TEC 2022 AWARD NOMINEE HIGH LEVEL ENTERTAINMENT STUDIOS Professional Audio Design, Inc

Malekpour Design Partners has quickly established itself as a force to be reckoned with in the annals of studio design. We’re both honored and proud to announce that our design for High Level Entertainment’s music production facility received a TEC-award nomination in the category of Outstanding Creative Achievement/ Studio Design Project against some very stiff competition. The winner will be announced on Saturday, January 22, 2022.

Monitors by Augspurger​

Having worked at Quad and Premier studios in Manhattan, the Martin’s also wanted the familiar sound of Augspurger monitors in both control rooms. Since Augspurger monitors are part of the family of companies with Malekpour Design Partners at its core, the installation of Augspurger Monitors was overseen and personally tuned both acoustically and electronically by Dave Malekpour to provide consistent performance between the larger set of 12” DUO 12V monitors with Sub 18s in control room A, and smaller and very popular 8” DUO 8 “MiniMain” monitors with SUB 212 in control room B—both systems powered by 4,000W per-side SXE-3D power amps with DSP. As such, a project started in control A could be seamlessly ported and played back in control room B and vice versa with no change in frequency or spatial response, regardless of the difference in size between the monitors and room. As a result, High Level Entertainment’s studios A and B now boast the world-class audio reproduction that Augspurger is famous for.

CLIENT DIRECTIVE:

Revamp a studio built in the ’80s, bringing it into the 21st century with an inspiring look and feel, suited to creating content, branding, artist development, and management.

Father and son team, Shon and Qwanir Martin, whose experience includes music creation and artist production, found an existing studio in South River, New Jersey (a lively community for families and young professionals, approximately 45 minutes from New York City via public transportation), that was built for hard rock and metal. While the Martin’s didn’t have a fixed idea for what the studio should look like, their general directive was a clean and modern look, with an elegant and timeless design that would maintain its relevance long into the future.

DESIGN CHALLENGES: 

• Reconfigure a standard studio format into a multi-room facility
• Turn an oddly placed control room alcove into a useful space without compromising acoustic response
• Build an additional control room within the existing space, eliminating bi-directional sound transmission issues from monitor playback or tracking
• Provide an inspirational atmosphere and ambiance for artist and producer, which suggested the ability to change mood through lighting and décor, including custom furniture

SOLUTIONS:

The final physical format of the studio features two control rooms, Studio A and B, with a live room adjacent to control room A for tracking. Within the existing physical structure, a smaller control room, Studio B, which was not in the original floor plan of the studio was constructed with an iso booth for vocal tracking. The alcove in Studio A was converted into a bar for additional creature comforts, and fitted with a door that preserved the acoustic response of the room.