Mastering engineer Michael Romanowski’s newly opened location of his Coast Mastering studio is nominated for a 2021 TEC Award in the “Studio Design Project” category for Outstanding Creative Achievement. The completely new facility in Berkeley, CA is a full-service mastering studio for stereo and immersive audio—including Dolby ATMOS. The new mastering room was designed by Romanowski along with acoustical consultant Bob Hodas, who also tuned the room, and California-based audio engineer and studio design consultant Bob Levy, who worked closely with the build-team from the beginning of the project.
“I am honored to be nominated for a studio design TEC Award for Coast Mastering, the design team worked hard to build this studio literally from the ground up to be the best mastering studio I have ever worked in. I feel like I’m in the very best of company with the other TEC nominees, past and present,” said Romanowski.
Coast Mastering features equipment chosen over Romanowski’s 30 years as a recording, mixing, and mastering engineer. A main feature of the new studio are the left, right and center Focal Scala Utopia EM speakers, and Focal Utopia Diablo Evo speakers for the six surrounds, other equipment includes Bricasti amplifiers and converters, Wireworld cables, Meyer Sound subwoofer, height speakers by Neumann, acoustic treatment by Stillpoint, and Steinberg Nuendo audio software.
“As a music fan, I have really been enjoying the variety of styles of music that I have mastered in ATMOS, with Alicia Keys, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, The U.S. Army Field Band, Fantastic Negrito, The Devil in California, and a local Bay Area Latin fusion band Vibrason, among many other projects,” said Romanowski. “I built my first mastering room in 2000 for 5.1 surround with Paul Stubblebine, then moved to immersive sound adding height speakers in 2018. My new mastering room was built specifically for immersive formats including Dolby ATMOS, it’s such a joy to work in and to really hear the music as it is, so I can make the best decisions for my clients.”
For more information, visit coastmastering.com.
