Berklee opens world-class recording/teaching studio complex

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Berklee College of Music, the world's premier learning lab for contemporary music, and Walters-Storyk Design group, renowned for its work on studios for Jimi Hendrix, Alicia Keys, and Bob Marley, announced the completion of a cutting edge recording/teaching complex at Berklee's Valencia campus. Berklee's new state-of-the-art campus is located at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Spain. The studio facility is the final element of Berklee's first international campus, which recently launched its master's programs.

The audio production and teaching complex is composed of five inter-related components. The 1, 600-square-foot scoring stage—Studio K—includes an 860-square-foot live room with 15-foot ceilings and boasts variable acoustic wall treatments developed for diverse recording configurations. The scoring stage's windows provide fantastic views of the Palau and allow the public to view Berklee's music activities. Supporting the live room is a 500-square-foot control room, two 250-square-foot ISO/overdub booths, and an isolated machine room. The aggregate advantages of the control room configuration fully supports Berklee's primary teaching mandate. Each aspect of the studio coalesces to form an indisputably world-class recording complex.

"Our master's students and visiting artists will benefit from an extremely sophisticated studio environment. This is an extraordinary educational tool, expressly designed to prepare them for their transition from student to music professional, " explained Guillermo Cisneros, Berklee vice president for global initiatives, and executive director, Berklee in Valencia.

"The studio complex needed to make a statement in a design-conscious country, and be technically and acoustically capable of representing a desirable destination for professional work, " said Carl Beatty, Berklee chief of staff, who has headed the project since the beginning of the Palau de les Arts renovation. "We decided to employ Avid/Euphonix controllers to take advantage of their Eucon protocol that allows seamless migration of projects across the facility, all the way up to the flagship System 5. Additionally, when we install an identical console in Boston, we will be doing real time joint sessions between the two locations via Internet 2 technology."

The entire facility is configured through a central machine room for speed, ease of turnaround, and high interconnectivity between rooms, including the Palau de les Arts' concert halls. The System 5 has 48 channels, with 128 channels of I/O, and 176 mic lines. There is a broad selection of analog processing with plenty of room for additions should the need arise.

Monitoring in the production suites is all Genelec – 5.1 surround in Studio A, and 2.1 stereo in Studios B, C, and D. The control room in Studio K features the Meyers Acheron 7.1 surround monitoring system, an acknowledged industry standard. The room also includes Griffin G2B Active main stereo monitors. "These monitors are impressive. Along with their dual 15-inch subwoofers, the use of ribbon tweeters gives the speaker a very impressive transient response and high-mid articulation, " said Beatty. "There are also mid field monitors available—ProAc's and Yamaha NS-10's. Additionally, the room has been designed to Dolby specifications and readied for the new Dolby Atmos Cinema Sound monitoring protocol. This facility is an integral component of the comprehensive, modern Music Technology Complex developed for Berklee's Valencia campus."

Commenting on the new complex, architect/acoustician John Storyk remarked: "Berklee's new Valencia recording/teaching studio raises the benchmark for European audio education. We have been the designers for dozens of educational recording environments around the world and are incredibly proud of our tenure at Berklee, both at the Valencia and Boston campuses."

Impressed by the quality of the scoring stage at the Berklee campus, visiting master class instructor and former Fox Music president, Robert Kraft noted, "The scoring stage is an amazing asset to have in Valencia, and has the potential to be even more of a reason for students and professionals to come to the Berklee facilities."

"The scoring stage and recording studios at Berklee Valencia are simply sublime, " said composer and visiting professor, Laura Karpman. "In the studios I was able to compose, record, and mix a film for Sony/Lifetime with a very fast turnaround. The results were fabulous. It was a pleasure to make music there."

In addition to designing and constructing recording studios for Berklee College of Music in both Valencia and the $100 million-plus new building at 160 Massachusetts Ave. in Boston, Walters-Storyk Design Group is renowned for its work on studios for Bruce Springsteen, Celine Dion, Def Jam Records, ESPN, Jay-Z, Jazz at Lincoln Center, MTV Latin America, and the 2012 TEC Award-winning Jungle City Studios.

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