Project Description
Overview
A Mecca for stars ranging from Tupak Shakur to Hilary Duff and Ne-Yo, Quad Studios has called 723 Seventh Avenue its Times Square home since the early 1980’s. A 2010 renovation focused the Q1 Control Room around a huge gear rack in the middle of the room. The unit also served as a production desk. With the shift to software-based production, clients have become less concerned with gear and more appreciative of ‘creature comforts.’ Quad’s owners decided to free up the back of the room and enhance its overall sound, look and vibe. The WSDG team was brought in to make it all happen.
Program
As with any busy room a primary concern was keeping downtime to a minimum. From beginning to end the Quad project took approximately 2 months. With precise planning, and by arranging for the major components of the new design to be pre fabricated off site, WSDG held actual downtime to under a week. A major goal of the renovation was improving the sound quality of the room and adding a more powerful sound system. The original Augspurger sound system was ‘pumped up’ with custom digital amps and an integrated DSP processor that provides 5000w of total power. Additionally, the original tweeters were replaced with new Beryllium Diaphragms, and a pair of 18” subwoofers was installed to top off the upgrade.
Design
The primary objective was to create more legroom for this handsome, 320 sq. ft. control room. And, to update its overall aesthetics, making clients more comfortable, and enabling them to listen to their music at louder levels. By repositioning the gear racks to the side of the room, “pushing back” the rear wall a full foot, and outfitting that wall with a custom diffusor, WSDG created enough space to add a couch and establish an overall sense of more elbow room. The finely tuned acoustics now permit clients to fully appreciate Quad’s long standing reputation as “one of the loudest rooms in New York.”
Testimonial
Alessio Casalini & Ricky Hosn | Quad Studios
Co-owner
“When the room was originally built in 2010, it centered around the producer’s production needs. We had a huge rack in the middle of the room that we used as a production desk. Today’s producers are less reliant on actual instruments and equipment; they’ve embraced software-based production. We decided to free up the back of the room and shift the racks to the side. We saw this build out as an opportunity to enhance the overall sound, look and vibe of the room. The WSDG team came up with a great redesign concept that performs exactly the way we hoped it would. Q1’s always been one of NYC’s loudest rooms,” Hosn says, “but now it’s super-powered loud!”