The investment was made in part to accommodate the recent addition of sound designer Eddie Kim. The studio also co-produced the new documentary Sound City, which was directed by Dave Grohl. The film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, and also showed at SXSW. It is currently available for online streaming and as an HD download.
The work on the doc, which centers on the history of Sound City, inspired Therapy to raise the bar on the audio technology in their sound rooms. They brought on expert cinema and studio design and engineering firm PMI Engineering (Performance Media Industries). In their mix bay, the enhancements included audio calibration, the addition of preset programming with six sound modes, improved wiring and signal processing, soundproofing that included an isolating ceiling and walls, and an acoustical panel treatment system. They also added new a baffle-mounted speakers system, a second subwoofer, an Ashly signal processor, a Lab.gruppen amplifier and new surround speakers.
Additionally, Therapy made similar improvements to their sound design suite, with the addition of a new speaker system and much of the same acoustic improvements. They also increased the size of their sound effects library to more than four times what it was previously.
“They initially came to us for some acoustical tuning materials, but we advised them to take on a complete renovation,” notes PMI Engineering’s Anthony Grimani. “The room had essentially no isolation on the right wall and the ceiling, so sounds from adjacent spaces were seeping into the studio. The room sounds great and we’ve created six sound simulation presets to imitate the sound of an iPad, of TV speakers, of a small home theater in a box, and more.”