Pender Music Studio Transformation
It started on the ferry one day (as things in the Gulf Islands often do) when a very talented musician friend told me about his plans to transform his dungeon-like basement into a professional level music studio. After he and a friend did much of the grunt work of demolition, framing, sound proofing and dry-walling, he hired me to finish the studio.
The rooms are geometrically irregular, with no parallel walls for better sound dynamics but this of course made installing the pine T&G ceiling, glue-down cork flooring and doing all the custom milled trim much more complicated. My friend sourced reclaimed solid fir doors out of an old hotel on the Peninsula, which after the brown paint was painstakingly removed, revealed their astounding beauty and sound proofness. Double doors, double windows with panes at different angles and of different sizes, meticulous framing isolation and insulation, made the studio impressively sound-proof. The clay plaster walls added to this unique sound dynamic while giving a constant relative humidity for instruments and of course graced the environment with their beauty.
The project was a joyful and productive collaboration with my friend/client, and exudes a very special ambiance which is a reflection of all the thought, love, care and good will that was invested into its creation. It is my friend’s hope that this studio will provide an inspiring, creative space to allow both budding young artists and seasoned, professional musicians alike to record their art for many years to come.
