New recording studios for the Wellington Town Hall

As part of the National Music Centre, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) will build state-of-the-art audio recording studios in the basement of the Wellington Town Hall.

The result will be one of the best recording studios in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The studios will be filled with the highest quality audio recording equipment which will be capable of recording a range of projects from individual artists and small ensembles, through to a full-sized symphony orchestra for film scoring projects.

The design of the studios feature a specialised construction technique called “box-in-box”, where the studio rooms “float” inside the main construction of the basement providing complete isolation from noise and vibration, which is essential when recording.

The studios comprise three main basement spaces, which are connected via fibre optic cables to the Adam Auditorium, the Lloyd Morrison Theatre, and other spaces throughout the Town Hall.

Located in the basement is a main Control Room featuring a state-of-the-art 72-fader LAWO mc2-96 Grand Production Console with over 2000 Digital Signal Process channels. The Control Room provides all the technology for recording, mixing, editing, and monitoring and has been designed to be operated by a single engineer for small projects, or with up to 10 engineers and producers on the largest projects.

Adjacent is the Isolation Room, which will be used to record individuals, ensembles, and smaller groups. This space has variable acoustics panels which allows the acoustics to be adjusted as needed and features the NZSO’s Model D Steinway piano.

Along the corridor is a Producers’ Suite which is a multi-purpose room used by producers, engineers, and artists during recording sessions. It can be configured as needed and will offer relaxed seating, catering, craft services, office desking, meeting space, and can be set up as a secondary editing room if needed.

The studios will be built to a strict technical specification and NZSO has partnered with Professional Audio and Television (PAT), and technical consultant John Neill to bring to life the technology of the studios. Some of the main equipment has already arrived and is being set up, tested, and configured at an offsite testing facility.