studio lights

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studio lights

Postby mylesgm » Mon Dec 07, 2015 10:50 pm

So starting to get to studio lights... what are you using and what are you avoiding? My current studio has horrid buzzes from halogen dimmers and we want to avoid that like the plague.

Go?
Myles Mumford
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Re: studio lights

Postby Alastair Reynolds » Tue Dec 08, 2015 8:12 am

Ideally DC lighting rather than AC.
How many lights do you actually have in the studio area ?
DC on a filament will give you the least noise, think DC heaters in a valve mic pre.
LED is efficient but the switching supplies built into them put out a lot of RF crud that will adversely affect WiFi and may get into sensitive circuits. The more expensive LEDs are a little better but the cheap Chinese ones are a shocker. Free TV has many reports of DTV reception problems where the signal is obliterated by crud from cheap LED lighting.

Alternatively Halogen running of a high end electronic controller like a Tridonic ( expensive - over $50 each) and mount the unit external to the studio and run long low voltage wiring to them . This is how I did it in Radio studios I built.
Just some ideas and observations.
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Re: studio lights

Postby Chinagraf » Tue Dec 08, 2015 4:37 pm

Hi Myles,
I'm running a bunch of GU10 dimmable leds in our house the brand is Azugi and they are 8 watts and are plenty bright. Around 650 lumens per globe. I've done some recordings in our lounge and not a crack of noise at all.
Things I will add - I'm not running them on dimmers, and we rewired the whole house a few months back, so I know for sure there are no crossed circuits. I haven't however tried my ribbons in the lounge, and they were always more susceptible to noise at my old studio, under one halogen in particular it was very noisy if using ribbons.
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Re: studio lights

Postby The Tasmanian » Tue Dec 08, 2015 9:59 pm

Hi Myles,
great info above, and I would add - 12v halogens make rooms too hot.
I would go LED's - (like daylight) - if you can install them (ala Alastair- no noise), just for the sweaty heat factor in an airtight room with bodies and live performances.
Things get hot quick - and heavily insulated rooms take a while to cool down...
And then there are future electricity bills....
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Re: studio lights

Postby Chinagraf » Wed Dec 09, 2015 8:02 am

Yeah I neglected to mention the ones I put in are around $20 a globe but when you do the math it works out over a longer term. It's pleasing to see a whole room of lights brightly lit and know you are using the equivalent energy of 1 old school 75 watt globe.
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Re: studio lights

Postby mylesgm » Wed Dec 09, 2015 7:23 pm

Will probably be putting 6-8 in the control rooms (there are 2) and then looking for a range for the live room.
In the live room I want to put in 4 bright areas, something for a big wash, and then was thinking LED strip lighting around the edge of the ceiling to provide ambient down lighting hidden behind a reflector of some kind.

Want to go with LEDs if possible and would love to be able to control the brightness but will steer clear of dimmers as they've always been problematic in the various studios I've been in.

Could do remote low voltage wiring if that's the best way to go but 240v wiring would be easiest.

Any other thoughts?
Myles Mumford
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Making records in sunny Melbourne

www.mylesmumford.com
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Re: studio lights

Postby graemeh » Thu Feb 11, 2016 9:45 am

I got my electrician to put in 3 phase power and then used all the lights on one phase, all recording gear on another, and air con on the 3rd. Never had a problem with dimmer noise. I think it was a bit expensive to install the 3 phase power though...
Graeme Hodge
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Re: studio lights

Postby gigpiglet » Fri Feb 12, 2016 8:16 am

only thing i would say is have some options.
ie: when you are problem solving/ working on gear/ maintenance etc you want a nicely properly lit room.
but when you are on the computer/ console you want vibe.
so put in 2 circuits.. one for your standard day to day work (over the console, over the patchbay) and one for when you just want the lights ons (all over)
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Re: studio lights

Postby rob » Fri Feb 12, 2016 8:54 am

yeah do remember sometimes you want really good light in the studio cause you actually need to see something.
Even my workshop has mood ambient lighting for thinking time, working at the PC etc plus bright light that can be turned on to illuminate specific areas ... such as the workbench.
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Re: studio lights

Postby gigpiglet » Fri Feb 12, 2016 9:43 pm

i thought of you as i typed that rob...
where is the work light!!!!
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