Berkeley, CA—November 18, 2020—Mastering engineer Michael Romanowski’s newly opened location of his Coast Mastering studio is nominated for a 2021 TEC Award in the “Studio Design Project” category for Outstanding Creative Achievement. The completely new facility at Coast Mastering in Berkeley, CA is a full-service mastering studio for stereo and immersive audio—including Dolby ATMOS—up to 9.1.6 (nine surround speakers, one sub, and six height speakers). All the TEC Award nominees in Outstanding Creative Achievement can be viewed at: https://www.tecawards.org/nominees/2021/creative
“I am honored to be nominated for a studio design TEC Award for Coast Mastering, the design team worked hard to build this studio literally from the ground up to be the best mastering studio I have ever worked in. I feel like I’m in the very best of company with the other TEC nominees, past and present,” said Michael Romanowski, chief engineer at Coast Mastering.
The new mastering room was designed by Romanowski along with acoustical consultant Bob Hodas, who also tuned the room, and California-based audio engineer and studio design consultant Bob Levy, who worked closely with the build-team from the beginning of the project.
Coast Mastering features equipment chosen over Romanowski’s 30-years as a recording, mixing, and mastering engineer, both in Nashville and the San Francisco Bay Area. A main feature of the new studio are the Focal Scala Utopia EM speakers for left, right, and center channels which tower at almost 6-feet tall, and Focal Utopia Diablo Evo speakers for the six surrounds, which are all paired with Bricasti amplifiers and converters, and Wireworld cables. The subwoofer is by Meyer Sound, while the height speakers are by Neumann. Stillpoint Aperture acoustic treatment was used throughout the new studio. On the audio software side, Romanowski has been mastering immersive audio projects using the Steinberg Nuendo software for many years.
“As a music fan, I have really been enjoying the variety of styles of music that I have mastered in ATMOS, with Alicia Keys, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, The U.S. Army Field Band, Fantastic Negrito, The Devil in California, and a local Bay Area Latin fusion band Vibrason, among many other projects,” said Romanowski. “I built my first mastering room in 2000 for 5.1 surround with Paul Stubblebine, then moved to immersive sound adding height speakers in 2018. My new mastering room was built specifically for immersive formats including Dolby ATMOS, it’s such a joy to work in and to really hear the music as it is, so I can make the best decisions for my clients.”
Visit the Coast Mastering website at: http://www.coastmastering.com
Michael Romanowski is a GRAMMY®-nominated mastering engineer and the owner of Coast Mastering, he has mastered music in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1994. He is a Trustee of the San Francisco chapter of the Recording Academy and is on the National Producer & Engineers Wing Advisory Council, and is also a member of the AES Technical Committee.
For more information please contact the studio via email at [email protected], call the studio at 1-(510)-984-0554.
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