THE STUDIO: Part Two-G: DURING CONSTRUCTION

NEXT CAME THE MIDDLE- OR (OUT OF) CONTROL ROOM

The middle -or control- room also came with its own 8 foot long window that connected it to the adjacent shop. Back in the day the room was a hair salon, the propriator would open the two long windows- one on each side of the little business- by raising hinged shutters on each window. This allowed cooling breezes to flow through. I filled the middle room's window with paneling and caulk, then foam board faced with foil/aluminum. But that still left a 4-5 inch cavity to fill. So I built sound traps/ bass traps out of plywood, thick carpet foam scraps, very thick foam rubber found in a roll, and fiberglass on the edges to give it form, all covered with a bright red fabric I also found in the attic. I liked the color so much I painted the door and room's refrigerator the same color! After finishing the two sound attenuators, I had another long piece of plywood, some standard foam, and fabric left over. So I built a large sound attenuator and hung it over the "bar" area. (I soon moved it to behind the drums.)

I added a small air conditioner (with a pretty noisy and useless ability to serve as a heater) to where a small window once had been. I had a friend come over and help me install three electric outlets. I had already hired an electric company to safely install five wall outlets, a motion sensing outside light, a GFI outside outlet, two fan/light ceiling boxes, and a circuit box to the rehearsal room ($500).

Also added to the middle room were carpet and a good, thick pad for the uneven concrete floor. I also installed ceiling tiles.

Then I added two sets of track lights to the ceiling.

I realized I needed a better source of heat, so I got a flat panel heater that could go on the wall and installed it. It works great! I put a piece of sheet metal between it and the wall because that tongue and groove paneling is probably 60 years old, dry and quite flammable.