The Story
Line Studio at WMS is a very special project that is close to the heart of everyone at WSDG. Its location and affiliation with the Title-1 classified Washington Middle School enables it to serve as an educational and cultural hub for a very important and underserved population of students, artists, and aspiring audio professionals with a unique musical heritage. We’re often privileged as an organization to design facilities that meld together our expertise in both recording studios and educational spaces. With this particular project we feel that we’ve created something with the community around WMS that will serve as a springboard for talent on the islands and will empower them to bring their music, culture, and creative vision anywhere else in the world they choose to take it.
The Studio
The 1600 ft² recording complex is a world-class recording studio designed to function equally well as a professional audio production space and as a classroom. Advanced predictive analysis was provided by REDIacoustics NIRO™ software to aid in the layout design of the entire space and provided an optimized acoustic environment for all rooms. Room-in-room construction was utilized to provide total acoustic isolation. The complex also includes multiple iso booths, a substantial equipment closet, a full complement of outboard gear, and a Sound Lock with wheelchair access.
Control Room
The control room has dedicated consoles for both audio and video production – specifically the SSL AWS 948 and AVID MTRX and a NewTek Tricaster. Monitoring is provided by a custom Symphonic Acoustics speaker system, jointly designed by WSDG and George Augspurger, as well as a full Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 ATC speaker array for immersive audio production and mixing.
Live Room and ISO Booths
The spacious live room also allows for multiple configurations and ensemble sizes. As with the rest of the studio, the interior and lighting design of the space was inspired by the lush Hawaiian surroundings. The WSDG design team integrated elements of the trunks and leaves of the local kalo plant within the custom designed rear wall Wave Diffuser and other aesthetic/acoustic elements of the interior. Local materials were also heavily favored in the construction process.
The Community
“WSDG truly saw our dream for this studio and made it a reality. It has become an amazing vehicle to drive the vision of the future of what you can accomplish with music in Hawaii. The dream really does go on and on from here.”
Sam Fong, Line Studio at WMS Audio Engineer and Educator
“Line Studio at WMS represents the contextualization of education at its highest level and a step in the direction of reimagining how students will be educated in the future. Once stepping down that path, there can be no turning back.”
Michael K. Harano, WMS Principal
