Forum

My name is Jeff Sterling. I am a long time recording engineer, producer, composer, musician. I also do Audio Video systems design and studio design . I do a lot of churches and schools too. I am working on some studio designs right now to create a portfolio to show my designs. I’ve done quite a few acoustic projects ranging from small enclosed spaces like a police interrogation room where they were having horrible acoustic issues recording the interviews, small home studios and project studios. Churches and schools have always been a huge challenge… mainly dealing with the people who want in one hand and shit in the other. I know what needs to be done but getting them to realize the importance of room interaction to their issues is like talking to a brick wall, and then the budget and those who have a little knowledge and really screw it up more and waste money and time and then the bean counters are a huge roadblock as well. But that is what you deal with 90% of the time.

I am also a closet architect. I designed and built a few straw bale structures over the years and I am currently working a a studio design in a large straw bale structure. I have a design going now and in working on the acoustic treatment and I have gone to the internet of things to gather more info and see what acoustic products are available and information on the use and applications of these products in my designs and the cost of the units and installation techniques so I can figure a budget range for the acoustics. I have found a lot of info and a lot of it seems like bullshit marketing. A lot of the so called “influencers” or what ever these guys consider themselves, I find they like to talk and sound informed but I am not finding reliable information from these pimply face youTubers. I found this crotchety old acoustic engineer, Dennis @ Acoustic Fields… I liked what he had to say and he backed it up with real world, no bullshit information that I found useful and informative. I am going to purchase the building plans for the devices and incorporate into my designs.

I did not go to any BS school to learn about audio video engineering, I got tossed into the deep waters and had to swim with the sharks and I am very fortunate to have some awesome engineers I learned from and ended up working with some of the top bands in the world… I learned the hard way! You cannot read a book about swimming and be an expert. I am no expert but I know what I am doing most of the time and I apply it in the real world, make a lot of mistakes and learn from them. I also push the boundaries and have a lot of unconventional ideas and will experiment…

I’ll have some ideas I want to throw up for discussion and get some opinions from other like minded souls.
Straw Bale is one of my things. I love the design and building process and I found the straw bale house I built was so cool and I thought it would make a killer recording studio , so I am on a mission to design a studio and find a way to build it.

DML flat panel speaker technology: Specifically Tectonic Audio Labs DM L500. yea… this is a debatable subject. I heard of these speakers and thought they were just another electrostatic type speaker but I found they are not at all. I was hounded by the rep about these and they gave me a set of the speakers and subs to play with. At first I was not sold until I realized the problems they solve in difficult acoustic situations/. Now they are my secret weapon for churches and schools where I can’t get them, to do the proper acoustic treatment because of budget restraints. I’ll put up a topic on these panels and how I have been using them and also an idea I have for an esoteric project I am working on. … It will ruffle a few feathers of all you acoustic guys… it took me awhile to realize their potential and the proper application of these speakers in odd acoustic environments…

Acoustic Audio system: what I am looking at are systems like Meyer Sounds Constellation, Yamaha ARC systems and there may be a few others as well. I have developed my own vision of this and have it in my home studio/music room. I use off the shelf speakers and DSP to do this and it works great!… I’ll post a topic on this and get some feedback.

That’s a bit about me!

Cheers!