Leading Argentinian recording studio Casa Frida Estudio has upgraded its main control room to Dolby Atmos specifications with a PMC monitoring system based on the company’s result6 monitors.
Owned and operated by producer and engineer Hernán Caratozzolo, Casa Frida Estudio recently relocated to Zona Norte in Buenos Aires, a rural location an hour from the capital. ‘By disconnecting from the city’s hustle and bustle, musicians can focus on their music and foster inspiration,’ Caratozzolo explains. ‘We offer music recording, postproduction, stereo mixing, 5.1 mixing and Dolby Atmos mixing in 7.1.4. In addition, we offer audiovisual recording services and analogue mastering.’
Alongside a main recording room and three Iso rooms, Casa Frida has a 45m2 control room that is equipped with a 40-channel Amek Tac Scorpion II mixing console, Rupert Neve Designs and API summing mixers, and a wide ranging collection of outboard and microphones.
The new Dolby Atmos monitoring system uses PMC result6 monitors for LCR, height and surround channels, complemented by an Audient Oria monitor controller that handles immersive audio in all formats.
Caratozzolo’s decision to incorporate Dolby Atmos was based on a desire to explore the creative possibilities of the format. ‘Although digital platforms are advancing in offering the user music mixed in immersive audio, we have installed a Dolby Atmos monitoring system because we believe that this format offers us a new creative possibility to convey the sensation and experience that we musicians and engineers experience in the studio,’ he says. ‘Imagine placing a user with their headphones in the middle of an orchestra. With immersive audio, musicians and engineers can more faithfully representing sound in space and bring that sensation closer to the listener.’
Caratozzolo, who has recorded and produced upwards of 2,000 albums for the Argentine and Latin American independent scene, says he chose PMC monitors because he is a fan of PMC’s proprietary Advanced Transmission Line (ATL) technology and the precision and neutrality of high frequencies that PMC monitors deliver.
‘PMC monitors gave us peace of mind when setting up the Dolby Atmos system, in terms of phase cancellation,’ he says. ‘We also appreciate the uniform response that the sound has at different volume levels and the very low harmonic distortion.’
Opened in 1997, Casa Frida Estudio is renowned for its acoustics. Caratozzolo, a recording engineer with more than 30 years’ experience, designed and carried out the remodelling of the control room. ‘I try to provide warmth, conceptual clarity, support for the musician and a solid knowledge of production that provides human, technical and artistic optimization for each project,’ he says.
Casa Frida’s PMC monitoring system was supplied and installed by Planeta Analogico, a company that Caratozzolo has worked with on many occasions in the past. ‘Planeta Analogico recommended PMC as our first option, and we trusted them,’ he says.
Since installing the new monitoring system, Casa Frida has started work on a series of album remixes in 7.1.4 for various artists who have previously recorded and mixed stereo projects at the facility. ‘We are creating a special catalogue of immersive audio mixes by these Argentinian and Latin America artists who have historically worked with us,’ Caratozzolo says. ‘Having the ability to record audio means we can listen to extraordinary music from all times and remember how it made us feel. This is what we who record music do; we suspend time so the recorded music can be in the “here and now”, forever. Being able to play music through our new PMC Dolby Atmos system makes us happy and grateful, as the monitors have exceeded our expectations.’
