From left to right: Maurice Patist, PMC Ltd., Henry Gooderham, Owner Noble St. Studios, Athos Zaghi, Theatre Consultants Collaborative, Robert Kastelic AKB (atelierkastelicbuffey), Terry Medwedyk, Group One Acoustics (Photograph by Mr. Frank Lockwood) AES Toronto Section - February 22 2011
Sy welcomed everyone and promptly introduced Henry Gooderham.
Reading from prepared notes, Mr. Gooderham began by providing his background and vision for Noble St. Studios. His family has contributed landmarks such as Toronto's Flat Iron Building and the Distillery District to its architectural landscape. Noble St. Studios offered a similar opportunity to continue that tradition without necessarily meaning to do so.
The studio is built around the idea that music and musicians need spaces that are flexible and comfortable to bring out the best in them. It "has grown out of desire to record a piano without hearing a ceiling; get a group sound without apology for the size of the space".
The equipment here has been chosen & collected over a period of fifteen years.
The main floor studio contains an SSL 4060E G G+ and 48 channels of Mytek converters with PMC monitoring; a Studer A-827 Gold with a 16 & 24 track headblock and ½ inch A-820; and a "variety of tube, analog and digital gear everybody likes to use". The mic selection, still being augmented, is intended to be able to handle as a diverse a range of situations as possible.
Studio B, also with PMC monitors, has an AWS 900SE+ on 24 channels of 192 I/O's and two satellite analog stations filled "Pultecs, etc."
Over 80 properties were viewed before finding Noble St. in June 2007. Terry Medwedyk was the acoustic engineer. Mr. Gooderham thanked Phil Giddings for introducing to him Athos Zaghi, one of the architects brought in on the project.
Henry concluded by acknowledging contributions made by the following: Dave Moyles of Coast to Coast Audio, and Brian Lapine of Radiant Sound.
Laughter was elicited when Mr. Gooderham stated "Construction seems to be close to done!"
Donny de Silva is manager of the facility.
Gratefully acknowledging their immense contributions to the project, Mr. Gooderham introduced the architects Athos Zaghi and Robert Kastelic who provided a joint presentation.
Athos Zaghi & Robert Kastelic are from separate firms, but have had an association since the mid-90's. Unlike other projects, Noble St. Studios was an opportunity to work together; their involvement was more of a collaborative nature, working as equals "much like musicians", though they both had defined roles. Robert added "He was analog; I was digital"!
After briefly discussing his background and some previous projects, some which Mr. Kastelic also worked on, Mr. Zaghi displayed an aerial view of the present location which highlighted two major concerns for a recording studio: proximity to a railway line, and a major street with a street car line!
An urban area was part of the criteria in selecting the location so that clients could avail themselves of the surrounding amenities.
The design went through many changes. Mr. Zaghi noted that, unlike other projects he's been involved with, the design of Noble St. Studios was not a linear project. It was "very organic, lots of teamwork and discussion, give and take, and exploration of ideas."
A brief list of directives for the facility included: large studio, optimum acoustics & technology, natural light, lounges, spatial variety, green roof, security, and parking
Spatial variety entails the idea that every space needs to be comfortable, creative and productive. Any area can a have mic set up and begin recording.
The final design has no corridors, every space "is fluid". The control rooms are visible from almost any area of the floor. Any visitor upon entering will know where the main acoustic spaces are.
Noble St. Studios encompasses three property lines, so there are block walls all the way around with no windows except at the front of the building.
Robert Kastelic continued with the presentation next displaying a photo of an old, ca. 1975, Marantz receiver stating : 'This is my stereo!" to much laughter from the audience. But its look was the inspiration for the front outer design of the building! Although the building's design went through various versions, all of which were displayed, the final design stayed very much true the original version.
The final design incorporates a balcony, and an enclosed courtyard that will be landscaped which makes a nice contribution to this Toronto neighbourhood, of which Mr Kastelic noted he was originally from. This project was a bit of a homecoming for him.
Successive photos of the construction phase were displayed.
Interior models were shown and discussed next. Mr. Zaghi realized Terry Medwedyk, Mr. Gooderham, and Brian Lapine would be in charge of the shape of the room. Athos & Robert were brought back in after it was felt the shape of the room was finalized.
Mr. Zaghi's initial concepts, though rejected, gave Terry an idea that gave the direction for the room. The optimum configuration came about as a result of an exchange between Rob and Terry, based on acoustic requirements and less on architectural requirements.
Development renderings of the room followed. One idea that remained consistent throughout was the bias of the room: the musicians always know their orientation, they're always aware of where the engineer is.
Athos noted that while Terry and Rob were exchanging various ideas regarding the shape and treatment of the room, they were in construction. This was part of the 'organic' aspect Mr. Zaghi noted earlier: that they were designing and building on the fly.
The approach to the building was to incorporate the performance & live aspect and as well as the technology & recording aspect.
Terry Medwedyk, speaking next, noted also the unique approach to the development of the studio, in that the designers and architects (Robert and Athos) are usually brought in at the start and the end of a project like this, rather than collaborating.
Twelve early concepts were displayed. It wasn't an exhaustive, but a necessary process, to see what could be gotten out of the space. The control room, from the start under Henry and Brian's directive, was to be as accurate a mix area as possible, which, to Terry meant having the monitors at ear level and a side view room. A side view room offers the ability to have 5'1 monitoring, view of the studio, and a roll down screen if necessary. This was the one aspect that was consistent in all the twelve preliminary designs.
Mr. Medwedyk proceeded to discuss the evolution of the design of the room with accompanying photographs of the floor plans. He went on to discuss the construction phase and different considerations, again with accompanying photographs.
