Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (July 10, 2025)—Hidden behind a bookcase beneath a staircase in a restored colonial building in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Studio D at FAMA Studios is a new creative space designed by WSDG.
This latest addition marks the fourth studio designed by WSDG for FAMA, a boutique label and music company known for cultivating talent across genres and markets. While FAMA’s main studios (A, B and C) offer expansive spaces for professional recording, mixing (including 5.1 for film) and artist development, Studio D is something entirely different: a self-contained creative retreat tailored for vintage synth experimentation, analog gear integration and all-in-one recording sessions.
FAMA’s owners, a family with deep cultural and philanthropic roots in the Dominican Republic, originally approached WSDG in 2006 to design a professional studio to support their annual music festival and to offer high-end recording capabilities for regional and international artists. Over time, the project evolved into an entire complex, including multiple studios and a boutique hotel next door to host visiting creatives. Studio D, completed in 2024, is the culmination of that vision: a personal passion project for the studio’s owner and a creative hideaway for select clients.
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From a design perspective, Studio D breaks many of the traditional rules. The space is asymmetrical, compact and carefully engineered to maintain acoustic integrity while embracing aesthetic innovation. Featuring wallpaper-grade wooden wall finishes, a multi-layered ceiling and customized lighting, the studio integrates vintage keyboards, custom speaker configurations and a turntable-ready workstation.
As for audio tech, the studio is anchored around a Yamaha DM3-D digital mixing console with Dante and an iMac Studio workstation. Monitoring is via Genelec 8361A and Yamaha DXl1K speakers. The outboard gear includes a full rack of preamps from API, Manley, Rupert Neve Designs, RME, Universal Audio and others. The studio also boasts a collection of vintage synthesizers.
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“We had to reinforce the colonial-era structure from the inside out to support the technical requirements,” explains Silvia Molho, WSDG’s partner and art director. “It’s small, but it’s packed with technology and isolation. No one walking through the building suspects that a fully professional studio is hidden there.”
WSDG oversaw every aspect of the design and build, from architectural consultation and structural modifications to acoustic tuning by David Molho, acoustic engineer, and AV integration by Federico Páez, senior systems engineer, supported by the rest of the team.
