Monday, July 17, 2006
ARTS AND CRAFTS
Chris and I made a scale model of our plans for the new Smoke and Mirrors, which will be located very near our current digs.
We drew the room dimensions and filled it with cardboard mock-ups of gear and isolation booths.
It's cool.
I wish we had a camera.
In our new studio James Brown is 6 foot 4, and Jesus is just over 5 feet.
Chris and I made a scale model of our plans for the new Smoke and Mirrors, which will be located very near our current digs.
We drew the room dimensions and filled it with cardboard mock-ups of gear and isolation booths.
It's cool.
I wish we had a camera.
In our new studio James Brown is 6 foot 4, and Jesus is just over 5 feet.
Comments:
That's actually a very good idea what you're doing. Are either of you guys familiar with any CAD programs? They were a big help when I built out my place. If you send me dimensions, I'll crank out some drawings if I can find the disks to my CAD application. It also helps define a bill of materials. I'm pretty sure I've got it hanging around somewhere.
Couple of tips if you can stand my Sally Forth nosiness...
1. The first and most important is to have an agreed upon plan. Adjustments can happen on the fly, but I can recall wasting hours standing around arguing about design related shit that should have been decided over e-mail and the phone. Like you guys are doing already, know where you’re going to put shit and build accordingly.
2. No matter how long it takes (being down), take the time to build it our right, and most importantly, DON’T move in without completing all the work. Store your gear at your apartments if possible until the space is ready. Leaving drywall work, painting, soundproofing undone for a time after you’ve set your gear up is a disaster in the works, plus you need all the room you can afford while doing the actual construction.
3. Draw up a SOLID bill of materials. I mean, try to itemize every fucking nail and screw you can think of and have it DELIVERED all at once. Since you guys are in the city, I’d hit the Home Depot website and get some detail on this. I redid my parents deck last summer and had a huge BOM for it delivered for only a $50 fee. Well worth it! This is so major league important if you want to get the build out done quickly. Most folks forget that running back to Home Depot costs you shitloads of valuable daylight. If you have it all there at your grasp when you start, it’s amazing how much you can get done in a short period of time. I know it sucks forking over all the cash at once, but after a couple of months go by after you’ve moved in, you’ll be so glad you did it this way.
4. Borrow as many tools as you can and take inventory of all you’ve got yourselves. Do you have all the drywall tools you need? If you can borrow it, if not, rent it. A good radial saw will save you tons of time and ensure all joists are cut square and angles are acute. Tools have the same effect on projects now as they did back when we were cavemen, they save a shitload of time. I talked my cheapskate dad into spending an extra $50 to rent a pneumatic framing nailer for the deck job and we finished the whole thing a two man days. No way we’d have gotten it done that fast swinging hammers.
5. Plan where you want you’re A/C outlets to be. Retrofitting these after you’ve moved in blows.
You guys did very well for yourselves at the old space, but it was an incremental environment evolution that was at times painful to upgrade or change. Your goal should be to take it to the next level. A good looking and well functioning space means attracking better clients and is well worth any money you'll spend.
Would love to come up and assist in building Smoke and Mirrors Mach II,: A Jazz Odyssey. I’m out of town next week, but would be more than willing to come up on a long weekend and help you guys knock it out. Let me know if you need or want the help. Plan, plan, plan, plan, plan, and then plan some more. That, and throw shit away.
Couple of tips if you can stand my Sally Forth nosiness...
1. The first and most important is to have an agreed upon plan. Adjustments can happen on the fly, but I can recall wasting hours standing around arguing about design related shit that should have been decided over e-mail and the phone. Like you guys are doing already, know where you’re going to put shit and build accordingly.
2. No matter how long it takes (being down), take the time to build it our right, and most importantly, DON’T move in without completing all the work. Store your gear at your apartments if possible until the space is ready. Leaving drywall work, painting, soundproofing undone for a time after you’ve set your gear up is a disaster in the works, plus you need all the room you can afford while doing the actual construction.
3. Draw up a SOLID bill of materials. I mean, try to itemize every fucking nail and screw you can think of and have it DELIVERED all at once. Since you guys are in the city, I’d hit the Home Depot website and get some detail on this. I redid my parents deck last summer and had a huge BOM for it delivered for only a $50 fee. Well worth it! This is so major league important if you want to get the build out done quickly. Most folks forget that running back to Home Depot costs you shitloads of valuable daylight. If you have it all there at your grasp when you start, it’s amazing how much you can get done in a short period of time. I know it sucks forking over all the cash at once, but after a couple of months go by after you’ve moved in, you’ll be so glad you did it this way.
4. Borrow as many tools as you can and take inventory of all you’ve got yourselves. Do you have all the drywall tools you need? If you can borrow it, if not, rent it. A good radial saw will save you tons of time and ensure all joists are cut square and angles are acute. Tools have the same effect on projects now as they did back when we were cavemen, they save a shitload of time. I talked my cheapskate dad into spending an extra $50 to rent a pneumatic framing nailer for the deck job and we finished the whole thing a two man days. No way we’d have gotten it done that fast swinging hammers.
5. Plan where you want you’re A/C outlets to be. Retrofitting these after you’ve moved in blows.
You guys did very well for yourselves at the old space, but it was an incremental environment evolution that was at times painful to upgrade or change. Your goal should be to take it to the next level. A good looking and well functioning space means attracking better clients and is well worth any money you'll spend.
Would love to come up and assist in building Smoke and Mirrors Mach II,: A Jazz Odyssey. I’m out of town next week, but would be more than willing to come up on a long weekend and help you guys knock it out. Let me know if you need or want the help. Plan, plan, plan, plan, plan, and then plan some more. That, and throw shit away.
With less than a week beofre we're "out on our asses", construction has not yet begun.
I'm curling into a fetal position.
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I'm curling into a fetal position.
