The electrician came out today to start the wiring. I have a 50 amp subpanel in the garage from a 200 amp main panel on the house. The electrician has carefully installed a very good ground just for the studio and I have asked that the 6 quad outlets that I have will be on separate circuits tied to the same ground. He is also wiring phone jacks. outside security lights, an outlet up in the attic for the ventilation system, along with the necessary switches and lighting. I have decided to use flourescent lighting, which at first I was not going to use. Here is my rational:
1. The newer electonic T2 ballasts are much quieter and the lights will be on their own circuits, independent of any other equipment that I am using.
2. The lights do not generate much heat, which will make keeping the room cool much easier. I originally thought of using track lighting which normally uses halogen lights - these generate a considerable amount of heat.
3. Many video studios, tv studios, are using flourescent lighting for many reasons. Especially studios that do composite editing (blue/green screening for special effects). This is mainly do to being able to use different degree bulbs and the fact that shadows are not as much a problem with flourescents. I may be using the garage to film music videos so this would be a useful thing.
Please feel free to agree/disagree with this - they have not yet been installed.
I noticed that the electrician was installing the subpanel and outlets recessed into the framing of the outer leaf. I thought about this for a while and finally asked him to redo this with surface mounted fixtures and panel. Aparently you need a different type of panel box for this, which is not expensive, but this will cost more for the guy to rewire the panel. It did not make a whole lot of sense to spend all this time and money getting these "soundproof" walls, and then put all these big holes in the walls to recess the outlets and panel. With surface mounted outlets, only small holes in the wall system would be required for the romex wire to come through to attach to the outlets. Then you can caulk around the wires and preserve most of the soundproofing. I told the electrician that I was willing to sacrifice aesthetics to preserve the soundproofing. The subpanel will also be in the vocal booth, where I will also be putting gtr and bass amps so I did not want these leaking through the subpanel. I figure I can just treat the surface of the panel with foam.
Sorry if this post is too long - I am still getting the hang of this BB.[/quote]
