Fort Wayne, IN (May 18, 2022)—Sweetwater Studios, which opened in 2007, has upgraded and reopened Studio B as an immersive audio mixing and mastering suite outfitted with a 9.1.4 monitoring setup and Avid control surface.
“The introduction of Dolby Atmos for Music on the major streaming platforms has signaled a massive sea change in audio production,” says Sweetwater Studios producer/engineer Shawn Dealey. “We noticed a lack of publicly available Dolby Atmos mix rooms, especially in the Midwest, and knew we had an opportunity to fill that void while also bringing to the table what we do best — creating a fun, inspiring environment to make music in. Given the recent upgrades to Studio A — adding a Rupert Neve Designs 5088 for the full-on analogue experience — this is a way for us to offer the best of both worlds to our customers.”
Spearheading the redesign of Studio B, Dealey worked with partners PMC to outfit the new mixing room. The 9.1.4 system (9 surround channels, LFE channel, and four height channels) consists of PMC 8-2 XBD speakers to handle left/right duties, with a PMC 8-2 in the center position. Six PMC ci65 speakers act as surrounds, with another four ci65s for height speakers. The ci65s are powered by LEA Professional Connect 704 power amplifiers. Four PMC twotwo.Sub2 subwoofers supply low end to the system’s LFE channel. The entire system is controlled through Digital Audio Denmark DADman software and an Avid S6M40 control surface via EUCON, with a JBL Synthesis SDP-55s AV receiver and a 4K Apple TV for media playback.
Sweetwater Studios Announces Upgrades
“PMC was the obvious choice for the speakers in our setup, as they have many years of development in the Dolby Atmos mix environment,” Dealey explains. “We needed speakers that were unobtrusive and easy to mount. The fact that PMC has the CI series that are low profile and lightweight made them perfect for this application, and in conjunction with the new 8-2 XBD from their Studio line, our Dolby Atmos room sounds and looks absolutely amazing.”
Studio B fits perfectly into Sweetwater Studios’ identity as a versatile audio production hub, he adds: “What makes our studio unique is how ‘chameleon-like’ we are. The range of tools and talent we have access to compared to other studios gives us extreme versatility along with the ability to shift to meet the needs of any audio production project.”
Now that Studio B is open and taking on projects, Dealey is planning a series of recording workshops aimed at artists and engineers looking to get their first taste of working in immersive formats.
