In the Mix Class of 2024, our annual look at studio design, we present some of the most exciting new or refurbished recording studios that have opened during the past year. Included are innovative new workspaces for composers, musicians, engineers and producers all around the globe, presented in random order. Don’t miss Parts 1 and 2, as well as our deep dive into the Class of 2024’s lead story on Sony 5020 Studios Madrid!
Blue Bonsai Studios • Hollywood, Calif.
Studio Design: Carl Yanchar and Rich Avrach (Sunset Audio Solutions)
Film composer Joe Trapanese opened this private facility in January with three control rooms, a live room, vocal booth and common areas. Control Room A is a 7.1.4 Atmos mix studio featuring Bryston amps, JBL speakers for LCR, four Sunfire subwoofers, and Kali Audio surround and overhead speakers. Control Room B is a 3.1 room with JBL speakers and Sunfire subwoofers. The control rooms share a live room with a motorized drumbrella for variable acoustics. Control Room C is a smaller writers’ room with an attached vocal booth. All rooms are connected to a central machine room, which houses the Pro Tools HDX systems, syncing, Bricasti reverbs, networking, security, and backup. The facility has generous amounts of Cat-6a throughout.
This provides futureproofing for all rooms and facilitates flexible audio or video routing. Audio can also be transferred between studios through analog tie lines. The studios have a consistent aesthetic that features custom fabric walls, stained oak reflective surfaces and trims, and ample bass trapping.
Antenna Studios • Brooklyn, N.Y.
Studio Design: Dave Malekpour, Malekpour Design Partners
Antenna Studios, the home base of EDM Music group Memba, was designed to be an inspiring creative space with a range of instruments, synths, and production gear that would appeal to multiple users. The 700-square-foot studio suite in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood includes an 18×24-foot room with 10-foot ceilings, with a 12x14x10-foot booth that has a window with a nice view. Acoustic design was created with Jocavi Acoustic Simulation to predict the room response and design the treatments to optimize the room. The Jocavi WallTrap bass traps are tuned to specific low frequencies and are arranged across both walls and ceilings, front to back of the room, providing linear response anywhere you stand. Isolation was designed using the Studio Float IsoRaft decouplers floating the walls, floor and ceiling in the studio.
High Mountain Record Studios • Erl, Austria
Studio Design: WSDG (Walters-Storyk Design Group)
High Mountain Record Studios consists of two sections—Studio A with a 50-square-meter live room and Studio B with a 20-square-meter live room. Both are outfitted with geometrically identical 33-square-foot control rooms. Studio A is devoted to owner Lucas Gleich’s independent recording and mixing projects, while Studio B is available for third-party clients. Studio gear includes an API 2448 32-channel console and two ATC SCM150 PRO loudspeakers, each complemented with an ADAM Audio SUB15 subwoofer. For Studio B, the main studio gear includes a Universal Audio X6 interface and Burl B16 AD/DA converter, and Heritage Super 8 and API preamps, as well as PMC 6 monitors. A Dante network expedites high-quality remote recording of live performances from the Festspielhaus Concert Hall.
WERS Studio 88.9 • Boston, Mass.
Studio Design: Lou Clark, Sonic Space
PHOTO: Timothy Gaudreau
This control room was completely renovated to maximize current footprint to encourage a more hands-on experience for students and clients at Emerson College.
The main unique feature is a custom gobo mounted on hinges, attached to the wall, that may be deployed to create isolation between the engineer and performer. A glass window is built into the gobo for optimal viewing. This window, when in its closed position, allows for a video screen to be visible. The ceiling has roughly four feet above it for broadband sound control. It consists of soffits around the perimeter and a large ceiling cloud that can be dropped down for servicing of equipment above the cloud. All the furniture was custom-designed and built to suit the workflow needs of the space.
