A distinctive addition to Mexico City’s architectural profile, a striking seven-storey building is the new home of Estudio 13.
Featuring a three-storey glass wall and dramatic, balcony-like profile, the facility has been designed by WSDG to house the triplex 7,000-sq-ft recording facility – two full control rooms and ettendant live recordingrooms, and a Piano/Rehearsal Room featuring a Bösendorfer Imperial piano.
For more than 17 years, Estudio 13 Head Producer/Musical Director José Francisco Aguilera and Studio Operations/Project Manager Eduardo Acosta had been recording a wide variety of live performances on location in major concert halls while their former studio was equally busy hosting music, voiceover and radio recording assignments. As their business continued to thrive, their ongoing success demanded a larger, more acoustically advanced recording space. In 2013 they contacted WSDG co-principal Sergio Molho, and began a search for a site for a new home for their business…
By mid 2015 they had acquired the land, completed plans for a mixed use, seven-storey studio/residential building, and had begun the construction phase.
Today, Estudio 13’s ground floor 560-sq-ft Piano/Rehearsal Room with its prized Bösendorfer Imperial is an ideal location for recording string sections or choral ensembles, linked to both of the studio’s control rooms. The 160-sq-ft Control Room A on the second floor features a 48-channel SSL AWS 948 mixing console, and a 5.1 monitoring system with Focal SM9 speakers and a Sub 6 Focal Subwoofer. The second floor is highlighted by a 350-sq-ft Live Room, which extends, balcony-like over the Piano Room, and boasts a 23-ft-high ceiling, and many windows. WSDG signature acoustics were developed and fine-tuned by Belo Horizonte, Brazil-based Partner/Acoustician, Renato Cipriano. With two spacious iso booths, Estudio 13 is built for tracking. Designed primarily for stereo mixing and mastering, the third floor 150-sq-ft Control Room B and iso booth is also linked to the Piano Room and, is geared for voiceover and radio recording. To provide effortless communication between artists, producers and engineers, the entire complex is linked for video as well as audio connectivity.
Miami-based WSDG Partner/Art Director/Interior Designer Silvia Molho worked closely with the clients to develop a handsome, spacious, colourful complex trimmed in natural wood and varying hues of blue, Estudio 13’s numerous windows offer natural sun, star and moonlight. Extensive glass between the control rooms, iso booths and live rooms provide welcome visual connectivity.
The three-storey glass wall is slanted inward at the ground floor, affording the building additional acoustic isolation from exterior sources and a distinctive architectural touch. On the equipment side, Estudio 13 offers a collection of 100-plus vintage and modern microphones, a deep pool of contemporary and classic analogue peripherals and, a wide range of guitars and other instruments for clients use.
‘WSDG has a global reputation for extraordinary recording studio design,’ says Estudio 13 Principal, José Francisco Aguilera. ‘We were pleased to have had the benefit of their design and acoustic expertise. Many of our clients have congratulated us on the look and the sound of our new recording facility. Those comments regularly remind us that we made the correct decision.’
