Located in a large new building in Lokeren, near Ghent, Belgium, the new Alaska Studios has five acoustically separate rooms including a 11.1.6 Dolby Atmos facility that’s equipped with a PMC monitoring system supplied by Joystick Audio.
Producer and engineer Peter Phillips, who set up Alaska Studios with live sound engineer Frank Voet, says: “We built the studio from the ground up as a commercial facility that could take artists and bands all the way through from songwriting, recording, mixing and mastering to preparing live for tours. We share the building with a live sound touring company and a merchandising company, and there is also space for clients to store tour equipment.”
The Dolby Atmos studio – Mix Room 1 — has a main LCR monitoring system consisting of PMC MB2S-XBD loudspeakers supported by 14 PMC Ci65 surround loudspeakers, all powered by MC2 amps. The facility also has a stereo studio, Mix Room 2, which is equipped with PMC IB1S monitors. The three other studios are designed for band rehearsals, tour pre-production, live recording and recording vocals and podcasts.
With more than 25 years of experience in the pro audio industry, Philips has spent the last 10 years handling audio post production for TV shows, live music productions and festivals. This, he says, is what sparked his interest in surround formats and in particular Dolby Atmos.
“When we started looking into Dolby Atmos in 2020, we were mainly investigating its possibilities in the post-production market because at that stage Atmos for music was not something many people were thinking about,” he explains. “I already had my own studio, so I upgraded it from 5.1 to 5.1.4 in order to get to know the workflow and do some testing.”
In the summer of 2021, Apple Music announced its support for immersive audio formats including Dolby Atmos and this was the catalyst for building an Atmos room at Alaska Studios. “We were already working with artists such as Stromae, Oscar and the Wolf, Selah Sue and Charlotte Adigéry, so the question Apple’s announcement raised was where would Belgian artists like these carry out their Dolby Atmos mixes?” Philips says. “It was clear that immersive audio was the next step and here to stay, and as we were already building a studio facility from scratch, we decided to build a room that was 100 percent up to Dolby Atmos specifications.”
The choice of PMC monitors was easier, he notes, because he was already working on PMC IB2S loudspeakers in his own studio and was happy with their performance. “Once you’ve heard the detail combined with the punch and power of PMC speakers, there’s really nothing better,” he says.
Alaska Studios’ monitors were supplied by PMC distributor Joystick Audio, which worked closely with Pinna Acoustics to ensure that the right monitors were chosen for the room size. “Both Joystick Audio and Pinna Acoustics have been really supportive and have helped us with every part of the design and installation process,” Philips concludes. “Our Dolby Atmos room sounds truly amazing, with an even decay across the whole spectrum and the finest bass response I’ve ever heard. I think everyone who has listened to mixes in this room will agree with me on that!”
