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Project Case Study: Therapy Studios

Therapy Studios is a busy post-production house in West Los Angeles. With a big feature film project in the works, they realized it was important to improve their main sound room. Initially, they thought they just needed some acoustical tuning materials. After contacting PMI and meeting with Anthony Grimani, they learned the room needed complete renovation - and talk about "asap" they needed it done in less than a week! 

The main problem was sound isolation – the room had essentially no isolation on the right wall and the ceiling so sounds from adjacent spaces were seeping into the studio.

Moving at warp speed, PMI engineered the space, contracted the building and installation, specified and secured the gear, and actually got the whole project completed in four days from start to finish. Here’s some of what we achieved in record time: 
  • Completely reconstructed the right side wall with a resilient framing system.
  •  Reconstructed the ceiling with a sound-isolated, hanger-resilient ceiling system.
    • Replaced foam inserts in the ceiling with custom blocking and acoustical sealant to reduce sound leakage to/from the hallway.
    • Built a riser for the producer's couch to improve sound lines and consistency between the mix seat and the producer's seat.
    •  Replaced the acoustical treatments with a ZSound™ Ensemble system from MSR Acoustics, a high performance acoustical tuning system for professional studios.

      BEFORE - Front Wall
      AFTER - Front Wall
      BEFORE - Right/Back Wall
      AFTER - Right/Back Wall
      • Installed a new baffle-mounted speaker system in the front which was aimed for best coverage of the mix desk and producer's area.
      • Added an amplifier and signal processor between the DAW and new passive front loudspeakers to provide time alignment and frequency correction for each speaker. The result is more accurate sound quality and spatial resolution.
      • Added a second subwoofer strategically located to smooth out bass variations in the room. The result is tighter bass performance and less bass change from seat to seat. 
      • Repositioned back set of surround speakers for better presentation to the couch.
      Installed gear includes Klipsch speakers from Electronic Stockroom. We also used Ashly Audio EQ which allowed us to fine-tune the speakers to the room, and create six sound simulation presets to imitate the sound of an iPad, of TV speakers, of a small home theater in a box, and more. The room can also be tuned to X-Curve film standards, as well as 5.1 channel HD broadcast standards.

      According to Joe Disanto, EP/Partner of Therapy Studios, “We started out thinking we just needed some room isolation, but after Tony and team took over we ended up with so much more. The room sounds great and we're amazed they were able to make it all happen on such short notice. You guys rock!"

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