Studio Goes Above and Beyond with Immersive Room

Des Moines, IA (October 3, 2024)—Des Moines, IA-based marketing agency Trilix built a studio to handle its in-house AV needs last year, and now the four-room facility is busy with everything from music production to film mixing to podcasts.

Trilix Studio, situated in the city’s Crescent Building, was reportedly designed to meet the needs of anyone from corporate clients and TV/film production companies to musical artists and beyond. Russ Berger Design Group (RBDG) designed the facility, which was outfitted with the latest equipment from Sweetwater Integrations. The centerpiece, Studio A, boasts a 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos system comprising Smart Active Monitors from Genelec: seven 8361A monitors for the mains, sides and rears; four 8351B overhead monitors; and a 7382A subwoofer.

Phillip Young, Trilix Studio’s head audio engineer, was also heavily involved in the planning and setup of the studio. Young did not have much previous hands-on experience with Genelec monitors, he explains, but he was fully aware of their reputation when the studio was in its planning stages.

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“I had a general idea of what we needed, and one aspect of that was the smaller size profile and rigging options of these monitors compared to some larger options from other brands that often have to be free-standing,” Young says. “Additionally, with another brand I was considering, I knew I was prone to ear fatigue, so I was wary. I started doing a bunch of research, and Genelec seemed like the right solution. I was very familiar with the reputation of the Genelec brand, and I had only heard really fantastic things about them. Approaching Sweetwater Integrations with my preferences, they were very enthusiastic about an all-Genelec system.”

Outfitting the space as an Atmos facility was crucial, as he sees it. “When we were designing and building out the space, we aimed at going above and beyond anything that’s really available in the entire state of Iowa, or even places like Chicago or Nashville. Atmos is key to that. The writing has been on the wall for a few years that Atmos is the future of audio in so many ways. It is a future-proof format, because it can do so many things, and because of the unique way it stores information, it is able to adapt to any different playback system, from just a few speakers or a soundbar, to a truly immersive system with a multitude of speakers. It is adaptable and smart in an open-ended way, and that is what makes it future proof.”