From fairly early on in the project, I knew that having sufficient power to the studio was going to be a major requirement. Given how much musical equipment we were planning on installing (amps, desk, pedals, monitors, pa, etc.), it was crucial to have sufficient electrical sockets to be able to plug things in in every corner of the studio. I also wanted sufficient lighting, and an electrical connection for the ventilation system, which will be discussed in detail further on.
After getting hold of an electrician (Charlie) to come and give us a quote, he explained that there would need to be two sessions or "Fixes". In the first fix, he would come and install all the necessary wiring, as well as the new circuit breakers and connect us up to the main house. The second fix would then be to install all the actual electrical sockets and lights - once the inner room was completely plaster boarded. He quoted us for three days work - one day first fix and two days second fix (this would later be condensed to one day with an assistant).
On the first visit, I gave Charlie the following plan to lay out my requirements:
In case you can't read my annotations, the dark small squares represent electrical sockets, the circled crosses represent spotlights, the circled rectangles represent uplighters. The positions of the switches are also marked (one set to the left of the entrance door, and one set on the far window wall), as well as the circuits that the lights should be grouped together on.
On the first visit, Charlie also told me that we would need to lay a new, larger cable from the house to the garage than the existing one, as this was not sufficient to carry the amount of power we were planning on. To achieve this, we agreed that I would prepare the channel in the garden for the cable, so that he would be able to simply unreel it into place.
It's worth noting that at this point, I didn't plan on having any permanent heating installed (I was thinking of using small electric heaters if necessary), so these weren't included in the diagram. Only much later on in the project (when it got colder!) did I realise that permanent heating was a must - and that it was necessary to keep the room at a fairly constant temperature overnight to prevent damage to the musical equipment and instruments. Therefore, I would strongly suggest thinking about heating from this stage, especially if you are in a country that requires it.
Here's a few pictures of what the cabling looked like after the first fix. Out of shot, the cable ends are fixed to the walls in the rough locations shown on the plan with cable clips:
More on power under the "2nd Fix" section later on.
Next up - Ventilation: Acoustic Baffle Boxes Pt1 - The Theory
