Studios

For more information, please contact Daniel Hulme, Music Studios Manager studios@schwarzmancentre.ox.ac.uk

Studio 1

Music studio 1© Mike Banks

Dolby Atmos 9.1.4 recording, mixing, writing and production space.

9.1.4 Dolby certified Atmos room, designed and built by Level Acoustics.
Comfortable space for recording, writing and mixing.
Monitoring: Genelec 1237A (x3), Genelec 8361 (x6), Genelec8351 (x4), Genelec 7382 sub (x1). ATC SCM25A Mk2 (x 2 –stereo nearfield)
AVID MTRX II 24 I/O. AVID Dock, AVID S1 x2.
2 x DAD AX64 AD/DA Converters, with 80 microphone preamp inputs from the concert hall via Dante.
UA 6176 Channel Strip, Neve preamps, Retro Instruments‘Doublewide II’ valve compression.
Mac Pro with Pro Tools Ultimate, Logic Pro, Ableton, Dolby Renderer. Plugins from: Izotope, Soundtoys, Liquidsonics,Valhalla, Native Instruments, Fabfilter, Waves, Universal Audio Ultimate Collections.

Studio 1 & the Sohmen Concert Hall

Outstanding acoustic performance space, with ‘box-in-box’ design, for immaculate ‘pin-drop’ silence and variable reverberation response: 1.8 – 2.5 secs RT. Flexible staging and seating for 60 musicians.
Extensive audio and video connectivity between Studio 1 and the Concert Hall.
2 x remote controllable DAD AX64 AD/DA Converters, with 80microphone preamp inputs from the concert hall via Dante.
70 pairs of closed single-ear headphones, and double-ear headphones. Multiple Dante Headphone amplifiers.
Large recording microphone collection including multiple capsules and sets from Schoeps, DPA, Neumann, SchoepsOCT 3D mic array and 3 x Wunder Audio CM50 Suprema to support Decca Tree recording.
Microphone rigs can be flown from easily accessible technicalloft.
Steinway D piano.

Sohmen Concert Hall© Mike Banks

Studio 2

Music studio 2© Mike Banks

Creative immersive lab for composition, research, and production.

Flexible NHK 22.2 Loudspeaker array, capable of reproducing Dolby Atmos, Ambisonics, Sony 360, D&B Soundscape, L-Lisa,amongst others. Direct digital AV and analogue integration with the Black Box performance lab.
Comfortable space for exploring 3D composition and sound design as well as research into immersive recording and playback, AR/VR production; developing new immersive workflows and sound worlds.
Monitoring: Genelec 8340A SAM loudspeakers (x 22), Genelec7370A SAM (x 2) calibrated within the room. ATC SCM25AMk2 stereo (x 2 -Nearfield).
AD/DA: DAD AX64 32 I/O, Neve 1073OPX. Total - 40 inputs and 32 outputs locally, expandable via Dante into the BlackBox and other performance spaces.
Mac Pro with Pro Tools, Logic, Ableton, Max 9, SPATRevolution, Create Control. Plugins from: Izotope, Soundtoys,Liquidsonics, Valhalla, Native Instruments, Fabfilter, Waves.
Room acoustic design by Level Acoustics.

Studio 2 is a playground for electronic music, featuring a variety of unique instruments and processors from the history of electronic music, including:

Large Eurorack modular synth system with modules from Make Noise, Intellijel, ADDAC, Mutable Instruments.
Buchla Electronic Music Box.
Roland Juno 6 with retrofit MIDI.
ARP Odyssey monosynth.
SOMA Lyra synth and Pulsar 23 Drum machine.
Extensive pedal board with processors and effect.
Flexible audio and MIDI routing.

Studio 2 & the Black Box

Public performance space and compositional studios: designed together enable new interdisciplinary research into creativity, arts and technology.

A 3D-sound performance environment, featuring 41 loudspeakers arranged in a hemispherical geometric array, able to reproduce D&B Soundscape, Dolby Atmos, Ambisonics, VBAP, and more.

Lower ring: 16 × d&b 8S. Upper ring: 16 × d&b 8S. Ceiling: 9 × d&b 8S in a regular 3×3 grid. Subwoofers: 2 × d&b 21S ceiling‑mounted.
D&B DS100 Soundscape processor, with En-Scene and En-Space software.
Balanced and controlled variable reverberation response: 0.3– 0.8 secs RT. ‘Box-in-box’ acoustic design: NR15.
Yamaha Disklavier Piano.
2 x DAD AX64 remote AD: 48 x mic/line amps. Cue system. Connected to Studio 2 via Dante.
Opportunity to ‘mirror’ Studio 2 and Black Box immersive speaker systems.
Pico motion trackers and VR headsets with LIDAR for 6DoF mapping.
Video projection.
Semi-sprung floor for dance and movement.
Modular seating and staging.
Large stock of flexible lighting and control systems.
Large stock of microphones: Schoeps, DPA, Neumann, inc. KU100 Binaural Dummy Head and Schoeps OCT 3D mic array set.
Technical catwalk.
Pipegrid with heavy-load hanging points.
Comprehensive AVB connectivity points throughout the space.

Black Box

Studio 3

Tracking studio with Harrison 32Classic analogue console and adjacent 40sqm live performance space - the ‘Ensemble Room’.

Natural light through out live room and control room.
Steinway C piano, Gretch drum kit, Nord stage piano, Vox and Ampeg backline.
Harrison 32Classic analogue recording and mix console, with additional 32 I/O on Dante.
Monitors: ATC SCM25A Mk2 - stereo. ‘Octophonic’ OH array. 7.1.4 Harrison monitoring (binaural, or Studio 1 via Dante)
Mac Studio with Pro Tools Ultimate, Logic Pro, Ableton Live.
Plugins from: Soundtoys, Valhalla, Native Instruments, Fabfilter, Universal Audio Ultimate Collection.
Universal Audio UAD-2 satellite OCTO.
Room acoustic design by Level Acoustics.

Outboard:

Mic Pres & EQ: 32 channels of Harrison. 4 x Rupert Neve 511 Micamps, 2 x 551 Inductor EQ, 542 Tape Emulator, 4 x API 512v Micamps, 2 x Chandler TG2 Micamps/DI. 2 x AEA RPQ
500.
Compression: Retro Instruments ‘Revolver’- Dual-channel valve compressor.
Effects: Echofix EF-X3 tape echo. ‘Wellspring’ analogue spring reverb and processor.

MIDI controllers:

Native Instruments Kontrol S61, Ableton Push 2.

Natural light control room and adjacent live room
Steinway C piano, Gretch Drum kit, Vox and Ampeg backline.
Additional suite of 4 small interconnected acoustic isolation/practice rooms – all integrated to Studio 3 and the
Harrison 32Classic.

Microphone collection overview:

Condensor: Neumann: U87 (x 2), TLM 170 R (x 4), Neuman KM184 (x 2) Chandler TG Microphone, UTFet47, Wunder Audio CM50 Suprema (x 3), Schoeps: multiple amplifiers and capsules.
Ribbon: AEA R88MkII, Coles 4038 (x 2) , Beyerdynamic M130 (x 2).
Dynamic: Shure SM57s, DMK57-52 perc set, Beyerdynamic M88 (x 2), M201 (x 2), Sennheiser MD421-MkII (x 4).