Florence-based acoustic design specialist Studio Sound Service has recently completed the transformation of the personal studio of Italian film composer Federico De Robertis. 

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Complex: The room had a number of acoustic challenges.

The studio, which De Robertis had been using for his twin passions of cinema and music, is located in the countryside near the Italian town of Lucca. The composer had nicknamed the small, acoustically challenging space ‘Loculo’ – literally, ‘the crypt.’

According to Donato Masci, CEO & acoustic designer of Studio Sound Service, the project was very complex because the control room was in a very narrow area with skylights and a low ceiling, and all of the walls were concrete, which created a significant booming effect.

Studio Sound Service designed a full acoustic treatment, starting with a new concrete and masonry front wall where it flush-mounted two Genelec 1237 smart active main monitors. Complementing the 1237 stereo setup is a 5.1 smart active monitoring system comprising five 8240 two-way nearfield monitors and a single 7370 subwoofer.

Masci used Genelec’s GLM software to configure and calibrate the system. “GLM is critical when monitors are flush-mounted in a solid wall – in this case the low frequencies were raised by as much as 12dB – but GLM controls the effect perfectly,” he said.

The complete reinvention of the interior was so dramatic that De Robertis has now renamed the studio Aldilà – meaning ‘Afterlife.’

According to De Robertis, the new studio required some changes in the way that he works: “My ears had to adapt to having perfect acoustics and perfect sounding speakers. But the transition was easy. The definition and quality of the sound remains unchanged right across the entire frequency range.”