7382A SAM™ Studio Subwoofer

"Marco Guadagno and Laura Ciafaloni wanted to keep this operation secret from the first steps to the last, and incredibly they did it," explains Donato Masci from Studio Sound Service, the acoustic design firm responsible for the design and construction of the facility.

As a company, 3Cycle had a history of using various studio facilities around Rome for dubbing work. But strong growth, combined with client support led to the decision to create a dedicated space of their own. While it was important that the dubbing element was catered to, the team wanted to expand the business further and took the opportunity to create a post-production hub that could offer much more. As a result, 3Cycle features seven ADR dubbing rooms, a pair of 5.1 QC rooms, two 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos Home Entertainment rooms and a Dolby Atmos theatrical room.

Genelec monitors were the right choice for 3Cycle because they are a standard for post-production facilities around the world

The design work was carried out by Studio Sound Service’s team of designers made up of Donato Masci, Cecilia Torracchi and Giulia Bondielli, with the acoustic consultancy of Andy Munro. “We have designed a lot of studios together and created a sort of standard for post-production and dubbing, which is recognised and appreciated by numerous broadcasters,” says Donato Masci from Studio Sound Service. “3Cycle wanted to reach an international level and therefore we decided to also involve Andy.”

“3Cycle’s studios have been designed and built following the latest R&D in acoustics,” he continues. “In particular, the acoustics of the recording rooms have been given a neutral balance with the reduction of colouration and artifacts that can affect the final mixing of voices in all forms of media. The control rooms and mixing environments have been given a different approach, to match established international standards and Dolby certification requirements.”

Alongside the cutting-edge acoustics, Genelec Smart Active Monitors feature prominently throughout the facility. Each of the seven ADR rooms feature L-R 8330 monitors with an 8340 for the centre channel. The QC rooms are both equipped with 8340 monitors and a 7380 subwoofer for the 5.1 setup. Finally, the two Dolby Atmos Home Entertainment rooms have been installed with flush-mounted L-C-R S360 monitors, 8340s for the surrounds and overheads, and a 7382 subwoofer delivering the low frequencies.

“Genelec monitors were the right choice for 3Cycle because they are a standard for post-production facilities around the world,” states Masci, explaining the reasons behind selecting the studio monitors. “In addition to this, the GLM loudspeaker manager software helps a lot for the fine tuning, even if the rooms already sound really good.”

With this project taking place during the pandemic, there were obvious challenges. The Studio Sound Service team had difficulty travelling from their headquarters in Florence to the site in northern Rome (as Tuscany remained isolated from Rome for months) meaning that the supervision of the construction site was carried out from a distance. “It definetely wasn't a walk in the park,” notes Masci. “The construction was slowed down by numerous inconveniences related to the pandemic, but nevertheless all the collaborators made all the leaps so as not to accumulate large delays.”

Another major challenge came from isolating the facility. However, With Munro’s assistance, the team managed to create perfectly floating rooms that were mechanically decoupled from the structure. “All the recording rooms have been isolated using floated, room-within-room construction with vibration isolation throughout,” explains Masci. “Control rooms have also been given appropriate isolation, to avoid interference and also to allow accurate monitoring of the recordings themselves.”

the GLM loudspeaker manager software helps a lot for the fine tuning, even if the rooms already sound really good

Reflecting on the overall project, Masci is proud of the end results. “The 3Cycle facility is the largest post-production facility that we’ve designed. It was a challenge but in the end it gave us great satisfaction. 3Cycle’s partners Marco Guadagno and Laura Ciafaloni, and CTO Simone Nobili, believed in us from the beginning and this was very important for us. Of course, during the implementation phases there were difficult moments, especially linked to respecting deadlines which were affected by the pandemic, but the 3Cycle guys have always shown a great and sincere sense of satisfaction.”

This reaction has been mirrored by the local industry, particularly following the secrecy around its creation. “Obviously when the facility opened, it was a big surprise for the city, and talent and producers are still talking positively about the first experiences they had,” says Masci. “It seems they really appreciate the acoustics, but also the general comfort of the rooms that have a particularly refined design.”

Part of Mediapro’s image and sound post-production company, Telson.Tres60 opened its new facility in May 2019, and decided to upgrade its monitoring capabilities to better serve its clients. “The system upgrades were driven by client demands - for example Movistar asks for everything in Dolby Atmos,” explains sound production co-ordinator, Ana Belén Martín. “We must be able to fit the standards of each of these clients. This means that we have to generate much more material than before because of the different types of broadcast formats – from a mobile phone to a Smart TV.”

The Telson.Tres60 team, alongside Unitecnic – Mediapro’s engineering company which handled the installation – turned to local Genelec partner Audio-Technica Iberia for the 7.1.4 monitoring solution. In both rooms S360A monitors were installed in the LCR positions, with four 1032C monitors as surrounds and the same number of 8340As covering the overhead channels. Low frequency content is handled by a 7382A subwoofer, and with all of the monitors being calibrated and controlled via Genelec’s GLM loudspeaker management software, the monitoring system is able to provide the flexibility required to work to different standards.

