Month: April 2020

Project: Creation of several studios

Location: London, United Kingdom

Area: 682,0 sqm

Project Year: 2016

Contractor: E G Silverthern

MUSIC RECORDING STUDIOS

UNIVERSITY OF WEST LONDON

Recording studio facilities were created for the London School of Music at the University of West London, comprising of a Live Room with connected Control Room, Drum and Piano Booth, and a Post-Production Studio.

VA worked closely with the school academics, technicians and principle contractor Willmott Dixon to create studios that reflect the latest ideas and industry practices so students gain real world, applicable experience.

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Working alongside Academia, the studio equipment is based around the Audient desk selected for its intuitive learning, enabling students to quickly learn audio signal path and processing towards recording and mixing of music and sound.

The studios formed part of a much larger project being delivered by Willmott Dixon. Due to incredibly tight time restraints, a 10 week construction programme was compressed to 6 weeks to meet Willmotts objectives.

The studios were handed over to Willmott Dixon ahead of the deadline, complete, tested and snag free. The studios proved to be a huge success.

“The Veale Associates team took a proactive and practical approach to our projects, which was of great value within a fast-paced and evolving project programme. The delivery of the VA team across their projects has been highly regarded for excellent quality, relevance and applicability. Their broad skill-base and sector awareness has enabled us to provide an accurate reflection of industry standards within our teaching facilities, further promoting the quality of vocational training that is essential to our USP.”

Claire Pickersgill MRICS MSc BSc (Hons), Head of Capital Projects, University of West London

Project: Creation of several studios

Location: London, United Kingdom

Area: 682,0 sqm

Project Year: 2016

Contractor: E G Silverthern

BLAST RADIO BROADCAST STUDIOS

UNIVERSITY OF WEST LONDON

Broadcast facilities were created for the Ealing School of Music, Art, Design and Media at the University of West London.

VA worked closely with the school academics, technicians and principle contractor Willmott Dixon to create studios that reflect the latest ideas and industry practices so students gain real world, applicable experience.

Two radio broadcast studios were created, one larger teaching studio with cameras over the desk and screens as aids to support teaching, and another smaller studio for students to use independently.

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The two studios are identically equipped and centred around Lawo Crystal mixer with Vistools and uses the Tieline Commander for external reporting and contributions. Protools with RedNet to ingest music from other parts of the campus and record live studio productions, Myriad for play-out, Burli for news capture and script editing, phonebox for phone-in contributions, DJ kit comprising Pioneer CDs and record decks and mixer, Neuman microphones, PMC twotwo5 monitor speakers, Adder integrated KVM switches to seamlessly link the kit in the CAR/Racks Room to the studio desk and wall display screens.

“The Veale Associates team took a proactive and practical approach to our projects, which was of great value within a fast-paced and evolving project programme. The delivery of the VA team across their projects has been highly regarded for excellent quality, relevance and applicability. Their broad skill-base and sector awareness has enabled us to provide an accurate reflection of industry standards within our teaching facilities, further promoting the quality of vocational training that is essential to our USP.”

Claire Pickersgill MRICS MSc BSc (Hons), Head of Capital Projects, University of West London

UNIVERSITY OF WINCHESTER

Project              : Creation of several studios

Location           : Winchester

Area                 : 173m

Project Year      : 2017

Contractor         : EG Silverthorn

NEW MUSIC & SOUND RECORDING STUDIOS

UNIVERSITY OF WINCHESTER

VA transformed a dance studio into a 5 room music studio complex for the University of Winchester to support their expansion of audio recording and mixing for music production and film post-production.

The University commissioned Veale Associates to review their proposals and examine course structures and content to ensure the facilities satisfied student access and work demands. VA then designed the studio complex to comprise of two 5.1 control rooms, two live rooms and a Foley room. Extensive re-modeling was also undertaken to the access corridors to provide a new Studio Controller’s office and feature timber sound wave.

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The studios were finished to a very high standard and incorporated the new University branding. The high ceiling in Live 1 provided an opportunity to design a custom acoustic diffuser manufactured by Wood-Skin and the studio equipment centered around 2 Audient ASP8024HR consoles with monitoring by Amphion and Unity Audio. The studios were fitted out with Protools and Logic and featured a Focusrite RedNet system to provide networkable audio across the entire complex.

“Our ambition for the University of Winchester is to become a leading provider of sound and music education. Veale Associates understood the Universities ambitions from day one, whilst appreciating the constraints on cost and time. They brought a wealth of industry and higher education experience to the project. The concept from day one was to deliver not only first class education facilities from the visual perspective but studios fully equipped to deliver the key learning objectives whilst achieving the acoustic and technical criteria necessary for studios of this type. We couldn’t have done this without the professional and creative input from Veale’s leading people Eddie, Eloise and Richard. The outcome is visually stunning, well equipped functional facilities that fully meet the project brief delivered to quality, time and cost.”

Professor Joy Carter, Vice Chancellor, University of Winchester

We may still be in the midst of the conronovirus lockdown but for many it is still business as usual. Many have seen 70% of workload disappear and those considering change to studio or premises have seen construction plans put on hold. One thing is for sure, when we emerge there is going to be a huge demand to build very quickly.  During these uncertain waters it’s important to look ahead and plan so we can ensure that we emerge ready to hit the ground running.

Those in the midst of relocating have found themselves unable to make much progress and need to be motivated.  If the move is motivated by the landlord, who will have problems of their own, some respite may be available from the landlord and discussion is very worthwhile.  Should you be looking or contemplating new premises this is an excellent opportunity to research locations and what property is on the market, and open initial enquiries. 

This enforced down time is a huge opportunity to plan what you want for your business, if you are planning a refurbishment there is time to think about functionality, work flow and how your studios could look and sound.  We presently have the time to really talk with music editors, mix techs, sound supervisors, engineers & producers about their work.  Learning what they like and don’t like about premises, facilities and studios that helps refine ideas and make the project even better.  Staff might have a bit more time to think about their workloads and needs to aid the design process to advance and make the business more viable and leaders of their sector.  We have the time to truly analyse how your facilities work, staff move through the space, the equipment they need and how to embrace the new world.

One of the most important steps when ensuring a design meets expectation is to spend as much time as possible on the detail.  We now have the time to truly answer the question ‘what am I trying to accomplish’.  Many mistakes happen later on in the creation that can be traced back to not taking the time at the outset to consider the detail or those what-ifs? But now we have the time.  We have an exceptional opportunity to discuss and develop concepts and designs so we are ready to hit the ground running once business restraints are lifted. 

www.va-studiodesign.com