Brooklyn, NY (August 18, 2026)—Home studios don’t always feel professional, but commercial studios don’t always feel inviting. SongBoy Studios, Rich Tuorto’s new facility in the Dumbo neighborhood of Brooklyn aims to bring together the best of both worlds, combining a warm, creative vibe with the acoustical rigor of a top-shelf audio workplace.
Tuorto is developing artists in collaboration with Atlantic Records and is managed by Assemble Sound, an Atlantic affiliate. SongBoy Studios was conceived not only to support his own production work, but also to provide a platform for a potential publishing company and songwriter camps, as well as use by Atlantic and other labels, including the recently acquired Fader label.
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WSDG handled the acoustic and technical design of SongBoy Studios, with WSDG partner and project manager Will Brown leading the design effort, delivering acoustical design, structural acoustics, room acoustics, technical interiors and AV design. The builder on SongBoy Studios was Studios by Sonic, with Matt Schaefer of Full Normal serving as AV integrator.
The studio—roughly 1,500 square feet within a mixed-use building—centers around a large primary control room designed to function as both a mixing and production environment and a live tracking space. A separate iso booth provides dedicated isolation for recording drums, vocals, and other instruments. Created to support a hybrid production workflow, the primary workstation is computer-based, supported by a variety of outboard gear; monitoring is handled by PMC loudspeakers with a Genelec sub, and the room also sports a Yamaha piano.
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Pursuing his vision of a welcoming vibe, Tuorto was emphatic that the walls be clad in oak wood paneling; meanwhile, herringbone timber flooring runs throughout, and a custom-built desk serves as the centerpiece of the control room. Custom lighting, a bespoke millwork bar and considered finish selections are also used to give the space a residential quality. The design deliberately eschewed fabric-oriented acoustical treatment; instead, Helmholtz resonators and carefully positioned reflectors are used in both the control room and the booth to achieve a controlled but live-feeling acoustic environment throughout.
“From our standpoint as designers, we were trying to be as efficient with the acoustic treatment as possible,” said WSDG’s Brown. “We didn’t want a room that felt stuffy and overwhelmed the user with stretched fabric. Knowing how Rich intends to use this space, as a control room that also must serve as a live room at times, we had to prioritize not only playback accuracy for the mix engineer, but also the character of the room’s acoustics for the musician.”
