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Berklee Opens World-Class Recording/Teaching Studio Complex At New Valencia International Campus

(December 17, 2012)

DMN Newswire--2012-12-17--

December 17, 2012 - Berklee College of Music, the world's premier learning lab for contemporary music, and Walters-Storyk Design Group, renowned for their work on studios for Jimi Hendrix, Alicia Keys, and Bruce Springsteen, today announced the completion of a cutting edge recording/teaching complex at Berklee's Valencia campus. Berklee's new state-of-the-art campus is located at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Spain. The studio facility is the final element of Berklee's first international campus, which recently launched its master's programs.

The audio production and teaching complex is comprised of five inter-related components. The 1600 sq. ft. scoring stage/studio - Studio K - includes an 860 sq. ft. live room with 15-foot ceilings and boasts variable acoustic wall treatments developed for diverse recording configurations. The studio's windows provide fantastic views of the Palau and allow the public to view Berklee's music activities. Supporting the live room is a 500 sq. ft. control room, two 250 sq. ft. ISO/overdub booths, and an isolated machine room. The aggregate advantages of the control room configuration fully supports Berklee's primary teaching mandate. Each aspect of the studio coalesces to form an indisputably world-class recording complex.

"Our master's students and visiting artists will benefit from an extremely sophisticated studio environment. This is an extraordinary educational tool, expressly designed to prepare them for their transition from student to music professional," explained Guillermo Cisneros, Berklee Vice President for Global Initiatives, and Executive Director, Berklee in Valencia.

"The studio complex needed to make a statement in a design-conscious country, and be technically and acoustically capable of representing a desirable destination for professional work," said Carl Beatty, Berklee Chief of Staff, who has headed the project since the beginning of the Palau de les Arts renovation. "We decided to employ Avid/Euphonix controllers to take advantage of their Eucon protocol that allows seamless migration of projects across the facility, all the way up to the flagship System 5. Additionally, when we install an identical console in Boston, we will be doing real time joint sessions between the two locations via Internet 2 technology."

The entire facility is configured through a central machine room for speed, ease of turnaround, and high interconnectivity between rooms, including the Palau de les Arts' concert halls. The System 5 has 48 channels, with 128 channels of I/O, and 176 mic lines. There is a broad selection of analog processing with plenty of room for additions should the need arise.

Monitoring in the production suites is all Genelec - 5.1 surround in Studio A, and 2.1 stereo in Studios B, C, and D. The control room in Studio K features the Meyers Acheron 7.1 surround monitoring system, an acknowledged industry standard. The room also includes Griffin G2B Active main stereo monitors. "These monitors are impressive. Along with their dual 15" subwoofers, the use of ribbon tweeters gives the speaker a very impressive transient response and high-mid articulation," said Beatty. "There are also mid field monitors available- ProAc's and Yamaha NS-10's. Additionally, the room has been designed to Dolby specifications and readied for the new Dolby Atmos(tm) Cinema Sound monitoring protocol. This facility is an integral component of the comprehensive, modern Music Technology Complex developed for Berklee's Valencia campus."

Commenting on the new complex, architect/acoustician John Storyk remarked: "Berklee's new Valencia recording/teaching studio raises the benchmark for European audio education. We have been the designers for dozens of educational recording environments around the world and are incredibly proud of our tenure at Berklee, both at the Valencia and Boston campuses."

Impressed by the quality of the recording studio at the Berklee campus, visiting master class instructor and former Fox Music President, Robert Kraft commented, "The recording studio is an amazing asset to have in Valencia, and has the potential to be even more of a reason for students and professionals to come to the Berklee facilities."

"The recording studios and production suites at Berklee Valencia are simply sublime," said composer and visiting professor, Laura Karpman. "In the studios I was able to compose, record, and mix a film for Sony/Lifetime with a very fast turnaround. The results were fabulous. It was a pleasure to make music there."

In addition to designing and constructing recording studios for Berklee College of Music in both Valencia and the $100 million + new building at 160 Massachusetts Ave. in Boston, Walters-Storyk Design Group is renowned for its work on studios for Bruce Springsteen, Celine Dion, Def Jam Records, ESPN, Jay-Z, Jazz at Lincoln Center, MTV Latin America and the 2012 TEC Award-winning Jungle City Studios.

View the YouTube video tour of the studios:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxBSV4nDR7I

-end-

About Berklee College of Music:

Berklee College of Music was founded in 1945 and for more than 65 years has evolved to reflect the state of the art of music and the music business. The college's belief i that the best way to prepare students for careers in music is through contemporary music education. The college was the first in the U.S. to teach jazz, the popular music of the time. It incorporated rock 'n roll in the 1960's, created the world's first degree programs in film scoring, music synthesis, and song-writing, and, in recent years, added world music, hip-hop, electronica and vide game music to its curriculum. With a diverse student body representing over 80 countries, and alumni that have received over 270 Grammy and Latin Grammy Awards, Berklee is the world's premier learning lab for the music of today - and tomorrow. Notable alumni include Quincy Jones, Diana Krall, Branford Marsalis, Aimee Mann, Roy Hargrove, Gillian Welch, Miguel Zenon, Susan Tedeschi, John Scofield, Bruce Cockburn, Arif Mardin, BT, Alan Silvestri, John Mayer, Howard Shore and Gary Burton.

About Berklee In Valencia:

Berklee in Valencia is the first international campus established by the renowned Berklee College of Music - and its first campus outside of Boston. Located in the iconic building of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Spain, the magnificent 3,600 square metre campus has been designed specifically for music and is equipped with state-of-the art technology. Berklee in Valencia aims to provide a hub to launch the careers across the globe for the most musically talented international students. Offering a unique curriculum, as well as an International Career Center to assist students in their transition from student to music professional, the campus presents Berklee College of Music's first master's degree programs in contemporary music (Scoring for Film, Television and Video Games; Contemporary Studio Performance; and Global Entertainment and Music Business;) launched in September 2012. In addition, Berklee in Valencia offers a Global Studies Program for Berklee students from Boston to study for a term at Valencia, Summer and Special Programs, as well as a new way for musicians around the world to join the global music community - as performers, as practitioners, and as leaders.

About Walters-Storyk Design Group:

Walters-Storyk Design Group has designed over 3000 media production facilities in the U.S., Europe, the Far East and Latin America. WSDG credits range from the original Jimi Hendrix Electric Lady Studio in Greenwich Village to NYC's Jazz At Lincoln Center performance complex, broadcast facilities for the Food Network, CBS and WNET, over twenty teaching studios for The Art Institutes around the U.S. and corporate clients such as Hoffman La Roche. Recent Credits include Jungle City, NY's major new destination studio, private studios for Green Day, Jay-Z, Timbaland's Tim Mosley, film composer Carter Burwell, Acrosmith, Bruce Springsteen and Alicia Keys. WSDG principals John Storyk, Beth Walters and Dirk Noy lecture frequently at universities and industry events, and contribute regularly to industry publications. WSDG is a seven-time winner of the prestigious TEC Award for outstanding achievement in Acoustics/Facility Design, including 2012 for Jungle City. WSDG maintains offices in NY, SF, Miami, Argentina, Brazil, Beijing, Germany, Mexico City, Spain and Switzerland

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