TIMARA Studio Policies

• Smoking and alcohol are not permitted anywhere within the TIMARA complex.  

• Food and drink are permitted in the TIMARA lobby, so long as waste is disposed of properly and care is taken not to spill items on our new carpet.

• Food is not permitted anywhere in the studios, gallery, or makerspace, except on special occasions with prior approval.  Faculty may choose to bring food into the studios at their own discretion. 

• Drinks must be in a fully sealed, spill-proof container, and should be stored as far away from any gear as is possible.  

These policies are in place to keep our gear safe, our studios clean, and our engineer happy.  These rules are also in place to prevent pests from taking up residence in the basement. Thank you for your help! Failure to follow these rules may result in restrictions on studio access, a community service requirement, or a grumpy studio engineer.  

The studios are shared spaces and it is important for each of us to have a role in maintaining them.  Each studio has a default or ‘zero’ setting. Please reserve the last 5 -10 minutes of your studio session to resetting the studio to zero.  Each studio has a photo and description of its default state and a checklist to help you return the studio to zero. Maintaining a consistent practice of resetting the studios to zero will limit issues that occur when a previous user has reconfigured settings and neglected to reset these at the end of their session.  If you are working on an ongoing project in a particular studio, and would like to request permission to leave items out in the studio for a period of time, please contact the TD khartzel@oberlin.edu

Students are allowed to leave files in a folder (title the folder with your name) on hard drives called "Persistent Drive" or "Persistent Storage." All non-User drives are cleared each time the lab computers are restarted. Always make backup copies of your work on your own removable media or on a cloud storage service like Google Drive or Box. Missing files are not an acceptable excuse for late work. Instead, try ‘the depot dog ate my homework.’

TL;DR the equipment in the supply closet is for studio use only and should be returned at the end of your session to its proper location. If you find an item that belongs in the supply closet, please return it to the supply closet.

The biggest highlight of the department -- why you chose to come here in the first place, no doubt -- is the TIMARA supply closet.  TIMARA’s supply closet is the best in the basement. If you need an adapter or cable for your session, never fear! Check the supply closet between the recording studio and the media production studio to see if this item is available.  

Alas, the supply closet’s contents are for studio use, only. Items must find their way to your home...err, that is, find their way to THEIR home, i.e., the supply closet, as soon as your session is complete.  If an adapter or other item is missing, please keep an eye out around the studios for roaming adapters. Beware, though...adapter herds are dangerous. The supply closet will not be restocked until the end of the semester, so it is important that items are not lost so that everyone has access to the gear they need for their sessions.  

The studios are shared spaces and as such they can quickly and easily be overwhelmed with clutter.  Personal items, gear, or instruments should never be stored in the TIMARA studios without prior approval. 

Many people access our studios on a regular basis, and your gear could easily be removed or accidentally broken.  For those who would benefit from regular storage space within the studio complex, We have a few options available on a first-come, first-serve basis.  As before, we have lockers and locks available for use. We also have a few storage cubbies for items that do not need to be locked up. If you have a special project and would like to store some gear in the studios, please submit a special request form.

Note that you are fully responsible for all TIMARA gear signed out in your name.  If you leave an item signed out under your name around the studios without prior permission, it will be removed and returned to the depot and you may lose self-checkout privileges.  If you are planning on temporarily storing gear in the studios please notify the TD khartzel@oberlin.edu or check out a locker to use. 

If gear is left out and is damaged, you will be charged a replacement or repair fee. If you have checked out a piece of gear that you would like to keep in the studios, please keep it in your locker.  Please do not leave gear out in the studios. 

If something doesn't work: 

1. Turn everything off and back on again 

2. Check the wiki page for the studio manual and troubleshooting tips  specific to each studio.

3. If, after completing steps 1 and 2, something STILL isn't working,  email the Tech Director Kyle,  khartzel@oberlin.edu. If problems are carefully documented as soon as they occur, they can often be remedied within a short period of time and with a minimum of lost studio usage. Before requesting assistance, please try restarting all gear and check the studio troubleshooting pages for common, known, and recurring issues. 

The first law of TIMARA is that what is on and broken should probably be turned off and then on again to make it unbroken.  Those who summon the studio engineer without first obeying the first law of TIMARA may make amends via offerings of coffee.  (Just kidding, but please, try restarting the computer, turning off the interface, and so on, it really does work more often than you might imagine.)

Late night access is a privilege granted on a case-by-case basis by TIMARA faculty to students in the second half of their time at Oberlin.

The TIMARA studios are for educational purposes.  To protect these spaces for their primary use, commercial projects are not permitted in the studios.  Students using the studios for commercial purposes may lose access to the spaces. 

If you will be bringing non-student collaborators into the studios for any reason, please let faculty of the Tech Director know of your plans. You must be with your collaborators at all times when they are in the studios. Non-student collaborators must never have the door code, and must follow all studio rules.  The sponsor will be responsible for the behavior of all non-student collaborators. 

The outer doors to the studios at both entrances and the double doors to the back studios should only be propped open when you are actively moving gear through them. As soon as you have moved the gear, these doors should be closed and locked. Do not prop the double doors to the back studios and do not give out the code to these doors.  If you are waiting for collaborators, meet them in the lobby. Never use a trashcan, friendship bracelet, or other item to prop the front door open; all Oberlin community members have swipe access to the studios so this is unnecessary.  

Studio gear may not be removed from the studios without prior approval.  Approval should be sought well in advance of the date for which you would like to borrow the gear.  To request approval, please email the TD khartzel@oberlin.ed at least one week before you would like to borrow the gear in question.  Please provide a brief description of your proposal, including the gear you would like to remove from the studios, the reason for removal, the date of the removal, and how you will transport the gear.  If you are requesting to borrow studio gear overnight or over the weekend, please indicate where you will store the gear securely.  Studio gear should be checked out through the gear depot if it will be removed from the studios overnight or over the weekend.  For shorter borrowing periods, you may leave your student ID with the TECH office until you return the gear.  Gear will not be checked in until it has been locked down; students are responsible for letting Kyle know when the gear has been returned and requesting assistance locking gear down. 

To reserve time in the TIMARA studios or TIMARA gallery, please use the relevant studio’s reservation calendar.  To access the studio calendars, sign into your google account with your ObieID and navigate to the calendar tab. Create an event on your own calendar and in the Guests section invite the name of the Studio Calendar. It will auto-accept the invite and create an event. 

Please follow the rules below when reserving time in any of the TIMARA studios or the TIMARA gallery.  

1. Advance Reservations are limited to a maximum of 6 hours per week. 

2. Any single reservation is limited to a maximum of 3 hours. 

3. Immediate Space Available: If a studio is empty, it's yours until the next reserved time. 

4. Reserved times not claimed within 15 minutes become available space.

You are welcome and encouraged to collaborate with non-majors on your projects! However, since access to the back studios is restricted to majors and those enrolled in TECH 200-level courses, non-majors should not be given the door code and should always be accompanied  by a major in the back studios. Please do not prop studio doors to let non-majors in; instead, meet them in the  lobby.