The skylights are all two levels of glass within the thickness of the ceiling. The heights of the windows are all staggered, not necessarily to do with Schroeder calculation, but the limits to where the glass is situated in the ceiling are also the limits of where noise control actually works.
The composition of the chevrons, borne from home studio projects where nothing permanent is desired, includes ¼" perforated pegboard on the back, 2 x 4 frame filled with insulation, pegboard on the face and wood slats. The wood slats are 40% perforation and with the pegboard (which is actually separated by 1½ inches behind the slats), has, not just vertical dispersion, but there is depth for the highs and mids, and it "breaks up the sound quite nicely".
The north wall is a series of sloped sections of MDF boards in a staggered pattern, angled such that any reflections in the room reflect up into the ceiling and regenerate among the diffusers. It's quite effective — the intent is to have reasonable control at floor level and where most of the mics are, but also have a mic by the ceiling to have as a useful source for sound without resorting to excessive EQ.
All the windows in the control room are laminated with .09 liner which gives one a lot more noise control.
The concrete floor of the main room is 7 inches thick made of a high sand mix with fibreglass reinforcement, and plywood, concrete board, more plywood and hardwood board on top. It's sitting on 430 CDM springs.
One amusing photo showed a trash bin filled up with empty tubes of Green Glue which was used extensively, typically in the last layer of drywall.
The slab the control room sits on is also isolated from the building, but the walls are isolated from the slab with isolation pads.
After Mr. Medwedyk's presentation, the audience had a break.
Upon returning, Sy Potma thanked Precor who sponsored the meeting and introduced Maurice Patist of PMC (Professional Monitor Company).
Maurice Patist first announced a contest for attendees to win a pair on PMC monitors simply by filling out their contact information in notebooks located around the control rooms.
He reminded the audience that placement and room acoustics are essential to properly utilize the effectiveness of any speaker.
Ex-BBC man Peter Thomas and ex-Bauch designer, the late Adrian Loader, founded the company twenty years ago. "Quality and absolute reference of sound are paramount to the PMC ethos", meaning they build all the parts themselves in London UK.
The concept of transmission line technology is one of the oldest in speaker design, but rarely employed because it's 'almost impossible', very time consuming, and hence very expensive.
Mr. Patist amused the audience discussing the different models and the origin of their catalogue numbers. The first model was BB5. It was called No. 5 because if it was called No. 1 one might be tempted to wait for an update! Next, smaller models, were called the LB1 — Little Box; MB1 -- Medium Box; TB1 — Tiny Box.
After ten years PMC stepped into the consumer hi-fi market. This was created by making a "stretch limo" version of the TB1, incorporating a longer transmission line into a floor standing design, the FB1 — Floor Box.
The consumer and pro models utilize the same designs, "there really should be no difference". Maurice also took issue with the concept of why consumers are asked by hi-fi salespeople what type of music they listen to. "The speaker has no clue what type of music it's playing back"!
PMC also design their own active systems. They've partnered with Bryston, and licensed their electronics which allows PMC to voice them to match their systems.
PMC do not spend a lot of money on marketing relying a lot on word of mouth, but do profile themselves heavily at AES shows. Over 70% of major, Hollywood blockbuster movies are scored and mixed over PMC monitors.
The transmissions line designs PMC has chosen is extremely complicated and takes an average of 18 months per model to get the line right. There are no computer programs to deal with this, it's all done by trail and error. The goal of transmission line design is to have as minimal distortion as possible.
Highlighting an onscreen photo of a cut away model DB1, Mr. Patist stated the whole idea is to dampen all the frequencies based on real reflection in the cabinet. PMC's goal is to absorb all frequencies down to 60 Hz and this is done by using different types of foam. Within the line, the speed of the air and the frequencies that go with it, need to be controlled. The foam in the cabinet becomes one of the most important parts of the design. The cut away photo, of course, did not show the different types of foam used. This concept is in the entire line of PMC's models.
The transmission line in the DB1 is actually 1.5 metres. This allows the response to go down to 40 Hz @ -3 dB from a 4½ inch bass driver.
The benefits result in low frequency extension, maximum SPL, and low distortion. In addition to playing very loud, is the ability to have similar performance at very low levels.
Displaying a photo of their bass driver, Maurice noted the fairly large and heavy magnet behind it, and can generate as much as 400° C. The 'spider' design over their larger coils acts as a necessary heat sink to transfer the heat from the coil and disperse it over the 'spider'.
Discussing the 'dome' over the tweeter in the ATL2 & MB2 models, he referred to it as a diffusion plate to disperse high frequencies. PMC do not design their speakers to be perfectly flat on axis. "How many people sit on axis for ten hours?"
In their crossover design, all their systems are either 24 db/octave or 32 db/octave. Mr. Patist briefly touched on the topics of beaming and lobing noting that PMC takes all these very seriously. "It all comes to having the right off axis response".
He concluded by relating how nice it was hearing Terry Medwedyk comment, upon a first listen after initially setting up Noble's PMC monitors 'out of the box', "now, that's a nice starting point for me because a lot of times I never even end at this level."
He also urged the audience once again to take a little time, spend a little money on their rooms because they'll save money not having to fix things electronically. "It starts with the room, otherwise whatever I do is worth nothing".
He invited attendees to audition the monitors in the different control rooms, with all types of music played over the systems. Many attendees stayed well after 11 PM. "Articulate" was how one member commented after an extended listening period.
Sy thanked all the speakers, attendees, Noble St. studios, and PMC.
