EXPECTED LAUNCH DATE: APRIL 2011

After over a year in the making, Radar Studios will be opening it's doors in April, 2011!  Please check back and stay in touch for a complete gear list, engineers who will be working here, our past clients and discographies along with plenty of other fun details. 

Below, you'll find a ton of photos along with descriptions of the complete studio build to date.  I plan on doing my best to keep up with this blog as we add more and continue work on the studio.

cleaning up and moving in

I finally started getting the live room organized in order to make a usable space and figure out where to build iso rooms, floating drum floor, etc.  In the control room I've put a refurbished iMac, a found desk chair and coffee table, and a used couch from Craigslist.  most gear will be used / modded / b-stock / refurbished to maintain the sustainable aesthetic.  A full gear list to come soon, as I'm still buying and installing things.  Photos taken the last week of January 2011.

bass traps!

Between snow storms, James Dunham and I designed the bass traps and built them using recycled wood and spray foam.  I hung them all over the next few days and installed all the trim in the control room as well. Mid January, 2011.

a mess, a snowstorm, trim and bass traps

the snowstorm really slowed me down and the mess started to pile up.  I did manage to get all the trim cut and painted. January 2011

more painting

I finished painting, stained all the wood black and polyurethaned everything with low VOC products.  The desk was built with a found countertop that I sanded and refinished.  These photos were taken the first week of January 2011.

sheet rocking, mudding, flooring, lighting

when i got home, I went right to work on 'finishing' everything.  once again my father stepped in to help with the flooring because I had no idea how to do it.  I went on to finish the dry walling, install lights and start painting.  all the wood used was reused and I mixed together leftover cans of paint until i arrived at colors I liked.  these photos were taken the last week of December, 2010.

more exterior

once again, Constants was on tour in Europe.  in my absence, and as a 'christmas gift' my father stepped in and took care of the siding.  Along with the help of Skittles and James, he got all the siding up, and two of the interior walls and ceiling were all sheet rocked by the time I got home.  an awesome christmas present for sure! these photos were taken the last week of November, 2010.

spray foam insulation installation

Up next came insulation.  I opted for environmentally friendly, incredibly efficient spray foam.  it is made partially of soy products and seals even the smallest areas, so it stays warm in the winter and cool in the summer.  All interior walls and ceilings were covered with 4-8 inches, and the entire underside of the studio space was covered with another 8 inches.  I saved all the scraps to build into bass traps, gobos and diffusors.  These photos were taken in October 2010.

at this point, Constants went on tour and I was lucky enough to be able to call in a "professional favor" because to be honest some of this stuff is way over my head.  James Salls came in, figured out the pitch of the roof, installed the ceiling beams, plywood and roof.  He works so quick he then came in and finished the wall between the control room and live room. 

When we got home, I set out to rewire all the electric in the building, trying to foresee my needs.  All the plugs are properly grounded, the lights are on separate circuits and there is plenty of power throughout the building.  This was really tricky for me because up until that point the most complex wiring I had done was install light fixtures and change plugs. these photos were taken early October, 2010.

control room build

With the help of my dad, Jonny, Joe, Ed, Rob, Dan and Marc we managed to lay the floor and get three walls up in 2 days.  Jonny also helped install the doors between the live room and the garage space. These pictures were taken the first weekend of August 2010.

up goes the wall, in go the footings

I called in my cousin Ed to help figure out how to put up and attach a wooden wall in a metal building.  Along with Ed's brother Joe, we worked through some brutal heat and managed to get it finished in one day.  I was also getting supplies for the control room - which was to be bumped out from the original barn.  I spend two days installing plywood on the wall with the help of my father and my cousin Mike.  Orion, Rob and I knocked out the exterior (rotting) window that was in our way and along with the help of my father and an auger, we poured footings for the new addition.  These photos were taken the last week of July, 2010.

Inside & Outside

This is inside and outside of the barn - untouched, as we bought it.  Notice the beautiful wood floors, because they are the only things that stayed in tact.  The wall paneling was all taken down to be reused, and the workshop style fluorescent lighting was taken down too.  All the half - installed foam insulation was taken down.  It's the the same stuff that was used at the club in Providence that burned down a few years back: unsafe, and offered next to ZERO sound absorption.  I opted to 'cut' the barn in half and build a wall to divide the studio live room with wood flooring from the concrete floor that remains as a garage.    These photos were taken in March 2010.