Archive Mastering - a Northward FTB build recap (vol. 1)
Preamble …
I first spoke to Thomas Jouanjean in the summer of 2013. At that point I had been mastering professionally for over 10 years, and in my current studio in Mineville since 2004. Knowing that I might have a chance to build something new in the coming years, I put out a feeler to Thomas, really on a whim, not knowing if it was something he’d be interested in, or we could pull it off financially and logistically. One thing led to another, and by the fall of 2015 I had signed a design contract and was working hard behind the scenes to line everything up to start building a new studio from the ground up in the spring of 2016. Let’s begin…
In April of 2016 we began tearing down the old building to prepare for new studio construction. The studio is designed by the humble genius Thomas Jouanjean of Northward Acoustics, using the FTB design principles that he has pioneered in his mastering room designs across Europe, the US (NYC, Nashville, and LA currently) and elsewhere around the world. I’m proud to be able to say this is the first of its kind in Canada.
The studio is built on land we own in Mineville, NS (Canada), just outside of the city of Halifax.
We have 10 acres of former farmland here (previously a strawberry farm), with water frontage and a combo of cleared land and forest, far from the road and very quiet.
First step is to tear down an old building where the new studio will go. The roof trusses and walls were removed whole and given away to be re-assembled elsewhere, rather than go in the landfill.
At the same time, a road is being cleared so we can access the power line to install a new transformer.
