Project Description
Overview
Rob Jaczko is Chairman of the Berklee College of Music Boston, MA Music Production & Engineering Department and, a Platinum & Gold Record RIAA certified engineer whose credits include Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Warren Zevon, Don Henley and Sheryl Crow. In planning a home recording/mixing studio for a space over the garage of his 120-year-old family home, Jaczko consulted with Berklee CM, Boston visiting professor and long-time friend John Storyk on sound isolation and room tuning issues. These conversations led to him retaining WSDG to plan and supervise the room’s remodeling project.
Program
The Abbott Road Studio is 600 SQ. FT. all-in-one room with a 14 ft tall A-Frame ceiling. It is detached from the main home, and set beside a wooded area apart from nearby neighbors. Originally designated as a music listening/hangout space for his youngsters, Jaczko found the room evolving into his studio/workspace. A growing involvement with personal projects inspired him to reconsider the room as an open ‘black box’ environment adaptable to live recording/mixing of drums, guitar, synth, piano and other instruments. When the quarantine made pro studio access problematic Jaczko decided to upgrade his room with balanced monitoring and acoustics to facilitate recording and mixing the film, ad jingle and TV music he creates in his independent producer/engineer work.
Design
Because sound isolation had not been an issue during the room’s ‘hang-out phase,’ no major remodeling, new construction or acoustic isolation was required. To accurately determine and position the most cost-effective and sonically accurate acoustic treatments WSDG engaged NIRO™ a recently developed analysis tool designed to predict and correct low frequency issues in non-cuboid spaces such as the trapezoidal cross section in Jaczko’s high-pitched ceiling. WSDG project managers and engineers found the NIRO analysis recommendations extremely accurate in enabling them to establish an overall sweet spot that provides the room with a modern, highly professional look and superb listening/recording environments.
Photography by Rob Jaczko