ELBO Studios

Glendale, California

The new film music composition facility occupies a former industrial warehouse near the Metro station in Glendale, demanding excellent soundproofing and vibration controls. The room program includes a tracking and scoring space with two isolation booths and an adjacent control and mix room; as well as a main writing and composition room with its own recording booth for the project’s owner, a renowned film composer. A second music composition suite and several smaller production rooms complete the build-out. The smaller half of the building houses an archive of film scores, while another section of the building is set aside for future expansion. The entrance courtyard, lobby and lounge, and its kitchen area were designed in collaboration with Barbara Bestor of Bestor Architecture.

The main tracking room and its piano booth are treated with perforated maple panels and a main gypsum wall with a diffusive pattern. The floating concrete slabs are polished and the remaining wall and ceiling areas are treated with absorptive fabric surfaces. A large drape can be pulled across the back wall to adjust the acoustic properties and area rugs are used to customize the floor reflectivity.