Pro Audio Berger Designs Whitney Studio New Home Facility Is State of the Art by PAUL VERNA the Way She Liked to Live and the Things Says RBDG Consultant Knowles
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Pro Audio Berger Designs Whitney Studio New Home Facility Is State Of The Art BY PAUL VERNA the way she liked to live and the things says RBDG consultant Knowles. `By she like to have around her," says Ro- modeling the design elements into a NEW YORK-For most musical art- bert Traub, Berger's staff architect. 3D animated video, we're visually ists and audio professionals, a home "Based on her home, obviously the communicating complex concepts studio is a place where comfort and color purple is really important to her, through a medium we can all easily convenience take precedence over the and she wanted it in her new studio. understand." state of the art. However, when the Also, she likes maple, so we used it in Now that the project has been com- studio owners are Whitney Houston the studio, and we used a kind of light- pleted, Berger derives satisfaction and Bobby Brown, no expense is ing that's flexible enough to create the from knowing that the studio is oper- spared, no detail overlooked, and no mood she was after." ating according to plan. acoustic design firm short of the Russ The studio houses the first SSL "Whitney is there now working on Berger Design Group hired to create 9000 board ever built, as well as a project, and that's the most exciting the ultimate in-house recording facil- Studer 48 -track digital, 24 -track ana- thing of all -that the room is being ity. log, and mixdown decks. The control used," says Berger. "This is not a commercial venture; room is monitored by a Quested sys- Berger ranks the Houston/Brown it's a creative venture," says Berger. tem. facility as "one of the nicest" home "The primary difference is you're In addition to a spacious control studio designs he has ever designed. working with the artist directly and room, the studio comprises a main re- He should know: The 20 -year veteran trying to custom -fit something that cording space with high ceilings and of the studio design industry has also meets their needs. You don't have to clerestory windows, and a piano track- worked on lavish home projects for The Russ Berger- designed control room at Whitney Houston's home studio, satisfy a host of engineers, producers, ing room. Mariah Carey, Michael Bolton, Steve featuring the first -ever -built SSL 9000 console, Studer 48-track digital and 24 -track and visiting dignitaries." The recording spaces and control Miller, and Al DiMeola. analog recorders, and RPG diffusor blocks. In order to accommodate his clients' room are separated by sloped, floor - wishes, Berger worked with a crack to-ceiling, sound -rated windows, al- team consisting of systems expert Jim lowing unimpeded visual cofnmunica- Zumpano, an engineer who has tion between the rooms. worked on several Houston records Among the amenities at the facility through his affiliation with the pro- are an indoor lap pool and guest house duction team of L.A. Reid and Baby - in a wooded area adjacent to the re- Veteran Producer Tickle Spotlights Vocal face; installation specialist Jim Wile of cording area, according to Berger. Atlanta-based Comprehensive Techni- In order to help the client visualize cal Group; consultant Johnson the design concept, Berger and com- Artistry In Adam Ant, Armatrading Projects Knowles; general contractor Consoli- pany created a computer -animated, dated Contracting Corp.; and a top - 3D "fly- through" of the studio before BY MICHELE BOTWIN through, and Split Enz was left in five years and her first release level horticultural and landscape firm. construction began. without a label. for the label. "One of the things we did initially "It's difficult for a client to get a LOS ANGELES -When pro- Frustrated, Tickle broke from "It just had all the elements that was take a tour of her home and saw good sense of scale from blueprints," ducer /mixer David Tickle arrived Chapman and was set to head back I look for if I'm going to be in- in New York from England in 1977 to his native volved in a project," says Tickle. to work with producer Mike Chap- England when "It must be something I really like man, he felt certain the move was he decided to or an artist I appreciate; I need to EUROSOUNDS the right decision. pay a visit to feel I can add something to the art- Although he was music attorney ist and bring something out be- only 17 at the time, Paul Schindler. yond what the artist has tried be- A column by Zenon Schoepe on the isolation on -stage there is a much Tickle -who broke