Designed to meet the needs of corporate clients and TV/film production and musical artists, Trilix Studio is an outgrowth of Trilix, a full-service marketing agency that – until recently – was in need of an home for its A/V work. The centrepiece of the studio is its 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos system, based on Smart Active Monitors from Genelec.
Located in Des Moines, Iowa, is a one-of-a-kind creative production facility situated in the city’s iconic Crescent Building, the studio opened for business less than a year ago, and has quickly established itself as an elite recording, mixing, and postproduction facility to rival anything found in the nation’s recording hub cities.
‘Trilix Studio was built for one purpose: to achieve the most refined sound experience possible,’ says Trilix and Trilix Studio President, Brett Adams. ‘Trilix Studio is fully equipped for artists and outfitted with a Dolby Atmos system to provide a fully immersive sound. It allows artists to expand their creativity and is a powerful complement to all of our video production work.’
Although the facility boasts four different interconnected studio rooms (Studios A, B, C and D), the heart of Trilix Studio is its Studio A, which is the Dolby Atmos immersive control room. This features an impressive complement of gear, with the immersive monitoring system comprising seven Genelec 8361A monitors for the mains, sides and rears; four 8351B monitors in the height positions and a 7382A subwoofer. The facility was designed by Russ Berger Design Group (RBDG) and fitted out with gear from Sweetwater Integrations.
Phillip Young, who serves as Trilix Studio’s Head Audio Engineer, was heavily involved in the planning and set-up of the studio, as well as its ongoing operation. He did not have much previous hands-on experience with Genelec monitors, but was fully aware of the company’s standing when the studio was in its planning stages.
‘I had a general idea of what we needed, and one aspect of that was the smaller size profile and rigging options of these monitors compared to some larger options from other brands that often have to be free-standing,’ he says. ‘Additionally, with another brand I was considering, I knew I was prone to ear fatigue, so I was wary. I did some research, and Genelec seemed like the right solution. Approaching Sweetwater Integrations with my preferences, they were very enthusiastic about an all-Genelec system. I needed no other convincing.’
Young has been more than busy in Studio A since it opened its doors: ‘In the morning, I might be working on a mix for an independent prog-metal band, and then in the afternoon jump into pre-production on a feature-length film,’ he reports. ‘That is something we knew and considered when building out this room – we knew that we’d be doing everything from editing a podcast to doing sound design and mix on movies. And I’m lucky to be part of a large and very talented team: Senior Audio Engineer Brooke Schaffner, who generally focuses more on the video work than I do, and an exceptional camp of designers, video editors, videographers, animators, web developers, podcasters and other specialists. So we needed the room to be able to do all of those things to the best it possibly could, and it certainly does.
‘When we were designing and building out the space, we aimed at going above and beyond anything that’s really available in the entire state of Iowa, or even places like Chicago or Nashville – Atmos is key to that,’ he continues. ‘The writing has been on the wall for a few years that Atmos is the future of audio in so many ways. It is a future-proof format, because it can do so many things, and because of the unique way it stores information, it is able to adapt to any different playback system, from just a few speakers or a soundbar, to a truly immersive system with a multitude of speakers. It is adaptable and smart in an open-ended way, and that is what makes it future-proof. I regularly have to explain Atmos to bands and marketing clients, and once they understand it, they are so excited. We have so many independent bands mixing their music for Atmos now, which certainly wasn’t the case just a few years ago. It’s easy to get it out there with indie distribution to places like Apple Music and Tidal, and I’m sure there will be more places supporting music mixed for Atmos in the future.’
And the choice of Genelec has proved a good one: ‘Working with Genelec has been a pleasure,’ Young says. ‘The Genelec GLM software has been an invaluable way to manage the system. Mark Salamone at Sweetwater got me in touch with Will Eggleston at Genelec Inc, and we sat down together on a video chat, and he personally guided me through the GLM Setup File I made of this room. He was able to give us some great guidance on how to get the most out of our system and really dial it in for this space. And working day to day on these monitors has been something special. I don’t really have to worry about ear fatigue, which is not something I can say for monitors from other manufacturers.
‘And what does the future hold? We might be looking at some gear upgrades, it’s hard to say, but I know whatever we do, Genelec will be involved.’
