BUENOS AIRES:

Regardless of the on-going movement towards laptop recording, purists with the desire and the means to create full-scale, well-equipped studios continue to pursue their pro studio dreams. A pair of youthful Argentine brothers recently engaged the Walters-Storyk Design Group in Buenos Aires to create a high-end home studio for their Roma & Romma Records label.

Constructing the studio as an annex to the family home required particular attention to acoustic isolation. “Our clients wanted the freedom play and record any time of the day or night without disturbing their family,” explains WSDG-LA partner Sergio Molho. “They retained us for the design-through-construction, and complete turnkey systems integration of a professional studio with acoustically perfect live and control rooms.”

“WSDG has created studios for such artists as Fito Paez, Alicia Keys, Evette Sangallo, and Jay-Z, we knew they would develop an ideal facility for us,” said studio principal Nicholas Romero. “While we do not plan to make our studio available for outside productions, we wanted to insure the highest quality acoustic and technological support.”

Initial client meetings aided WSDG LA interior designer, Silvia Molho in establishing an ideal, home-like creative environment. “Our goal was to personalize the control and live rooms to inspire their creativity,” she says. “We selected contemporary shapes for the white and grey, multi-textured, fabric-covered acoustic/aesthetic wall and ceiling panels. The control room’s grey color palette was chosen to compliment the technology and custom furniture. Vertical and horizontal lines in both spaces are highlighted by special lighting fixtures, and we treated the window connecting both rooms with carefully placed shapes and lighting elements to fully unify the studio.”

Roma and Romma Records features a Digidesign D-Command 24 console; ProTools HD 24 Recorder running on an Apple Mac Pro; Adam S5VA monitors; Outboard equipment including: API 212, Avalon VT737, Millenia HV3D, Neve 1073, Empirical Labs Distressor and Manley VoxBox; and Hearback & Sennheiser HD-25 Monitoring.

Photos: Roma & Romma Records Control Room (Buenos Aires)
Roma & Romma Records Control Room (Buenos Aires)
Photos by Silvia Molho

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The Walters-Storyk Design Group www.wsdg.com has designed over 3000 media production facilities in the U.S., Europe, the Far East and Latin America. WSDG credits range from the original Jimi Hendrix Electric Lady Studio in Greenwich Village to NYC’s Jazz At Lincoln Center performance complex, broadcast facilities for The Food Network, Interlochen Public Radio, CBS and WNET, and corporate clients such as Hoffman La Roche. Recent credits include private studios for the Goo Goo Dolls, Jay-Z, Timbaland’s TimMosley, Tracy Chapman, film composer Carter Burwell, Aerosmith; Green Day, Bruce Springsteen and Alicia Keys. WSDG principals John Storyk, Beth Walters, and Dirk Noy lecture frequently at universities and industry events, and contribute regularly to industry publications. WSDG is a six-time winner of the prestigious TEC Award for outstanding achievement in Acoustics/Facility Design. The firm maintains offices in NY, SF, Argentina, Brazil, Beijing, Cologne, Mexico City and Switzerland.