With the increased pressure to get students in the door, audio programs around the country have been updating their facilities to provide some kind of “differentiator,” something that shows they remain on the cutting-edge of the industry and are educating students for the future. And with students in need of, and desiring, more hands-on education, the access to the latest gear in an accurate control room is of paramount importance. Much like we do each June in our “Class of” feature, Mix now takes a look at some of the high-profile studios to open recently at North American recording programs.
Middle Tennessee State University
Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Renovation of the Middle Tennessee State University (mtsu.edu) Studio E control room—which is one of two “project rooms” where students traditionally begin their first recording projects—was handled by Nashville designer/acoustician Carl Tatz and features a custom application of the new Carl Tatz Signature Series by Auralex, a family of high-quality control room acoustic modules. Each of the two rooms (Studio D is the other) features the Carl Tatz Design PhantomFocus System monitor tuning protocol. An SSL AWS924 console, Pro Tools HD 10 and Genelec monitoring system form the base of the equipment package. Studios D and E opened in summer 2012.
Berklee College of Music
Valencia, Spain; Boston, Mass.
Berklee College of Music (berklee.edu) has embarked on a significant expansion program, opening an entirely new campus in Valencia, Spain, this past January, and starting work on a new ground-up building near its current Boston home. The Walters-Storyk Design Group was commissioned to create the audio education studios for both complexes. The 18,000 square-foot East Technical Wing in Valencia features a 1,360-square-foot recording studio and an 850-square-foot live room, four project/production studios and multiple classroom/tech support environments. The main recording studio, rendered here, opened this past summer, with graduate programs beginning September 2012.
Dallas Baptist University
Dallas, Texas
At the heart of the new Joan and Andy Horner Hall, a new 12,000-square-foot performance space on the campus of Dallas Baptist University (dbu.edu), is a 2,400-square-foot recording studio designed by Russ Berger Design Group. Designed to augment the university’s bachelor of arts and science degrees in music business, the control room houses an Avid D-Command 24 console and Pro Tools 10 system. Two smaller control rooms allow students to mix projects independently from the main studio. Storage and a central equipment room complete the facility.
Miami Dade College
Miami, Fla.
Big upgrades in Miami. The School of Entertainment & Design Technology at Miami Dade College (mdc.edu) installed two Solid State Logic Duality SE Consoles for the film and recording degree programs at its North and Kendall Campus studios. The Duality at the North Campus is the centerpiece of a new hybrid, dual-control room studio built for the film program. The larger Duality room shares a soundstage that doubles as a classroom, with the other, smaller, DAW controller-based control room. The complex includes a complete Foley stage, an overdub booth and a piano booth that are acoustically isolated from the main stage so that the studio complex can be used for two projects simultaneously. The second Duality resides in the recently upgraded, high-end music-recording studio at the Kendall Campus.
Harris Institute for the Arts
Toronto, Ontario
World-renowned studio designer and Harris Institute alumni and faculty member Martin Pilchner has worked with the school (harrisinstitute.com) throughout the past decade, including the design of Control Room A a few years back, featuring an SSL AWS900-Plus SE console, XLogic X Rack and Pro Tools HD. Also pictured is the newest addition, the Pro Tools HD Lab, which opened in July of this year.
