Summary of the Project
Chairman of the Berklee College of Music Music Production and Engineering Department and Platinum & Gold Record RIAA certified engineer, Rob Jaczko, reached out to longtime friend John Storyk of Walters Storyk Design Group about supervising the remodeling of a 600 sqft room into a studio at the start of the pandemic when it became difficult to gain access to professional studios.
Challenge
Before plans to become a studio, the 19 ft x 32 ft, room over the family home’s detached garage, was intended to be a space for the children to hang out and listen to music. Since it was never intended to be a professional recording studio, the space was acoustically untreated and included plenty of hard, reflective surfaces that made critical listening impossible, let alone the recording and mixing for film, ads, and television that Jaczko needed for his independent work.
Solution
To accurately determine and position the most cost-effective and sonically accurate acoustic treatments in Jazcko’s high-pitched, trapezoidal ceiling, WSDG engaged NIRO™ (Non-Cuboid Iterative Room Optimization).
NIRO built a three-dimensional wire-frame visualization (mesh) of the room’s shape and evaluated hundreds of possibilities for the geometry and positions of speakers/subs and listeners, as well as the type of low-frequency treatment and their precise locations. The program then outputs the flattest modal response and uniform temporal decay, within the constraints of the architecture, which can be compared with in-situ measurements.
Based on recommendations from the NIRO analysis, WSDG project managers and engineers were able to establish an overall sweet spot with an ideal listening/recording environment using low-frequency Helmholtz resonator dampers and Expo panels manufactured by RPG as well as custom fabricated broadband absorption panels by MBI Products.
The Expo panel system is the ultimate synergy of acoustical technology and architectural panel design, available in a variety of finishes including wood veneer, laminates, melamine coatings, and painted surfaces. These panels can be mounted in a fixed or removable fashion utilizing a z-bar for wall applications or with any of several suspended metal grids for ceiling accessibility.
Product Specs:
- Low-frequency Helmholtz resonator dampers
- Expo Panels
Project Lead:
262 Martin Ave,
Highland, NY 12528
