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Studio Design & Room Tuning


CBS TV News, New York City


CBS "The Early Show" Studio, N.Y. City

Veteran CBS broadcaster Mike Wallace in the Acoustilog-treated voiceover booth at 60 Minutes Studios. The bubbles on the walls make the booth simulate the office environments where guests were interviewed, thus allowing seamless editing between studio and field audio.

Sorcerer Sound Studio B
Sorcerer Sound Studio B, New York City

Home Studio Design
The owner of this home studio called us in before building his music practice room. This enabled him to avoid an expensive mistake. His contractor was about to put in the wrong ceiling for the type of music he plays

Sound leak around studio door frame
Many studio designers don't inspect their own work. This studio wasn't sealed above the door frame and sound was pouring in.

Room Tuning

Alan Fierstein brings more experience to room tuning than anyone else in the NY City area, using the best equipment and a unique philosophy to optimize your listening environment. Part of this philosophy is knowing when Monitor Equalization will not be an adequate solution to a room's problems. See "The Equalization Myth", written by Alan Fierstein for dB, The Sound Engineering Magazine

Read a recent testimonial letter from a studio owner re: Room Tuning.

Studio Design

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It is the position of Acoustilog that an acoustical consultant's job is to determine the special needs of each client, and to create a design that avoids the potential problems which are inherent in the planning of a new studio. We do not repeat our designs, or copy the ideas of others. We feel that quality cannot be mass-produced, and take pride in a studio which has been customized to meet the owner's requirements.

Read a letter from a recent studio client, who says he wishes he'd called us before spending a lot of money on ineffective treatments.

But imagination must be tempered with experience, and here Acoustilog's position in the design field is unique. We have many years of experience in both acoustical design, and the creation and use of measurement technology to assist in the design process for each project. We make the appropriate tests (such as diffusion, reverberation and isolation) before, during and after construction. Our experience has given us a unique ability to interpret these measurements and to translate them into efficient acoustical treatments.

We maintain a sophisticated laboratory to invent custom equipment for unique requirements and to maintain the accurate calibration of all our gear. In 1975, Acoustilog was first to manufacture a digital Reverberation Timer designed specifically for analyzing control rooms, and we were first to start applying this to studios. We also make real-time analyzers, calibration systems, noise tapes, and we are the only company manufacturing TDS conversion systems for HP and Tektronix equipment. Our Impulser allows testing of phase alignment of speakers.

Acoustilog will work with you to establish acoustical performance criteria, develop appropriate details, do testing and examine all critical construction. Working in this way, we have created innovative designs that perform as well as or better than "boiler-plate" versions. This is only possible where continuous acoustical supervision and measurements are part of the design process. It is a quality control approach that most other firms do not offer.

Please visit our Client List page to see a partial list of our many Recording and Broadcast Studio Clients

Safety Alert

The tragic nightclub fire in Providence, R.I. has put a spotlight on the safety of so-called "soundproofing foams". Many studios, especially home and project studios, use similar materials. Please visit our Safety page to learn more.

Problems With "State of the Art" Measuring Systems

As a leader in the field of studio testing, we are often called on to correct "world class" studios that, despite the enormous design fees paid, contain serious acoustical design flaws. Unfortunately, some studio design firms know more about interior decorating than about acoustics.

Often we are called in to correct problems in brand new studios. After some of these fact-finding missions uncover design errors, some of these consultants now use us to double-check their design before showing it to the client.

We are often asked about the latest measurement systems or "trendy" trademarked design philosophies. As a consulting firm, Acoustilog is often called in to "de-certify" certified "LEDE" rooms that had poor acoustical performance. Usually, these rooms are "designed" with TEF devices. Time Delay Spectrometry, or TDS (and TEF) systems output far more information than is required for a control room design. They are suited for research, not for design. However, the vast array of computer-generated data from such a device is impressive and is unfortunately being used to impress non-technical clients. What is even more disturbing is that a large and growing group of people who have the benefit of a 3-day course in the use of this single device are calling themselves Control Room designers, and lack the experience necessary for the job. Worse, they have years of experience doing the same exact design, unaware of its flaws.

Time Delay Spectrometry has valid uses in research, and we use it ourselves with our own custom system, based on a Tektronix Swept Spectrum Analyzer and an Acoustilog Voltage-Controlled Oscillator. But we only use it for research, such as measuring the absorption curve of a new material. Use of this device in a Recording Studio is not only overkill, it is usually inaccurate compared to basic acoustic measurement methods.

The difference between Acoustilog and most other Recording Studio Design Firms is successful experience. Often, acoustical designers make basic mistakes that can be corrected, and solving these problems is our specialty. This gives us valuable experience in avoiding similar problems in ground-up designs. And as New York's busiest acoustic troubleshooters, we see more rooms than other designers. With the advent of TEF courses, we are busier than ever.