XM’s Performance Studio Like Chamber Concert Hall

The 1,500-square-foot performance studio can accommodate 50 people or a 40-piece orchestra. The cost to build the studio was approximately $2 million. XM plans to rent out the space when it’s not being used for XM channels.
The performance studio creates an environment that simulates a chamber concert hall, including audience space, adding a warm sound to music performed there, said Tony Masiello, XM’s Vice President of Operations, who helped design the complex and oversaw construction.
Like all XM studios, the performance studio is fully floating, eliminating bleeding of sound to neighboring studios. The studio combines glass, metal, ceramic, wood, Fiberglas and other components, all spaced and angled according to precise mathematical calculations, to diffuse and absorb signals to produce the studio’s sound.
Among the design elements is a floor-to-ceiling glass wall along the broadcast corridor, which allows visitors to view working studio sessions without creating reflections that ordinarily bar the use of large expanses of glass in such spaces. The separate, adjoining control room features a “zero-environment” chamber where performers’ sound can be recorded, mixed and re-mastered.
Northeastern Communications Concepts vetted the control room and studio configurations. The Francis Daniel Consulting Alliance provided the acoustical design for the interiors of both rooms.
Eagle EKSC designed the audio monitoring system and Acoustic Systems built the studio shell. Studios Architecture served as overall project architect and James Davis Construction Corp. was the general contractor.