SAE London date: 08/02/2010

Major Project Proposal
How to construct an eco-friendly professional recording Studio?

Aurélien Folie
ID: 14574
Course AD1109

I hereby declare that I wrote this proposal on my own and without the use of any other than the cited sources and tools. All explanations that I copied directly or in their sense are marked as such. Moreover, that comparison has not yet been handed in neither in this nor in equal form at any other official commission.

Word count: 2,088

Table of Content

Abstract 3
Introduction 4
Rationale 5
Why have I chosen to study this subject? 5
Why is this subject relevant for the Music Industry 5
How will this project contribute to my knowledge and expertise in its field? 6
Literature Search 7
Resources found: 7
Contact taken: 9
Methodology 10
Resources 12
Project Timeline 14
Bibliography 15
Appendix: Timeline and task breakdown 16

Abstract

The project proposed here is an explanation of how to construct an eco-friendly professional recording Studio. It will deal with the particularities of eco-friendly construction and installation applied to the recording studio. The project will explore the possibilities of eco-friendly sonic insulation methods and materials, the ecological solutions for the acoustic treatment of the studio, and the particular needs of renewable energy in the recording studio. I’ve chosen this subject because I think it is important to adapt the audio industry to the concept of protection of the environment, and because creating an eco-friendly recording studio is one of my projects. It is important to do this research for the industry because the protection of the environment is beginning to take an important part of the discussion and the criterium of choice of governments, major industries and customers. It is also, in my point of view, important to think of the protection of the planet and the resources used to produce energy. The project will be a Bachelor of Arts of 14,000 words in length (± 10%). The research will start on the 12th of March, and the project will be submitted before the 29th of October. It will last 600 hours, dispatched in 231 days maximum.

Introduction

The protection of the environment is a subject at the centre of a lot of discussions nowadays. Most of the industries are trying to find ways to reduce their energy consumption and to limit their use of polluting substances. The Music industry feels not yet really concerned by this. There is no particular reason for this, from what I have found.
Is it possible to create an entirely eco-friendly recording studio? And if it is possible, how can it be done? These are the two questions to be studied in this project.
The idea of this final project is to find some possible ways to build an eco-friendly recording studio, focusing on the characteristics of eco-friendly construction and eco-friendly energy applicable to a recording studio. This study will not be about eco-friendly construction in general nor the building of a recording studio. These two aspects, even if they are important for the realisation of an eco-friendly recording studio, have been studied before by many researchers. Some of these studies will be listed in a further reading section so as to enable the reader to find them easily.
The project will be a Bachelor of Arts. I chose this because the subject deals more with the realisation of a recording studio, a place to produce music, than the science and the technologies applied to the construction and to ecological construction and development. Moreover, this research project is meant to be written as a guide to ecological building applied to the construction of a recording studio. As a guide, it is addressed to everyone. Therefore, I do not want to be restricted to speaking only of scientific subjects, in a scientific development. These reasons made me choose to do this project as a Bachelor of Arts rather than a Bachelor of Science.

Rationale

Why have I chosen to study this subject?

I have chosen to study this subject because I am concerned by ecology and the respect of the environment. I think that it is important to take care of the planet, and that every field of every industry is concerned by the protection of the environment. I think that it is possible to find a way to transform the music and film industry (precisely the sound part) from an industry consuming a lot of non-eco-friendly energy into an industry using less energy generally and more eco-friendly energy.
I have chosen to study this subject because I have the project of creating an entirely eco-friendly post-production, recording and mixing studio. This study will be the starting point of this project. I will use it to know the feasibility of this project and to find what can be eco-friendly, how this aspect has to be treated in the creation of the studio, and the extra-cost of the eco-friendly realisation.

Why is this subject relevant for the Music Industry

Nowadays, one of the key aspects in the evolution of most industries is eco-friendly development. This aspect is slowly finding its way into the music industry. More and more solar panel powered recording studios are being created around the world (around 5 professional studios in 2009). Some of them are constructed using recycled and eco-friendly materials where it is possible, but none of them is entirely eco-friendly.
As it is starting to become a field of investigation for the music industry, I found it important to study why no studios are entirely eco-friendly, whether it is possible to construct an eco-friendly studio, and how it is possible to do it.
This subject is also relevant to the music industry because eco-friendly development is often used by different industries for marketing purposes in addition to the respect of the environment. It could be interesting for the professional studios to find new appealing aspects in order for them to contend with the decrease of work request caused by the generalisation of the use of home studios. The marketing aspect will not be studied in this project.

How will this project contribute to my knowledge and expertise in its field?

I have previously studied eco-friendly construction for a project in high school, and I have studied one of the important aspects of the creation of a recording studio (acoustic treatment and sonic isolation) in a study on the acoustic treatment of a cinema theatre during my diploma at the SAE institute Paris. The study of the methods needed to create an eco-friendly recording studio will allow me to combine these two studies, and to improve my knowledge in these two fields in order to be able, once I have the occasion, to make my project of building an eco-friendly post-production and recording studio a reality.

