The
story so far...
| Back in the spring of '99
Bri gets an idea. How about if we chuck out the piles of rubbish and broken
furniture that live in the 1 in 12 cellar & build a rehearsal room. He
didn't stop there. How about if the spirit store next door could be turned
into a recording studio! Bloody good idea,but a lot of work & money
would be needed to transform a big blank space into plush, sound-proofed
rooms that wouldn't upset the neighbours when bands rehearsed or recorded
(which has been the problem with rehearsing on the gig floor). Anyway, the
club gave the go ahead so a band of enthusiastic volunteers lurched into
action, armed with more enthusiasm than actual technical knowhow, but hey!
that's what books are for. The first problem was the clear out. People
were forewarned that the case was 'claim it, or lose it' Strangely enough
most of it wasn't claimed. Most was sent to a new home at the local tip,or
at least the stuff that couldn't be used in the construction process. The first
thing that needed doing was to build a wall with a doorway in to actually
make the space into a room. The wall needed to stretch from the lift shaft
to the outside wall, a distance of about 12-13 feet (the actual room is
approximately 20x10Õ). Thing is, only Andy had any expertise in building
walls, so it took about the same time to build as it took Hadrian to complete
his. Other members helped out with the fund raising side of things. We
had to pay for the bricks and cement so raffles, benefit gigs and meals
were organised to get people to part with their hard earned. Finally the
wall was done and the door frames were put in,(easier said than done I
might add),We purchased doors and timber from a reclaimers yard (ecologically
sound & cheap) Shelving was built in the space between the spirit store
and rehearsal room. Andy started to brick up the window and big beams were
bolted around the walls to accommodate the proposed false ceiling. Next
up was building the frames onto the walls to hold the plaster board. We
had found a load of scrapped acoustic tiles in a skip which we nailed
to the existing ceiling, plus they doubled as a type of gasket to isolate
the timbers from the wall to reduce sound travelling up through the brickwork
(see,we've been reading up). The whole construction time was speeded up
after we loaned a load of power tools of members. The sight of us trying
to saw huge timbers with the sub standard tools we had to hand would make
you want to cry, or laugh at least. At last it isn't like watching Laurel
and Hardy try build a studio. We were running short on timber when a demolition
site was spotted, so some timber was acquired and construction carried on
at pace. The beams for the false ceiling plasterboard were installed. This
was pretty inspiring as the space was starting to take on the appearance
of a room rather than a big,messy space. This was really brought home when
the first pieces of plaster board were nailed up over the bricked up window.
The whole structure is having rock-wool installed behind the plasterboard
as a sound instillation. This was finished in February. At last the end
looks in sight. The most recent developments are that two parts of the
ceiling plasterboard is up but the delay is we're waiting to get some sound
dampening insulation in and it will be easier to install that with a big
gap rather than crawl through a trapdoor and we don't have the money to
buy all we need for the whole loft space at present The second door is
in the process of being hung. This goes a few inches from the first one
and will be heavily insulated as the door is a real problem area for noise
leakage (or so the book says...) The back wall is next on the hit list
for a insulated wall. wall.When this is done it's going to give us the chance
to install the raised floor for the drums,which will be cunningly fashioned
from pallets and chip board and covered with a carpet,all found thrown
out on the street, but all perfect for our needs. The Wombles have nothing
on us. I predict the rehersal room to be up and running by the end of april,
then the work can start on the actual studio/ mixing room. We need recording
equipment still (though we have some items and money earmarked) but hopefully
the rehearsal money will help fund buying stuff.
Watch this space... |
The early stages
of the practice room...
More early
stages of the practice room...
|
