CARLSBAD, CA: An inspirational view of the Pacific coastline melds with flawless acoustics to establish the ultimate creative environment for musician/businessman, Chris Huber’s personal studio. “Music has always been an integral part of my family life,” Huber reveals. “When we bought our home a few years ago I knew exactly where the studio would live. Our primary aesthetic concern was to retain the panoramic ocean view through our ground floor windows. I researched studio designers and discovered Walters-Storyk Design Group-WSDG through their work on a Brazilian studio with a sweeping view into its live room through an enormous ‘Cinemascope-style’, control room window.”
On his initial 2012 site visit, WSDG Project Manager, Joshua Morris, clearly recognized the need to preserve the view. “WSDG has considerable experience with formidable expanses of glass,” Morris says. Our work at NY’s Jazz at Lincoln Center complex, and more recently with the Berklee College of Music’s in Boston are prime examples of our track record in taming large reflective surfaces. Chris Huber was on target when he connected the dots between Diante Do Trono, and the personal studio he envisioned.”
While its view is an irrefutable “eye catcher,” the Huber Music Room is a serious working studio, constructed with complete room-within-room isolation. Recording and mixing take place ‘in the box’, using Apple’s Logic Software. The room is outfitted with Barefoot Micromain 27 close-field speakers and a pair of soffit-mounted FBT 12MA PA speakers. “We’ve been able to pump the volume up to twelve with a high comfort level within the studio and, no sound leakage to the rest of the house,” Huber says. “And, the isolation works both ways: zero family related commotion intrudes while we’re recording.”
WSDG worked with local contractors Greg Muise of Wardell Builders and Kevin “Clutch” Page of ProCraft Media to ensure an impeccable translation from drawing to completed studio. A previous local studio project collaboration with ProCraft assured Morris of a highly skilled systems integration. “Chris Huber was committed to high end finishes,” Morris reports. “Lots of wood and massive amounts of glass – on paper it looks like an acoustic nightmare! But, we performed extensive acoustic modeling to ensure flawless room acoustics, incorporating sophisticated absorptive elements including perforated wood wall treatments and ‘acoustic ceiling plaster’ which looks reflective but is actually highly efficient low frequency absorption. The Huber Music Room is a textbook example of an ideally realized acoustic balance.”
In addition to family and friend recording projects, Chris Huber will also be using the studio to mix the sound track of “Smoke Filled Lungs,” an independent feature film he is exec producing with producer/writer/actor (and former Navy SEAL) Jason Cabell
“Having my own studio has been on my ‘bucket list’ forever,” Huber concludes. “WSDG has done an excellent job in helping me realize that goal. And, it’s interesting to see how having a professional tool like this is already leading to unexpected creative adventures.”
Six views of Huber Music Room Studio + Presentation drawing
Photos by Chris Huber
###
Walters-Storyk Design Group-WSDG, a media facility design and consulting firm has collaborated on over 3500 audio /video facilities worldwide. Credits include Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios (1969); NYC’s Jazz At Lincoln Center and Le Poisson Rouge; broadcast facilities for The Food Network, ESPN, and WNET; major education complexes for NYU, Art Institute and Berklee College of Music, Valencia and Boston (2015 TEC winner); and media rooms for such corporate clients as Hoffman La Roche, Cemex, and Sony. Studio projects include NYC’s Jungle City Studios for award winning engineer, Annie Mincieli and private studios for Green Day (CA), Jay-Z (NY), film composers Carter Burwell (NY) and A.R. Rahman (India), Aerosmith (Boston), Bruce Springsteen (NJ), Alicia Keys (NY), and Paul Epworth’s The Church Studios (London). WSDG principals John Storyk, Beth Walters, Sergio Molho, Renato Cipriano, and Dirk Noy lecture frequently at universities and industry events, and contribute regularly to industry publications. WSDG has collaborated with such noted architects as Frank Gehry, Norman Foster and Phillipe Stark. WSDG is a nine-time winner of the NAMM TEC Award for outstanding achievement in Acoustics/Facility Design. The firm maintains offices in New York, Miami, LA, SF, Buenos Aires (Argentina), Belo Horizonte (Brazil) and Basel (Switzerland) with representatives in Barcelona (Spain), Moscow, Guangzhou (China), Florence (Italy), and Mexico City.
