Naples, Italy (September 27, 2022)—Italy’s Nut Academy, which has been training sound technicians, sound designers and producers of electronic music for over 15 years, recently added a Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 studio outfitted with Genelec Smart Active Monitors.
“The idea of making a Dolby Atmos studio was born from the need to keep our teaching in step with the times,” says Vinci Acunto, sound engineer and teacher at Nut Academy in Naples. “If you want to work in the field of music production, you definitely have to deal with Atmos. It is a technical need and a creative opportunity in the training course of a sound engineer or a music producer.”
The school had struggled to find a suitable time to construct the studio, but when restrictions during Italy’s lockdown made it impossible to carry out the day-to-day teaching on site, it provided the perfect time to finally deliver the project. The school partnered with Midiware, Genelec’s Italian distributor, and acoustic consultants Studio Sound Service to design and supply a purpose-built studio.
“The studio design was originally based on Dolby Atmos Home Entertainment standards but was then certified for Dolby Atmos Music because it was compliant to both standards,” recalls Donato Masci, CEO and technical director of Studio Sound Service. “This expresses the versatility of the project. The room can be used to work on music, broadcast and post-production content and, at the same time, as a lecture room with great technological content.”
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“The Dolby Atmos room can accommodate up to 10 to 15 people for Nut Academy lessons,” notes Studio Sound Service’s partner and acoustic designer Giulia Bondielli. “This required a versatile interior design which is different from a traditional mixing room design with the sofa and the diffuser on the rear wall. We had to optimize the space to satisfy all client needs, and to find the right positions for every studio monitor — as two lateral televisions and a projector screen are used for lessons.”
The room features 8351 coaxial three-way monitors for LCR while 8340 two-way models provide the surround and overhead channels. A 7380 subwoofer handles the low frequencies.
“The most surprising thing is that this listening system simplifies our work in the best possible way,” explains Acunto. “Even in more complex contexts typical of the teaching environment – such as open listening, comparison and alternation of various genres over a short time – Genelec’s The Ones prove to be faithful workmates.”