SiriusXM officially opened its new Miami studios located in the Starwood Capital building on Collins Avenue in South Beach this spring.
The facilities include a 50-seat performance space and several “artist-first” radio and recording studios, in addition to office space.
“SiriusXM Miami serves our broad lineup of music, talk, entertainment and sports programming. Miami has always had a rich music and entertainment culture and is home to major stars and events like Ultra and Art Basel,” said President and Chief Content Officer Scott Greenstein.
“Similar to what we’ve done with our studios in New York, L.A., Nashville and Washington, D.C., this is a state-of-the-art facility that will capture the character and culture of the city and make it accessible to listeners across North America.”
Howard Stern opened the place with a three-day special in May. The week also featured shows hosted by LL Cool J, Andy Cohen, Pitbull and Tinx, among others.
The satellite company launched a Latin Pop channel called Hits Uno, inspired by Miami’s musical culture and roots.
Construction began last October and was completed in March.
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Senior Distinguished Engineer Thom Mohrman was the designer and project manager. Nelson Architects handled architectural design under SiriusXM guidance, with McGowan Construction as the general contractor. The studio integration was by Broadcast Integration Services.
“SiriusXM Miami’s studios are designed with graphic stretchwall coverings and use lighting to effect branding and mood based on the channel or event in the studios,” said Mohrman.
“The performance and recording studios feature video walls and LED monitors to accommodate custom branding and graphics.”
Video walls in the performance studios are by Audio Visual Design Services. 3C Studios handled the graphic design for wall treatments and scenic design for the performance studio, and Feldman Designs designed the lighting for that room.
Manufacturer MeCart built and installed prefabricated acoustically isolated studios.
“The SiriusXM Miami facility is based upon the concept of total virtualization and the utilization of IP-based audio and video transport,” Mohrman said.
“The only physical computers being used onsite are computers using multi-touch operation or computers running software that are not virtual machine compatible.”
The switch infrastructure uses Arista switches in a spine-leaf configuration. The storage for audio and video is on NetApp. Audio routing and studio mixers are Lawo PowerCore-based consoles using Ravenna AES67 audio between the devices. Automation/playback is an RCS Zetta system; audio editing is on Avid ProTools or Adobe Audition.
The performance studio uses an SSL System T S332 console with Dante AES67 audio for connections between the SSL devices and to the Lawo mixers. Video PTZ cameras and switcher are provided by Panasonic; the cameras are converted from SDI to 2110 IP video streams using Riedel SFP converters in the Arista switch infrastructure.
The video switcher is a Panasonic Kairos platform, providing switching, multiviewers, graphic capability, clip players and still store for graphics.
Other studio hardware includes Heil PR40 Microphones, Comrex Access Multirack IP Codecs, Tascam Flash Recorders and Telestream video recorders. The studio is serviced by SiriusXM’s in-house engineering team.
