door closes.

We had discussed several ways to make the 1" wide and 1 5/8" deep hole that extends the width of the door bottom. In the end I used my circular saw with a rip fence to accurately make several cuts then I used a wood chisel to clean out the hole. It actually went quicker than I expected and the hardware fit perfectly.

A small brass knob sticks out of one end. As the door closes, it hits the door jamb and drops the seal to the floor. It's adjustable so you change the drop depending on the gap that you have. After I took this picture I installed the cover plates to make the end look pretty.

In addition to the door bottoms I installed the thresholds and strips along all the edges. In the end the doors will be sealed tightly and ready for rock 'n roll!

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com