Literature Search

Resources found:
Alton Everest F. 2001, Master Handbook of Acoustics, 4th edition, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Acoustic treatment for live room, listening room, Control room, Control of Interfering noise, Air conditioning choice, noise absorption coefficient of materials.
To use for all usual acoustic study.
Cox T.J., D'Antonio P. 2003, 'Engineering art: the science of concert hall acoustics', INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE REVIEWS, Vol 28, Issue 2, pp. 119-129.
Study of the acoustic treatment of concert halls. Worked also on a lot of diffusers application, Absorbers, natural noise control… => http://www.acoustics.salford.ac.uk/res/cox/
Plug for reverberation calculation: VRML Plug => Cortona VRML Client
Daniels K. 1994, The technology of ecological building: basic principles and measures, examples and ideas, Birkhauser Verlag.
British Library, University College London. Too old?
Basic principles of ecological construction
E-con, No Date, E-con, Developping the sustainable Future [online], Available from: http://www.ecological-construction.com/intro.htm [Accessed: 13.1.2010].
Ecological constructor of houses. Possible to find good advices and informations about construction
Ecological Building Network, No Date, Ecological Building Network: Papers from the First International Conference on Ecological Building Structure [online], Available from: http://www.ecobuildnetwork.org/resources.htm [Accessed: 13.1.2010].
Papers about different building methods: Bamboo constructions, Hybrids materials, insulations
Evergroove Studio No Date, Solar Powered Recording Studio [online], Available from: http://www.evergroove.com/green.htm [Accessed: 13.1.2010].
USA solar powered recording studio
Green Building Webring, No Date, Promoting energy efficient, healthy and sustainable building [online], Available from: http://www.newbuilder.co.uk/webring/ [Accessed: 13.1.2010].
List of ecological construction websites
Bioregional website: Footprint clculator
zed Factory: eco-friendly material factory
ask contact in case of questions
Rainharvesting: rainwater collection products, case study…
Forever Green: Ecological architects
AECB: standards of constructions
Sustainable homes: Guides for house constructions… => resources
Old house store: store for eco-friendly materials
Possible to find prices of materials
Navitron: shop for energy materials (solar panels, wind turbine…)
The house planner: give informations about house construction and renovation.
Hall K. 2008, Green Building Bible, Vol 1&2, Green Building Press, Llandysul.
Everything about green building…
Not old: 2008
British Library
Harland E. 1993, Eco-renovation: the ecological home improvement guide, 3rd Edition, Green Books.
British Library. Too old?
Renovation of buildings in an eco-friendly way, environmental issues, self-building, environmental remodeling and reconstruction. Materials, methods and advices for eco-friendly constructions. Renovations and construction. More complete than factpack
Really interesting!!
Kibert C.J. 1999, Reshaping the Built Environment: Ecology, Ethics, and Economics, Island Press, Washington DC.
Environmental superior building from birth to death => p259 might be interesting: possible life cycles to develop eco-friendly materials in different fields (construction, automobile…)
Environmentally responsible building materials selection => p117 might be interesting: life cycle of products and interest of recycled products
Introduction to renewable energy technologies => p89 interesting: description of every renewable energy
British Library
Morgan C. Stevenson F. 2005, 'Design and Detailing for Deconstruction', SEDA Design guides for scotland, London, Vol 1, pp. 1-68.
Details for ecological construction => construction, deconstruction and improvement. Seems really well wrote
Morgan C. 2006, 'Design and Detailing for Airtightnes', SEDA Design guides for scotland, London, Vol 2, pp. 1-62.
Details for ecological construction => air circulation. Seems really well wrote
Newell P.R. 2007, Recording studio design, 2nd Edition, Focal Press.
British library => first edition hard copy, second edition electronic.
Construction and acoustic treatment of a recording studio
O.L. 2007, A Young Person’s Guide to Ecological Studios [online], Architexts 3, pp 60 to 67, Available from: http://www.fourthdoor.org/pdfs/2.16.pdf [Accessed: 13.1.2010].
Examples of constructions: the Box studio, Greenpeace mobile recording studio…
PDF downloaded.
Find Author name!
Pocock R., Gaylard B. 1992, Ecological Building factpack, Tangent Design.
British Library. A little to old, take care?
Materials, methods and advices for eco-friendly constructions.
Really interesting. Completing Eco-Renovation
Technical Advice 2009, Technical Advice Audio and Visual Design and Installation [online], Available from: http://www.technicaladvice.co.uk/ [Accessed: 13.1.2010].
Advices providers about recording studio design and acoustic treatment. Sound proofing, acoustic, ventilation specs, wiring design…
Winer E. 2008, Acoustic Treatment and Design for Recording Studios and Listening Rooms [online], Available from: http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html [Accessed: 13.1.2010].
Explanation of how to treat acoustically a recording studio, by the director of RealTraps, an acoustic materials manufacturer.
He is doing a lot of things “just for fun”… reliability??

