Engineer Tony Maserati (photo: Jung Kim)
After dozens of hit records, Maserati knows how he wants his studio to look, sound and feel
Boyertown, PA – March 18, 2010 – Legendary engineer Tony Maserati has installed Sterling Modular Systems console furniture at his New York studio and will be setting sail for the West Coast shortly, he plans to install Sterling Modular in his new Los Angeles studio as well. After looking at studio furniture options for creating a comfortable, yet sonically accurate studio, Maserati chose Sterling Modular for the center of his studio, where he can see, hear and reach all his key equipment. Some aspects of his choice for Sterling were the neutral acoustic effect the furniture created in the room, easy access to his equipment, and the materials and build quality. “Sterling’s furniture is really well put together, the racks hold up great, and it looks fantastic.
It’s definitely a step up
from the competitors,” says Maserati. He recently mixed new Alicia Keys tracks, and albums for artists Keri Hilson, Reni Lane, Rich Girl and Debi Nova. Maserati is currently mixing the soon to be released album by Alyssa Bernal.
Describing the process of planning his studio Maserati says, “When I put the studio together I basically had no furniture except for some basic racks and I knew that I needed a well-built, good looking console system. I knew the equipment that I was going to be using. I had seen some of the other furniture brands, but most of them used solid materials. The Sterling Modular furniture uses cloth-covered panels to cover the sides, the backs and the fronts, and I really thought that was a great idea compared to the typical giant wooden box in the front of the control room which was clearly going to be resonating and creating all sorts of sonic problems. That was the biggest reason I went with Sterling Modular. Clearly it’s important, the way Sterling has built their furniture it really helps us avoid that sort of monolithic box.”
Sterling Modular furniture is designed to be acoustically neutral in a room and put the engineer in the sweet spot. Maserati agrees, “It performs really well in that way, it’s acoustically transparent.” He adds, “The other thing about studio furniture that is really important to me, is for it to allow me to always be focused in the middle of my speakers. Some of the other furniture is a bit deeper, and dimension-wise it didn’t make it easy for me to sit in the center of the speakers. That’s how I am every day with the Sterling furniture, I’m sitting center of the speakers and I’ve got my hands right where I want them to be: on the audio monitor pot or the mouse and the keyboard- which is what we engineers do now. The way Sterling put together the console system dimensionally was also perfect for me. It really helped out a lot, I find it extremely comfortable, even compared to a large console format.”
As an example, Maserati explains further, “If I’m sitting at a large console and a studio mounted a computer monitor on the meter bridge it would be either too far from me, or in some way reflect sound from the speakers. The Sterling furniture is set up perfectly, that’s the great thing. I use speaker stands and that also helps, but the way Sterling has the console system set up with the round back allows me to get the speakers right where I want them,” concludes Maserati.
Sterling offers 6 standard modular designs for mastering/audio console furniture, (Plans A through F), along with a full line of versatile gear racks. Each design has various options such as speaker platforms, keyboard shelves, LCD screen arms and more. The company also offers a wide range of custom and semi-customized audio furniture for any mixing console such as Digidesign, Euphonix, Toft, SSL, Yamaha, Lavo, and Tango, as well as their “Pro Series” console systems for API 1608, Rupert Neve Designs 5088, and Tonelux products.
About Tony Maserati
Over the past decade Tony Maserati has created his own distinctive sound for his many hits with today’s top artists such as Mary J. Blige, Lil’ Kim, Beyonce, Black Eyed Peas and Puff Daddy, and pop-icons Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Jesse MacCartney, Ricky Martin, Sting and Alicia Keys. Recent mixes include Alicia Keys, Keri Hilson, Reni Lane, Rich Girl and Debi Nova. Maserati is currently mixing the soon to be released album by Alyssa Bernal. In 2008, Maserati was nominated for a Grammy(r) Award (with Dyre Gormsen) for ‘Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical’ for the Jason Mraz album We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. Please visit tonymaserati.com
About Sterling Modular Systems
For most of the past two decades, Sterling Modular Systems has been designing high quality ‘Audio Furniture’ that combines physical functionality with sonic functionality. Each piece is designed to be as acoustically transparent as possible while retaining the studio-functionality that engineers require in the Audio Recording, Mastering, Broadcast and Post-production industries. In-house craftsman personally control and oversee every operation, whether its top of the line custom furnishings or more affordable ‘pre-designed’ racks and consoles. The company’s business is based on customer satisfaction and a reputation for ‘old-world’ quality. For more information call (610) 369-5802 or visit sterlingmodular.com
All specifications subject to change without notice. All trademarks are the property of their respective holders