Coincidentally, fore, and [I like] strong vocals," he European pro audio industry. better [front of house] sound," says into the industry Michael Gudin- says. tour monitor engineer David Bry- taking backstage ski, founder of Tickle says he most enjoys U.K. son. PRO photos for Police TICKLE leading Austra- working with solo artists, because manager Miles Co- lian indie Mush- he can cast parts to achieve the MIL LBANK COMMUNICA- THE RECENT GLASTON- peland -had been room Records, was visiting best overall performance. While TIONS has won the 3.6- million BURY FESTIVAL employed Tur- working for Ringo Schindler at the same time. Im- Armatrading, encouraged by pound bid to provide the public -ad- bosound systems on both of its Starr's producer, pressed by the Split Enz demo, Tickle, played all the guitar parts dress system at Hong Kong's new principal stages. The NME stage Terry Melcher, Gudinski signed the band to Mush- on 12 of the 13 tracks on her al- Chek Lap Kok Airport, which is had Floodlight enclosures flown 4 FILE and running the room and asked Tickle to produce bum, Hojah Farah accompanied expected to be fully operational by wide by 3 deep on each side with 15 studio on the its debut album for the label. the artist on acoustic guitar for 1998. 2 -by -18 -inch bass enclosures. For grounds of John Lennon's 82 -acre "It was ironic that I had this ar- rhythm flavor on one song, and the "This is the most prestigious the Pyramid stage, Britannia Row U.K. home, Titinhurst Park in As- gument with Mike Chapman about London Metropolitan Orchestra project in our industry this year, used 18 Flashlight enclosures and cot. "It was a big decision to leave not signing Split Enz, because I supplied strings, which were rec- and we've won it," says Mel Hat- 20 bass bins stacked and flown in Ringo and this big mansion," had wanted to produce them. I left orded at Abbey Road Studios. chard, Millbank's director of sales two towers on either side with four Tickle says. "But I made the him, and three days later, I was off To create an intimate sound that and marketing. The airport will more Flashlight cabinets used as choice. And in the first year, Mike to produce the band," Tickle says. would highlight Armatrading's vo- house 300 check -in desks, large cli- delays behind the central mix had produced three or four No. 1 Tickle subsequently worked cal styling, Tickle tracked drums mate- controlled halls, concourses, tower. singles, and I had worked on all of with, among others, Prince, Toni and other instruments for 10 days and shopping malls. them." Childs, U2, 4 Non Blondes, Joe at A &M Recording Studios' small Construction of the airport is- BELGIUM With Chapman, Tickle broke Cocker, Rod Stewart, Peter Ga- B room. He brought his own Eu- land is one of the engineering feats such seminal late -'70s artists as briel, Jackson Browne, the Clash, phonix board and Neve gear to the of the century, with some 35,000 M UNRO ASSOCIATES has Blondie and the Knack, mixing George Michael, and Sheila E. sessions. tons of explosives used to level the undertaken the complete acoustic both groups' breakthrough hits, Recently, Tickle completed "The room is a very hard, stone mountainous island to just six me- design of the new Videaudio film "Heart Of Glass" and "My Shar- work on a slate of new and upcom- room," he says. "By recording with ters above sea level. The sea be- and TV post facility in Brussels. ona," respectively. During the ing releases. His projects have in- the mikes close to the drums, we tween Chek Lap Kok and Lam The site will house an AMX -Neve same period, Tickle recorded and cluded producing and mixing got an intimate sound, which had a Chau Island has been drained and Logic 2- equipped dubbing studio mixed albums for Exile, Suzi Qua - Adam Ant's "Wonderful" album power to it because of the sound of the land reclaimed to make a with six -channel monitoring, an tro, Pat Benatar, Nick Gilder, and (Capitol), mixing the 1983 Atlanta the room. Also, everyone involved 1,248 -hectare site that will be able ADR/foley room, two TV dubbing independently produced a demo set from the two -disc Police live al- was in close proximity to one an- to accommodate more than 25 mil- theaters with Logic 3s and 24- for New Zealand sextet Split Enz. bum on A &M, and producing and other, which comes out in the re- lion passengers a year. track AudioFiles, and a dubbing Confident of the potential of mixing the upcoming Joan Arma- cording. Since the communication suite equipped with an Amek Split Enz, Tickle was eager to pro- trading album, "What's Inside," between people is so much faster, ROD STEWART'S Spanner In Angela and Audio File.