Project Description
Overview
Vienna City Sound is a twelve-room recording studio built in the basement of a vintage commercial building in the heart of Vienna. Owner Peter Zimmerl’s vision for the space was to create a multi-zoned suite that could support both traditional audio recording with full live instrumentation as well as the ability to utilize modern networked audio and live multimedia streaming. Inspired by the look and feel of London’s The Church Studios, he retained the services of WSDG to design his dream studio.
Program
The studio was designed from the ground-up to fit within the existing space of the old building (est. 1880) in the center of Vienna and to accommodate Zimmerl’s preferred creative workflow. He requested discrete areas for both a large live room and control room for recording as well as a separate control room and isolation booths designed for live streaming and podcasting. In addition to this, he sought a neutral aesthetic palette that would look clean and stylish, as well as give him ample space to display his sizable art collection.
The WSDG design team consisted of Partner, Director of Acoustics Gabriel Hauser, Founding Partner, Director of Design John Storyk, Partner, Director of Design Renato Cipriano, and Architect Breno Magalhães. Hans Löffler of Team Löffler was the builder for the project, and Mario Reithofer and Roland Tscherne of TSAMM – Professional Audio Solutions were the technical consultants and AV system integrators.
Design
Walls were demolished on either side of the central lounge and kitchen area in order to accommodate multiple points of entry to the studio from either side of the building. A large structural column was also removed and replaced with two I-beams in the ceiling in the live room. Decoupled walls and ceilings were built around the existing structural columns for sound isolation. Angled ceilings were required in the control room to accommodate the existing air conditioning system.
Zone 1 features a 484 ft2/45m2 live room for recording full bands, 258 ft2/24m2control room, and three isolation booths. The control room is outfitted with an SSL AWS Console and ADAM monitors, and features an angled ceiling and rear diffusion for a tight and controlled sonic profile. All audio sources in the studio are networked with Dante for ease of use, and engineers and musicians have access to the network for monitoring purposes by use of mobile apps. In keeping with Zimmerl’s vision, the areas are painted neutral colors with ample space for visual art, and controllable LED lighting for setting the proper mood.
Zone 2 features an additional control room and isolation booth with daylight designed for multimedia production and live streaming.