Last month the lab experienced upheaval in the form of a major remodel. The ergonomics of the space had left much to be desired. As work began on the Twelve Full Moons album in January of 2011, I needed somewhere to mount the two Hewlett Packard sine wave generators that I planned to use on the album. I had a large metal rack that was sitting in a shed and it was pressed in to service and placed to the left of the desk in the room. Things got out of hand from there and over the next year it grew to four 45 U rack units. More is more!
This effectively placed a wall down the middle of the 11ft x 12ft room. The resulting space was cramped and offered limited camera placement options for making videos. So there was only one thing to do. Start over.
This effectively placed a wall down the middle of the 11ft x 12ft room. The resulting space was cramped and offered limited camera placement options for making videos. So there was only one thing to do. Start over.
Over the course of a week and half in June the room was stripped back to the walls. This became a day in, day out grind of 14 to 16 hours days. All of the gear was piled and stacked in four other rooms. The old carpet was removed, walls patched and painted, wallpaper added to the north wall, a new laminate floor put down and some vintage metal cabinets from an actual lab were installed. The result feels much more spacious.
Behind the racks of gear there are storage shelves and a peg board wall for hanging various tools and cables.
Behind the racks of gear there are storage shelves and a peg board wall for hanging various tools and cables.
One thing that I sorely lacked before was storage space for all of those little odds and ends that you acquire over time. Microphones, noise makers, and effects that are used as needed. The minty green cabinets solved that problem and only required a new countertop from Ikea. At 37 inches tall they are designed to be used in a standing position. The plan was to create a standing workspace from the start. The exact placement of gear on the counter and in the racks is undergoing almost daily modification while the layout is fine tuned. The recent addition of two rack units for mounting DotCom synth modules requires some rethinking about what goes where. There is also the problem of several other pieces of old test gear that are still being repaired and made rack ready. Things may be in a state of flux for some time.
The west wall of the lab is where I am working on a design for a Mobile Command Center. The idea is to bundle the least amount of gear to make the maximum amount of sound in a portable system. When the layout is finalized a custom cabinet will be made to house it all. This is where the new EMW-200 will be at the center of things along with the Eico generator and SP-404 sampler.
On the other side of the lab I now have room for my Eames chairs. This is where I will do editing on the only computer allowed in the space. It is a very inspiring place to relax with a cup of coffee and a bad tempered chihuahua. The view of the MPS 9000 Command Center constantly spinning off new ideas... "what if I plugged that in to that!?" I expect many of those questions will be answered as work begins on a new album in the month ahead.
RSS Feed
