Fascinating installation according to the requirements of Dolby Atmos Home Entertainment in the heart of Rome for Fox Networks Group Italy: Genelec in the front row with his monitors The Ones.
The challenge: create a world-class multi-room postproduction facility in the heart of historic Rome to the latest Dolby standards, before they have even been finalized. To launch the challenge: Fox Networks Group Italia. To collect it: the combined teams of Studio Sound Service and Proaudio Construction, working closely with Genelec ensured that they could create a compatible and flexible electroacoustic system, able to cope with any deviations from the future official Dolby regulations.
Donato Masci and Cecilia Torracchi from Studio Sound Service designed the entire facility and gave their support to Proaudio Construction’s team until the final setup and Dolby Certification. The designed called extensively on Genelec’s The Ones three-way coaxial studio monitors, with the flagship 8351 as the LCR solution, the more compact 8341 sibling covering the surround and height channels, and 7380 subwoofers handling the LF duties. The systems were then configured and calibrated using Genelec GLM software in all four control rooms.
The installation presented a variety of challenges, not least due to the location of the facility. With access to the area heavily restricted, all construction materials needed to be delivered to the site at night before being lifted to the roof of the Palazzo Marignoli. Meanwhile, technical challenges focused on soundproofing the space and ensuring the Dolby specifications were met.
Francesca Bianco, CEO of Proaudio Construction, summarized the work carried out: “We were asked to provide Fox with Dolby Atmos Home Entertainment 9.1.4 mixing rooms two years prior to the release of Dolby’s approval protocol. Located at Palazzo Marignoli, in the heart of Rome, Fox’s new facility had to be contained in an open-space working environment. At the very centre of the floor, in a 180 square meters sound-proofed area, we had to fit four Atmos Home Entertainment 9.1.4 control rooms as well as two recording rooms, and we had just 16 weeks to deliver a working facility.”
“In my opinion” – stated Donato Masci, Acoustic Designer and CEO at Studio Sound Service – “Genelec studio monitors are the right choice most of the time, because they’re a real reference in the audio industry. When a monitor is designed for broadcast it’s absolutely fundamental that the frequency response is linear, the directivity and distortion are controlled and it delivers a useful SPL across the whole spectrum. Then there is the management of the whole system, which is not so easy when you have 13 studio monitors plus the subwoofer contained in an area less than 20 square meters. Genelec systems are truly complete from these points of view.”
Reflecting on the completed studio complex, Masci is clearly proud of the results: “The design is appealing, and the environment is stimulating and creative. For me it was my first experience of a Dolby Atmos Home Entertainment room and when I saw and listened for the first time to some immersive audio tracks I was amazed by the dynamics and the sound immersion.”
