Students Say Aloha to State-of-the-Art Studio: Located in Honolulu, HI, Washington Middle School is the only public school in the Hawaiian Islands that offers pro audio training, and one of the few to offer video production training. The vision that led the WMS to turn a computer classroom into a state of the art recording studio (Line Studio at WMS) is rooted in school principal Michael Harano’s belief that “if middle school kids find their passion, find their voice and move forward in their education, high school, college and career, because they found their passion they’re going to be successful in their life.” State legislators originally approved funds to build a video production classroom, but Harano had the idea to instead create a recording studio, putting veteran sound engineer and WMS educator Sam Fong in charge of the project. Fong says, “I’ve always believed we should strive for the best, do everything to the best of our ability to educate young people. It’s about helping them find their purpose.” Currently in its “soft opening” phase, the world class facility is not just for students interested in music and music production, but for those WMS studying history, science and other subjects. Its founders are also doing community outreach to non-profit organizations, musical and otherwise, and to Hawaii’s musical community at large.
The Design Team: Seeking out the perfect studio designer to create the facility, Fong hit the jackpot meeting members of the WSDG team at NAMM. One of WSDG’s founding partners is John Storyk, who began his career with the 1969 design of Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios in NYC. The project manager for the Line Studio at WMS is Romina Larregina, a partner who is the company’s Director of Production. The WSDG design team was tasked with creating a full studio design package including studio design, acoustic design and isolation, technical interior design, and systems design. The team is nominated for the Studio Design Tech Award at the upcoming 2025 NAMM show.
The Studio Design: The 1600 sq. ft. recording complex is a world-class recording studio designed to function equally well as a professional audio production space and as a classroom. The complex includes multiple iso booths, a substantial equipment closet, a full complement of outboard gear, and a Sound Lock with wheelchair access. The control room has dedicated consoles for both audio and video production – specifically the SSL AWS 948 and AVID MTRX and a NewTek Tricaster. Monitoring is provided by a custom Symphonic Acoustics speaker system, jointly designed by WSDG and George Augspurger, as well as a full Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 ATC speaker array for immersive audio production and mixing. The spacious live room also allows for multiple configurations and ensemble sizes. As with the rest of the studio, the interior and lighting design of the space was inspired by the lush Hawaiian surroundings. The WSDG design team integrated elements of the stems and leaves of the local kalo (taro) plant within the custom designed rear wall Wave Diffuser and other aesthetic/acoustic elements of the interiors. Local materials were also heavily favored in the construction process.
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