Case Studies

Electric Ladyland Studio

Probably the largest and most prestigious studio in New York, made famous by the legendary musician and songwriter, Jimi Hendrix.

"I was working on a project called Sound Mixes on Broadway for an American Company, Servia Audio (based in Los Angeles). The manager of Electric Ladyland came in one day to have a look at ‘this bunch of English guys doing the acoustics’. We talked but he seemed a little bit cagey, asking lots of questions about the type of work we do and our “experience”.

Several days later he called again and asked a lot more questions and if I would look at a problem he had in Studio C; with the bass absorption & some other acoustic issues. He wanted someone from “out of town” to look at this. After we agreed a design, he gave me a window of just five weeks to carry out the work, to include a drum booth. Happily, with my contacts from LA; we were able to successfully fit this into his timeframe.

Many a great album has been made in that studio since!"

EMI Penthouse

"I was called in to look at the top floor of the EMI flagship studio at Abbey Road, London - with a view to providing a small internal studio equipped with an entire set of facilities to enable artists to lock themselves away, uninterrupted. Daylight was to be provided through two sound proofed roof lights & a window to the side offering views of the leafy North London suburb.

Construction was difficult due to ongoing recording in the existing studios, the structural nature of the work and containing the noise from the close proximity of the neighbours. Total soundproofing was a must in the completed project, to avoid any disturbance to the latter two environments.

The completed studio became a firm favourite of David Bowie, Queen and many famous writers and arrangers."

Angel Studios, Islington, London

"We have a long history with Angel going back to 1976 when Studio One was built, the upgrade of the Control Room to a new Tom Hidley design in 1983 and finally the building of Studio Three.

The late John Timperley, one of the main driving forces of the last project, asked me for a metre of ceiling height that simply was not there! So the entire building was underpinned and over a metre of earth excavated from the depths of the Angel building. The ‘deWolfe Music Group’, who own the studios, have a huge library of screen and movie scores. The studio had to be capable of handling a large orchestra with sufficient air volume to achieve high quality recording. In addition to the underpinning, Studio Three would sit immediately below Studio One, so sound isolation was of paramount importance.

It was not unusual for these Studios to be used concurrently - i.e. two orchestras recording simultaneously.

The road had to be closed to thread the main ceiling supports, 14 metres long, into the building, forming the base of the structure needed to hold up the 50 tons of sand & lead sheet required to meet the stringent isolation system.

The entire area, 3000sq ft, was completed with oak flooring.

A variable room trap to the rear of the room was installed. This consisted of sliding mirrors approximately 12metres long by 2.1 metres high. When closed they gave the room a bright response for rock and roll sessions, and when opened up, revealed a soft surface behind, more suitable for orchestral recording. An isolation room to house 15 people further added to the studio.

Interestingly, the original building was a Greek Orthodox Church; the organ has been retained and has been used for some of the recordings. The pipes over the years of church activities had become coated with incense, the aroma still arising when the organ is played!"

Future Post, Soho, London

In 2000, Future Film Group decide to build a new post production facility in the old MPC building in Noel Street, Soho. The premises were over 200 years old and before had been a famous restaurant frequented by Oscar Wilde amongst others. AVD were contracted to construct three major sound studios including one of the largest Dolby mixing theatres in London, a TV dubbing suite and ADR/foley stage.

Numerous problems were inherent in the project from the start due to the age of the building, local access in the narrow Soho streets and noise pollution created at the high levels used in theatrical cinema mixing and so, placating the local neighbours not used to having a mix theatre working 24hrs a day nearby.

Work began in August and was completed on schedule to begin the first feature film production in the facility by early December. The place became an immediate success and created some major film sound tracks including “King Arthur” and “Cold Mountain”.