Contact taken:
The premises,
First UK studio completely working with solar panel: To visit and ask questions
xlacoustics,
Acoustic material constructor: to ask questions
RealWorld record Studio
Ecofriendly construction according to fourth door: to visit and ask questions

Methodology

This research will be based on the gathering of data from two different fields:
the methods of construction of a professional recording studio
The ecological and eco-friendly methods of construction.
The data will be gathered from books and reliable articles online, but also from interviews of people involved in one or the other field, and some key interviews from people involved in both fields like the manager of The Premises studio. Then all data collected will be synthesised and analysed in order to write an analysis of the feasibility and the methods available to build an eco-friendly professional recording studio. This project will be based on data collection instead of practical experimentation because the data are possible to find, they just need to be gathered together, and the practical experimentation (building an eco-friendly professional recording studio) would take too much time, too much money, and far more than 600 hours.

The plan of the written analysis can be:
- An analysis of the possible sonic insulation used in the construction
- The possibility of the replacement of concrete with a material having the same absorbing properties for the sound
- The possibilities of ecological insulation
- A study of the eco-friendly possibility of acoustic treatment for the different rooms
- The existing materials which can be considered as eco-friendly
- The possibilities of creating new eco-friendly materials
- A study of the use of ecological energy
- The electricity supply, and the possible problems with the audio equipment electric requirements
- The possible choice for equipment using less energy, and though the study of the energy consumption of this equipment

This plan is subject to change as the research is done to add relevant parts that I have not yet found, or to withdraw parts I thought relevant for this study, and which appear not to be.

Resources

The resources needed for this research project are data in the two fields treated: ecological and eco-friendly construction and the methods of construction of professional recording studios. These informations can be found on the internet and in the British Library. Therefore, a pass to the British Library is needed.
In addition to these data, some interviews of people working in one or both fields treated have to be done. In order to do these interviews, people working in the ecological construction, such as architects, have to be found and contacted. People in the acoustic treatment industry and involved in the construction of recording studios have also to be found and contacted. Finally, people having constructed eco-friendly recording studios such as The Box studio (Real world Records) and The Premises have to be contacted.
It is also important to visit eco-friendly and ecological constructions, and eco-friendly recording studios in order to see the methods used, the problems encountered and resolved, and the ones still unresolved.
In order to do these interviews and visits, transport has to be found.

The time allowed for the research project, the 600 hours, will be separated in two:
- 350 hours for the research, divided into:
- 140 hours for the reading of the books (time to go to the British Library has to be taken into account even if it is not part of the 600 hours of work, as well as the time for the requested items to be delivered, between 70 minutes and two days),
- 140 hours for the reading of the online sources,
- 55 hours for the summary of the data gathered
- 15 hours for the preparation of the four interviews and the time for the interviews and the two visits (here also, time has to be taken into account to travel to the place to be visited or the point of interview).
- 250 hours for the writing, divided into:
- 20 hours to plan, prepare word count
- 100 hours to write the first draft
- 15 hours for the proofreading, formatting and correction of the first draft (time for another person to proofread the first draft has to be taken into account, it is not included in the 600 hours)
- 80 hours to write the final draft
- 15 hours for the proofreading and the formatting (time for two other people to proofread the final draft has to be taken into account, it is not included in the 600 hours)
- 20 hours for the final correction, the printing and the binding (time for the paper to be printed and for the travel to the binding place has to be taken into account. It will not be part of the 600 hours).

The actual timeline and it's explanation will be provided in the next part.

Project Timeline

The project is to be handed over at the end of October 2010.
The weeks counted in this timeline start each Friday, the day of submission of the assignments at SAE London.
The work for this project, as described in the previous part, is distributed over 33 weeks, and therefore 231 days. These 231 days are separated into two parts:
154 days (22 weeks) of none-dedicated work to the final project. This means 22 weeks with 16 hours of work for the final project (2h40min per day and one day off) These weeks will be from the 12th of March to the 13th of August. The rest of the possible working time will be dedicated to other assignments.
70 days (10 weeks) of dedicated work to the final project. This means 10 weeks with 42 hours of work for the final project (7h per day and one day off). In those 10 weeks, 5 of them are left free before the deadline in case of issues and delays.
The week left is a week of holiday. Two other holiday weeks are scheduled during each proofreading (one for the first draft and one for the final draft).
A spreadsheet and a table showing how the work will be distributed in all those weeks are included in the appendixes.

The milestones of the project are:
- 12th of March : Start of the project
- 26th of April: Start planning for the first draft
- 7th of May: Start writing detailed structure of parts, ideas, examples for the first draft
- 11th of June: Start writing the first draft
- 28th of July: Finish writing the first draft
- 9th of August: Start writing the final draft
- 20th of August: Finish the research
- 6th of September: Finish writing the final draft
- 25th of September: Print, bind, check and submit the final project.

Bibliography

Booth W.C., Colomb G.G., Williams J.M. 2008, The Craft of Research, 3rd edition, The University of Chicago Press, USA.
Evergroove Studio No Date, Solar Powered Recording Studio [online], Available from: http://www.evergroove.com/green.htm [Accessed: 13.1.2010].
Premises Studio (The) 2007, The Premises Recording and Rehearsal Studios [online], Available from: http://www.premisesstudios.com [Accessed: 23.1.2010].

Appendix: Timeline and task breakdown
See the two pictures