A new seven-storey building in Mexico City designed by Walters-Storyk Design Group (WSDG) to house a triplex 7,000 sqft recording studio is to serve as the new home for Estudio 13.
Featuring a glass wall and a balcony-like profile, the structure represents a distinctive addition to the city’s overall architectural profile.
For over 17 years, Estudio 13 head producer/musical director José Francisco Aguilera and studio operations/project manager Eduardo Acosta recorded a wide variety of live performances on location in major concert halls and hosted music, voiceover and radio recording assignments in their original studio.
In the pursuit for a larger, more acoustically advanced recording space, they contacted WSDG co-principal Sergio Molho in 2013 and began searching for a new site for their business.
By mid 2015 they had acquired the land and had begun the construction phase. Today, Estudio 13’s ground floor 560 sqft ‘Piano/Rehearsal Room’ features a prized Bösendorfer Imperial.
Ideally suited for string sections or choral ensembles, the live room is linked to both of the studio’s control rooms. The 160 sqft CR A on the second floor features a 48-channel AWS 948 SSL Console, a 5.1 monitoring system outfitted with Focal SM9 speakers and a Sub 6 Focal Subwoofer.
The second floor is highlighted by a 350 sqft Live Room, which extends balcony-like over the Piano Room and boasts a 23 ft-high ceiling. WSDG signature acoustics were developed and fine-tuned by Belo Horizonte, Brazil-based partner/acoustician Renato Cipriano.
Designed primarily for stereo mixing and mastering, the third floor 150 sqft CR B and Iso booth is also hooked up to the Piano Room and is geared for voice-over and radio recording. To provide ‘effortless’ communication between artists, producers and engineers, the entire complex is linked for video as well as audio connectivity.
Miami-based WSDG partner/art director/interior designer Silvia Molho worked closely with Estudio 13 to develop a spacious, colourful complex trimmed in natural wood and varying hues of blue, with numerous windows offering natural sun, star and moonlight. Extensive glass between the CR’s, Iso’s and Live rooms also provides visual connectivity.
A three-storey glass wall, slanted inward at the ground floor, affords the building additional acoustic isolation from exterior sources. Estudio 13 offers a collection of 100+ vintage and modern microphones, a deep pool of contemporary and classic analogue peripherals and a wide range of guitars and other instruments for client use.
“WSDG has a global reputation for extraordinary recording studio design,” said Estudio 13 principal, José Francisco Aguilera. “We were pleased to have had the benefit of their design and acoustic expertise. Many of our clients have congratulated us on the look and the sound of our new recording facility. Those comments regularly remind us that we made the correct
