The buildout of my commercial studio building is still in progress (ugh), but over the next couple months I’m looking forward to completing my Nashville home studio (also ugh). Long story short, it took the general contractor and his subs several times longer to finish their work, and now I’m in the middle of installing, testing, and tweaking acoustic treatment on my own time. I’ll be writing reviews of the acoustic materials as well as other products in future issues, but for now, I wanted to quickly cover a few tools that have helped me along the way. Every time I pull out my folding Murphy Ladder to measure or hang treatment on the wall or ceiling, I’m amazed at how well it’s engineered. It’s from the same designer and manufacturer of the Murphy Door line of hideaway-storage doors, cabinets, and shelving. You’ve probably seen their products at Home Depot. I have multi-position aluminum ladders that convert between freestanding and leaning configuration from Gorilla and Little Giant, but the one I prefer to use is the Murphy. It’s lighter, much easier to carry one-handed, and takes up significantly less space when stored away. One pair of the Murphy Ladder’s legs fold into the other pair, just like the legs of any other multi-position ladder, but then one side of its folded legs can additionally fold upward and inward into the other side, because all of the steps are hinged to the legs. Therefore, a fully folded Murphy Ladder takes up a small fraction of the space required by a conventional ladder. Despite all those hinges, I’ve never had an issue with the Murphy’s stability after many years of use, even when lifting unwieldy absorber panels to the ceiling by myself. Plus, you’ve got to admire a company whose mission statement is, “Invent and sell cool sh*t.” ••• Speaking of lifting – another ingenious product that I love is the Viking Arm precision lift. Imagine a miniature forklift that operates similarly to a trigger clamp, except that the Viking pushes things upward (or apart) as you squeeze its hand lever. (You can also quickly reconfigure the Viking for clamping.) A smaller lever at your thumb operates a controlled clutch-release mechanism to micro-adjust height while moving downward, and another thumb lever releases the clutch so that whatever you’re lifting “glides” down. I can put my foot on the lifting forks of the Viking while bending over to squeeze the hand lever (while balancing myself against the wall), and easily raise myself off the ground. Lifting capacity is 330 lb. I have two Viking Arms, and they’ve been crucial for leveling my recording console, refrigerator, oven, washer, dryer, and various pieces of furniture. If you’re installing heavy acoustic doors and windows, or even sheets of drywall, a pair of Viking Arms would greatly ease your work. I also have a pair of seem-alike DeWalt Construction Jacks. The DeWalt design seems to be similar in function and seems like it’s a better buy at roughly half the price. It’s not. It’s clunky, lacks the controlled-release feature, and is nowhere near as precise as the Viking. With that said, if you don’t require precision, the DeWalt has a bigger baseplate so it’s more stable, and you can activate its main lever by pushing down with your foot while you’re standing up and using both of your arms to stabilize whatever you’re lifting. In contrast, the Viking has a pull-back lever. A second version, the Viking Arm Long, is tall enough that you can operate it with one hand while standing. If you decide to buy a Viking, I recommend ordering from one of the retailers listed on Viking Arm’s website. There are countless subpar knockoffs available on Amazon and eBay.