1999                  LUMINOUS SOUND, DALLAS, TEXAS

The relocated studio facility for Loomis Productions supports an advertising agency and a music film production company. The practical requirements were simple: the creation of no-frills production studios to record and produce commercial jingles. But the owner’s personal interests and credentials (as a multi-platinum producer, jazz songwriter, film director and composer) called for at least one serious live-music studio.

The 6,500 square foot ground floor space now hosts three recording studios, complemented by office space on the upper level. The architectural layout for the facility evolved during a lengthy collaborative process, which included evaluation perhaps a dozen floor plans. In the final scheme, the complete audio suites fit within the cones of the space with nearly optimum room sizes, shapes and adjacencies.

The heart of the project, and its showpiece, is the main tracking room, which extends up into the second floor and thus occupies a double-height space. A window on the office floor allows a glimpse of the studio work from above, and integrates the facility’s activities.

The room’s exciting angular geometry is emphasized with finishes of clear maple panels and bright red wall fabric. The sharply angled panels avoid parallel surfaces and deflect sound waves, while shaping the visual character of the space. Most importantly, the size and shape of the room, and its acoustical design, allow serious live tracking sessions, from rock bands to jazz and classical orchestras. Additional isolation booths adjacent to the main space permit separate recordings of piano, vocals, or drums, increasing flexibility of use.

Although it was not the primary object of the project, the new space has enjoyed a fully booked program of live recording sessions with well-known musicians and bands.