And today, the studio is finished.

Earlier in the week, the last of the wall treatments and the rug arrived, so today I spent a couple of hours getting the last few things arranges and all of the construction tools removed.

I haven’t had a chance to record anything in there yet, but at least I can say that everything is where it needs to be and I’ll be ready to go when I have time.

May 2024 bring about some new musical adventures!

On Wednesday, the flooring was installed, which meant that at last, I could start moving things in, starting with the sofa. On Thursday, the desk arrived, which was a few days sooner than I was expecting, so by the end of the week, things looked like this:

On Friday, I put up the curtains. With all the rain, everything outside is mud, so the more I worked, the more mud got into the studio.

And today, after many weeks of waiting and many decades of looking forward to having my own studio space, I moved all the gear in, including setting up the V-Drums in a left-handed configuration. I’ve always only ever sat down at right handed drum kits, so now I’ll have a chance to properly practice. But I will still need to flip things around if anyone else wants to play.

Still a bit of work to, still some fittings to come, but overall, we are nearly set up and ready to go!

A few deliveries came this week. I wasn’t expecting the ceiling baffles to arrive so quickly, so I spend some time after this morning’s sub-zero temperatures to get them up.

I cleared out some things, preparing for the flooring installation on Wednesday, and now we can see a bit more of what it will become.

Unfortunately, my geometric measuring wasn’t quite perfect, so one of the baffles is about 4 cm off where I meant it to be, but we’ll just call that an artistic choice.

Once the flooring is in, the curtain for the door, the sofa, and the various instrument racks will be ready to go to their new home. I might be looking for a desk tomorrow.

We are very nearly there.

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve shared a progress update on the studio. In general, things have been busy lately (birthdays, events, etc) but that doesn’t meant that progress has stalled.

Today, the wall treatments have mostly been installed. There are a few touches left to do, but they are looking the part and already, there is less of an echo. With the door closed, it’s amazing how still everything feels.

The vinyl flooring will be installed a week from Wednesday. There are some acoustic ceiling treatments and a rug coming. I still need to sort out a curtain for the door. And I keep forgetting that I will need a desk.

I definitely took advantage of the Black Friday deals this week There were a lot of things that I had on my shopping list that suddenly was cheaper than I had been expecting!

More updates to come, but probably after the flooring arrives.

Despite all the rain, the builder’s have completed and it’s over to me now to get the rest of the studio in shape. The grass around it might have pretty much turned to mud, but at least it’s warm and dry inside.

Here is what things looked like yesterday when everything was done and the dogs decided to do a final inspection. They even gave it their stamp of approval:

Today, I sanded down the walls and ceiling (there was a lot of dust, I was covered in it) and began painting. Tomorrow, I work on the ceiling.

Bit by bit, the rest of the interior things are coming in. I’ll share more updates as it takes shape further.

We have a door!

Today’s work saw the addition of all of the drywall inside and the door outside. This was work I thought would be finished on Wednesday, but was completed today.

Tomorrow the lights, the sockets and all things electrical will go in place and then sealing the walls will be complete, which is mostly what remains to be completed from the build.

And of course, the dogs have been the building inspectors throughout this work.

Once the bulk of the work is complete, my next steps will be to do a bit of painting, getting the flooring in place and the internal acoustical treatments. Some of it is on order, but there is an order in which things need to be in place before I can get too far.

The first week of the build is complete. I’m impressed by how quickly things have come together.

I had originally thought that the studio build might take a month or so, so I was surprised to find that we are half way there.

The flooring is complete and the stud walls and insulation all in place. The electrics are set up, ready to be complete once the walls are finished. Next week will see the drywall and some additional soundproofing going in, the door (which is currently wide open) going in place and the electrics being completed.

As you can see, the dogs are loving investigating the place. They’ve also become friends with the builders.

This weekend, I’m looking into some of the finer touches. I’ve chosen new upholstery for the sofa, looking into some acoustic treatments for the walls and ceiling, and what sort of flooring will go in.

I’ll share a few more updates next week. I’m sure the next few images will see more advance from where we are today.

Two days of work have gone into the studio conversion. I didn’t really know how long it would take, so was surprised when the builders said it would be a two week job.

By the end of the first day, a new wall had gone up, entirely closing in the studio space. The walls were then treated with a moisture-proof coating. It was starting to take shape, but I still didn’t know how long it would really take.

But while that seemed a quick development, today, even with all the rain, the new flooring went in and so did the frame for the walls, reading for the next steps of soundproofing.

We are a long way away from the furniture and equipment moving in, but this is quite a bit that has moved forward in just two days.

More updates to come!

Welcome to the first entry of my Studio Diary.

I realise it’s been a while since we had a new blog entry here, but this particular series of blog posts has been a long time in the making.

You see, my foray into the world of sound recording began in the summer of 1993 when, at the age of 15, I borrowed some microphones, various cables and a reel to reel tape unit from my grandfather, set up my own little bedroom recording studio, and began recording every little musical idea I had. Over the years, this grew into a mobile recording unit where I would record live shows, choirs, cathedral organ performances, and sessions for bands.

My set up was mostly mobile, because I never really had a dedicated space to record in, but this gave me the flexibility to allow musicians to choose where they felt they sounded best and recording in a way where the space brought its own character to the music. But I always had dreams of having an empty space I could move into, free to set up however I wanted.

Toward the end of 2007, I worked with a friend to help transform a small outbuilding into a rehearsal and recording studio that we aptly called The Shed, which was the first step I had come toward this dream. Some of the early seeds of Croydon Tourist Office stemmed from there, as this is where Lullaby and the original version of Johnny, Are You an Android were recorded. This is also the home of some of my favourite recording sessions with some Devon based bands, such as Jet Pack Men. Sadly, life gets in the way sometimes and The Shed fell into disuse.

When Epicentre opened, not only did I have a bookshop and cafe, but a performance space. It was there, during a writing workshop, that the idea of setting up Epicentre with microphones and recording the results was born, which is documented in our two Epicentre Nights albums. But while this yielded a lot of music, it wasn’t to last forever.

And all this is why I’m excited that work will begin on setting up this space tomorrow. I’ve spent most of this weekend clearing it out, sweeping it, getting covered in dust so that my hair became many shades lighter.

I’m setting up the space to the same specifications that we had used with The Shed, so the place will be soundproof and any loud noises from within shouldn’t leak out. The final result should be a roughly 5 metre by 3 metre space with an open plan, so I can set it up for music recordings, podcasts, and so much more.

I aim to continue to share updates here of the progress over the next few weeks and I hope to be able to announce some up coming recording sessions here. It’s been a long time since the good folk at the Croydon Tourist Office had a space to come together and record the results of an improv session.

We’ve been a bit quiet for the last year, but that hasn’t meant that we haven’t kept busy.

As the sessions for Take it Easy with Croydon Tourist Office were winding down, we started to delve into some more electronic stylings, as can be heard on the Fabulous EP. Seeing as there was more where that came from, we agreed that the next record would focus on an electronic feel.

And today is the day! We feel that all of the components have gelled in just the right way and the music is ready for your ears. Some of this music we have collectively been working on for more than ten years, where others have been tracks in our collective archives for over twenty years. It is about time for it to see the light of day.

To start with, you can hear the album on our Bandcamp page. It will appear on your streaming service of choice over the next few weeks.