The Clinic Recording Studio, Dublin
Having secured the ideal premises, an old industrial building in the North Dublin suburb of Fairview, David Curley contacted Smart Studio with a standard set of requirements: a studio control room and a live room capable of hosting a five-piece band.
The all-important question was: is this possible – to a professional specification, in an old warehouse?
Agreeing the Plan
The process of creating “The Clinic” began with an on-site review in January 2019.
Immediately it was apparent that the site is in a quiet residential area. The studio’s neighbours were a row of Georgian cottages, 5m from the front door of the building. Coupled with a very lightweight roof on the building, it was clear from the outset that substantial levels of sound insulation would be required.
It took two days to complete a proposal, one significant benefits of the Smart Studio modular system.
With an agreement swiftly in place, the manufacturing process commenced.
Drawing used as part of the planning process.
Starting on-site
Being a home-town-project, the logistics of transporting materials from factory to site was a simple undertaking.
Overall the Smart Studio install process took six weeks to complete with no complications.
Years spent in design and development now pay dividends – in the form of efficiency and short lead times, to the client.
The situation on arrival….and departure.
System Integration
Smart Studio’s integrated cable trunking serves makes it easy to integrate necessary cables neatly. Cables were run from point to point within the control room and through to the live room. Traditionally a pain-staking process, this was completed in a fraction of the usual time.
The electrical install – also an integral, plug-and-play element of Smart Studio’s approach, was completed in a single day, eliminating the need to wait for electrical contractors’ availability.
Acoustic Testing
With the equipment install complete the final element of the process was acoustic testing. The Smart Studio strategy is to utilise significant control over the low frequency octave bands and to apply 2D binary diffusion across the mid/high frequencies. The net result is a balanced room which avoids low frequency resonant/modal responses – while retaining the acoustic energy in the mid and upper octave bands.
What this means is that the musicians hear their instruments or amplifiers. Producers and engineers hear their monitor speakers, without colouration from room modes. The sound is consistent, even and accurate throughout the space.