Project Description
TEC AWARD WINNER 2023
Overview
Spotify is the world’s largest streaming music provider with over 381 million active monthly users and growing. After several years of design and construction, the company opened Spotify At Mateo in 2022. The 150,000 sq ft campus is located in the heart of LA’s historic Arts District and serves as Spotify’s flagship destination for their rapidly growing content creation division as well as a crucial artistic hub for LA’s podcast and music professionals.
Program
Designed to be an immersive, all-in-one experience with all aspects of music and podcast production, post-production, and performance under one roof, Spotify At Mateo required a wide variety of recording and production spaces that would be utilized by both visiting artists and Spotify’s in-house team of creators and producers. In addition to this, communal listening and performance spaces were also required. The campus was designed by LA design firm RIOS, with studio design, electroacoustics, A/V systems design, and production lighting by WSDG.
Design
Building One has a pair of full-featured recording studios, A and B, and a podcast recording studio. Studio A features a 48-channel Rupert Neve Designs Shelford 5088 console. Studio B is equipped with an Avid S4 24-fader Control Surface with Dolby Atmos mix capability. Both studios share a purpose-designed echo chamber. Studios A and B also feature innovative sets of hinged acoustic panels which allow for variable acoustical conditions within the spaces as well as a purpose-designed echo chamber. WSDG also designed the acoustics of the onsite screening room, event hall, and three listening rooms in Building Two. Building Four’s ‘Pod City’ is a honeycombed collection of spaces created specifically for podcasting. This includes Spotify’s Flagship Podcast Studio D, as well as 15 additional podcast studios, two production rooms, and three artist lounges. All of the rooms have multiple windows for access to natural light and greenery and were created with ideal acoustic conditions and seamless system design in partnership with SPL. The exterior design of the rooms nicknamed ‘The Craggle’, give the space a sense of excitement and flow.
Photos by Thomas McGovern
Links
Watch the Sound on Sound Video
Vote for WSDG and Spotify at Mateo for the 2023 NAMM TEC Awards
Featured in RadioWorld’s Spectacular Radio Studios 2023
Winner of the 2023 TEC Award in Studio Design Project Category