“These are the only two Dolby Atmos Home rooms in Spain approved to work at a 79 dB SPL monitoring level,” adds Pelayo Gutiérrez, sound supervisor and head of the fiction sound department of Telson.Tres60. “Ricardo Viñas from Dolby was responsible for adjusting the rooms and equalising them to the three required levels: at 85 dB for cinema, 79 dB for Netflix and 82 dB for Telefónica.”

Alongside the two Dolby Atmos Home rooms, the facility features a 7.1 room, two 5.1 rooms, a foley room and a movie theatre, which also benefit from Genelec monitoring technology. “In terms of technical expectations, Genelec has delivered exactly what we anticipated,” reflects Gutiérrez. “We are very happy – it's a perfect setup. We have real confidence when it comes to making premixes here and moving on to the movie theatre or vice versa - the mixes translate perfectly.”

Combining an ambient music performance with a multi-channel listening experience, both the performers and the live audience were surrounded by a ring array of Genelec loudspeakers, creating a truly unique listening environment. This type of playback system is tailor-made for ambient music, emphasising the sense of space and the abstract nature of the compositions – and creating an incredibly thought-provoking and stimulating live event.

The planning and creation of the show took place over a two month period, using the demonstration space in Modern Sky to evaluate how the sound elements combined, how they moved, and what type of speaker configuration would be best suited to the ambient material. The creative team included electronic musician Wang Lu, also known as L + R, music producer/mixer Shen Lijia and visual artist Tami-musiXgal, and working alongside our colleagues at Genelec China, a system comprising eight S360 high-SPL smart active monitors and a 7382 subwoofer was used to surround the audience, while a smaller smart active array of four 8330 two-ways, four 8331 coaxial three-ways and a 7360 subwoofer was used to envelop the musician and the VJ. Genelec GLM software was then used to analyse the room and optimise the frequency response, distance delay and playback level of each speaker in the system – thereby delivering the best possible listening experience to both performers and audience alike.

In planning the event, the team were seeking a good combination of manual control, programming and random machine triggering, with the pre-programmed foundation of the 8.1 audio mix being handled by Ableton Live, with Cycling 74’s Max allowing communication with external hardware instruments – and plenty of real-time musical improvisation was included too!

Prior to the event, the demand for tickets was so high that it was decided to stage three separate performances, to allow every listener to position themselves comfortably within the speaker array and experience the finest sound quality. And from our own perspective, the whole process of planning and executing the event gave us a much deeper understanding of the shaping of space, the precise positioning of sound and the design of moving trajectories in music.

There’s no doubt to us at Genelec that as the world’s exposure to immersive audio becomes greater, the future of multi-channel live music performances is increasingly looking brighter. There are a whole new generation of music fans who are seeking more and more ‘experiential’ live performances, and Genelec is excited to play its part in the growth of this exciting medium.

Ozcan has been making music since the age of 14, when his instinctive skill with the flute and keyboard were the first signs of an emerging, prodigious talent. His first single, Chica Good, arrived in 2006 but it was 2011’s Reboot, swiftly followed by 2012’s The Box, that solidified his reputation. In the years since, he has produced not only a string of hit singles but also collaborations with peers including Paul Van Dyk and Tiesto, while continuing to push his own creative limits with the development of soft-synths and soundbanks.

However, most of that work was performed in less-than-ideal listening environments. “The first space that I worked in... I’m not sure I could call it a studio since it was in the attic of my parent’s home,” recalls Ozcan. “I just had two speakers in there – actually just two hi-fi speakers! Then I moved to an apartment and I had a room – so I put some acoustic treatment on the walls, some bass traps, and just two monitors and a sub. I made my music in there for years, but when my friends came to visit I’d tell them to stand in the corner because that’s where they could hear the bass properly! If you took one step to the side then the sound changed completely.”

Ozcan describes his new studio as “everything I’ve dreamed of for the last 15 years – I can’t quite believe that it’s here. This room reflects my energy. It’s an extension of myself and my music. When you close the door, you’re in a different world, it’s amazing.”

The room itself is a blazing celebration of neon, seamlessly shifting between colour schemes to suit the mood of the artist. Sculpted acoustic panels from Artnovion adorn the walls while Morel has even recreated Ozcan’s logo on the ceiling. The Genelec smart active monitoring system which forms the studio’s centrepiece is just as impressive, with two 1234As installed as main monitors, accompanied by a 7382A subwoofer. Adding symmetry, what appears to be a second 7382A is in fact a customised bass trap designed around a Genelec grille. In addition, two of the newly-launched 8351B coaxial point source monitors from The Ones range are installed on Ozcan’s desk for nearfield listening. The DJ describes the sound as “mind blowing”.

Towards the conclusion of the project, Morel and Ozcan shared the process of calibrating the Genelec monitoring system for the room. That work began with Genelec’s GLM calibration software, then was fine-tuned by ear. “We went very deep into the process,” says Morel. Yet ultimately, little tuning was actually required. “You don’t have to do much,” explains Ozcan, “with almost no tweaking it sounds fantastic. You feel it in your chest and it gives you goosebumps because you can hear everything. I can hear things I’ve never heard before!”

For Morel, who has now designed private studios for some of the world’s most celebrated DJ producers, this is one of his proudest achievements. “This ranks as one of the top three studios that I’ve created,” he declares without hesitation. “Certainly for the design, this is number one.”