construction photos – Manifold Recording / The Miraverse

Organic Evolution

We are very proud of the design and construction of Manifold Recording, and we’ve shared that pride in many ways. But nothing is ever perfect because nothing is ever finished. In the past year experience has taught us what no amount of planning necessarily could, and so some of the folks who helped bring this studio into existence are back, making things a little bit better.

Inside the building we added several new circuits for lighting, including a dedicated circuit for our new 2KW 10″ studio fresnel, which is powerful enough to provide key lighting for a 5-member ensemble (and then some):

Here you can see the dedicated circuit outlet here (plus all the other outlets we added for additional lighting sources): Continue reading “Organic Evolution”

Speech text from Miraverse Power & Light Solar Double-Cropping Ribbon-cutting

North Carolina is a great place to grow. Our family moved here when the growing company I started in Silicon Valley back in 1989 was bought by a faster-growing company here in North Carolina, Red Hat. North Carolina is home to a great community of innovators, and today we are proud to stand with many of them as we unveil what has truly been a community effort.

When I read The Omnivore’s Dilemma in 2006, I realized that the question “what should we eat for dinner?” had life-changing implications. We are what we eat. But as a society, we also decide what we grow, how we grow it, how it comes to market, and at what price. In 1903, commercial seed houses offered 288 varieties of beets; by 1983 the choice is down to 17. From 544 types of cabbage, we’re down to 28. From 307 types of sweet corn, we’re down to 12. Our dinner-time choices are a function of many choices made before we were even born. The Omnivore’s Dilemma teaches that when the question “what can we do?” becomes too limiting, the question of what should we do becomes all the more urgent. And not just when it comes to food.

Continue reading “Speech text from Miraverse Power & Light Solar Double-Cropping Ribbon-cutting”

Week 183 (Lighting Up the Trion)

Time for some fun! This week we got the wiring in the Annex to the point where we could turn on our Harrison Trion console:

As you can see, we have not quite tidied up the Annex Control Room. But with only six PSU cables to plug into the wall and a single CAT6 cable to plug into the Console, it’s pretty easy to turn on, turn off, and move into position when we get our painted floor plates next week.

Continue reading “Week 183 (Lighting Up the Trion)”

Week 182 (Pergola Progress)

Ten months ago we poured the concrete footings for our Pergola. Four months ago we had our cypress and steel orders in. Over the next 6 weeks we finished the cypress with several layers of UV-resistant varnish and we galvanized the steel posts and flitch. Six weeks ago we received the finished cypress boards, and five weeks ago, we swung the steel into position.

From the site’s perspective, we’ve gone from this:

To this:

The good news is that there’s a good chance that next week we’ll have the other half up!

Continue reading “Week 182 (Pergola Progress)”

Week 181 (Surrounded)

Try as I might to get the posts out in a timely fashion, sessions this past week really got in the way of that. Which is a good thing!

The title of this blog post is taken from the fact that we had a session requesting surround monitoring capability. With a 64-channel API Vision, there’s no question we’d be doing surround work in the Main Control Room, but we kinda expected we’d ease into that work after having a chance to do a proper speaker shootout. Not so. Luckily for us, we got our hands on a fully 5.1 Dynaudio AIR 15 surround setup, and here’s what it looks like all set up:

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Week 180 (Wavy Walls in the Annex CR)

This is one of those weeks that marks a real milestone in the construction project. There have been others [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6], but this is one I have been anticipating ever since we decided in August 2009 to change the program of the Annex from a storage and garage area to a second control room. Here is the awesomeness we imagined:

And here’s where we are:

Read on for more details of this and other new developments…

Continue reading “Week 180 (Wavy Walls in the Annex CR)”

Week 179 (Hanging the Annex Cloud)

Last week I didn’t post an update because nothing much was visibly changed. The Annex Cloud was being built in the shop, but that doesn’t make for great photos at the site. This week the Annex Cloud was delivered and hung. It is beautiful:

It will be even more beautiful when we find the one strip of fabric that managed to sneak away between Durham and Pittsboro. Here are some other views:

Continue reading “Week 179 (Hanging the Annex Cloud)”

Week 177 (Starting the Pergola)

Last week’s post reported that construction was gearing up for the final push. This week we are pushing hard. A final (?) visit from the crane delivered the last major pieces of steel to be installed, a pair of pre-welded hexagonal steel columns each connected by a pre-welded flitch plate across the top:

Here is a detail of the steel showing a column marking “C” (of A, B, C, and D) welded into the flitch plate: Continue reading “Week 177 (Starting the Pergola)”

Week 176 (The Grass Is Always Greener)

It has been 8 weeks since my last construction blog update, and with another flurry of construction now in progress, it is time for another post!

The big changes are mostly happening beyond the studio, starting with the landscaping that surrounds the Main building:

With the soil tilled and prepared down to a depth of 12″, the beds are ready for the grasses:

Continue reading “Week 176 (The Grass Is Always Greener)”

Week 168 (North Patio Steps)

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted any progress photos, mainly because most of our construction work is again invisible: caulking, sealing, repainting, etc. However, one aspect of the project has been visible, and is now completed: the steps that connect the North Patio with the path that circles property. Three weeks ago, our West and North Patios met up for the first time, and work began on making the foundation for the steps. The transformation has been from this:

to this:

Continue reading “Week 168 (North Patio Steps)”