Hollywood-based post-production engineer Bruce Black and studio designer Lawrence P. Swist recently completed a new 6.1-capable mix room housed at the site of Burbank, Calif. editorial house SoundStorm.
Black and Swist provided a turnkey installation, while Swist designed the room, its acoustics and the interior, and Black designed the technical systems and infrastructure, and supervised the construction and integration.
The mix room is designed around a Euphonix System 5 console. The room also features ProTools HD systems, and processors from Lexicon, Cedar, Dolby, dbx, and others. Speakers and amplifiers are provided by JBL and Crown, while Stewart provided a perforated screen for true theatrical performance. Black also wired the room to accommodate 24-bit, 96 kHz digital audio.
The new room resides inside a freestanding metal structure, which was prefabricated by IAC (New York), shipped to California and assembled in an open space at SoundStorm’s facility. The structure’s panels feature the same amount of sound isolation as 12 inches of concrete blocks on the ceiling and floor, as well as the walls. Additionally, a system of rails and isolation disks under the enclosure floats the facility so that no structure-borne sound can enter or leave.
But these prefabricated studios can reportedly handle the work just as well as conventional construction. According to Swist, “The best part is that you would never know the mix room is a floating, prefabricated enclosure just by looking at it or working in it. It has all the performance, amenities and looks of a conventional room, yet it is a faster, easier, cleaner installation. And there is one more incredible advantage for studio owners —the room can be disassembled and moved to a new location! You certainly will never be able to do that with conventional construction. Facility owners can no longer be held captive by their landlords; they can take their room with them if they need to relocate! This represents enormous savings and options.”
To find out more about the studio, visit www.soundstorm.com.
