In The Studio With Russ Berger At DBU
In The Studio With Russ Berger
On April 10, 2012 the Producers & Engineers Wing in partnership with The Recording Academy® Texas Chapter hosted In The Studio With Russ Berger for Texas Chapter P&E members and GRAMMY U members. The event was held at Dallas Baptist University’s new music business studio, designed by Berger. Studio design and construction can be a difficult and time consuming endeavor for even the most savvy producers and engineers. Members were able to learn from Berger the ins and outs of designing and constructing quality sound.
Berger, President of Russ Berger Design Group (rbdg.com), is known for his innovative designs and has built studios for some of today’s most esteemed companies. He has over 2,500 projects to his name, some of which include Sony Music, MasterMix, Paragon Studios, Sweetwater, NFL Films Headquarters, ABC, NBC, National Public Radio Headquarters, Lakewood Church, UT Dallas and Dallas Baptist University.
Berger conducted a tour through the studio and outlined some of the unique design features he used in the studio complex, and the challenges he faced in making a professional studio environment more useful as a teaching facility. Each room has a specific purpose with one room devoted to audio, video, and graphics classes, all taught in DBU’s first all-Apple computer facility, and the other is a multi-purpose room that doubles as the video soundstage.
The tour began upstairs in one of the multi-use rooms; set up classroom style with desks, chairs and whiteboards for presentations. Berger stated this room was wired to the main control room downstairs for accessibility and had curtains that covered the walls to dial in the amount of "liveliness" for this room. The ceiling was installed with a grid for rigging and professional lights for video shoots. The next room was filled with computer workstations, providing a place for students to get plenty of hands-on experience with programming; making the recording studio available simultaneously. Located downstairs was the main control room, which had a large window to the main tracking room that gave the effect of no physical barrier between the two rooms; facilitating an intimate connection between producer and musician during a session. Downstairs also included a large tracking room, a large isolation room, two smaller production rooms, a machine room and a reception area; noticeably, each room had large windows letting in lots of natural light.
As the tour concluded and the event came to a close, it was evident the studios and classrooms at DBU are not only functional but open, airy, versatile and flexible while also providing quality sound.
Photo Credit: Courtsey Of The Recording Academy
1. Randy Adams, Chapter Governor, Russ Berger, Presenter, Chris Bell, Chapter Governor, Nick Landis, Chapter Vice President, Terry Fansler, Director Of Studies at DBU's College of Music Business.
3. Russ Berger
4. Chapter Members
4. DBU Music Business studio control room