Recording Studio

PPG Studio

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The PPG Studios by Pierpaolo Guerrini (sound engineer and close collaborator of Andrea Bocelli) in the heart of Tuscany.

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Pierpaolo Guerrini is a sound engineer and a close collaborator of the great Andrea Bocelli. Their collaboration dates back to the early years of Andrea Bocelli's artistic production, of which Pierpaolo recorded all the voices, composed several songs and mixed and supervised arrangement and recording of several discs.

The design of this studio took place between 2009 and 2010, while its construction lasted for about two years due to numerous structural, plant and equipment interventions.

The studio was built in the birthplace of Pierpaolo, in Santo Pietro Belvedere, in the province of Pisa, just steps from Lajatico (birthplace of Andrea Bocelli). The existing building had several issues: low ceilings and a complicated layout of spaces because of columns and reinforced concrete beams. It was difficult to build a state-of-the-art study in such a complex environment. For this reason, an ad hoc, unusual but functional solution for the customer's needs was conceived. The realization was followed step by step in all its phases, with progressive phonometric measurements required also for the large number of changes made during the work. The heart of the studio is the great control room A, which is accompanied by a live room, a control room B and a series of booths and boxes.

The combination of wood, stone and fabric has characterized all the design, which has provided choices that are optimal for acoustics and functional for ergonomics, which could blend harmoniously with the local aesthetic and local taste of Tuscany.

Details

Owner and resident engineer:

Info
Location Santo Pietro Belvedere, Pisa, Italy
Details
Audio Facility Recording Studio
Rooms Control Room Live Rooms
Audio System KRK V8 , Genelec 8260 , Genelec 1039 , Genelec 1032
Console SSL 4000
Artists

Andrea Bocelli, Gipsy King, Jessica Brando, Div4s

Control Room
Area 50 m2 Volume 150 m3
Reverberation time 0.20s @ 500Hz; 0.34s @ 63Hz
Description
The control room about 50 square meters and has two volumes. The rigid lateral walls (structural masonry) were tilted symmetrically so as to limit the transversal stationary waves. Speakers have been mounted in a particular structure (baffle) that allows not to disperse the low frequencies and thus gives more impact and definition (the kick, as the sound engineers say). Thanks to this structure and to the geometry of the side walls, the side and front first reflection points have been eliminated throughout the central area, including the sound engineer position and the sofas. The ceiling was treated with a special absorption system, studied for low frequencies, built with vertically suspended polyester fiber panels. For the control room A, a distinctive acoustic design was conceived able to overcome the many constraints that had the basic structure (low height, concrete beams and columns, almost square dimensions, etc). The choice to make a control room in this space was forced: this was the largest available room and Pierpaolo Guerrini needed to recreate a multifunctional working environment that could serve as well as mixing discs and recording, also as a workstation for writing, arranging and work in teams. That is why sofas are very close to the sound station (which also ensures good listening to collaborators and artists) and other editing and composing stations just behind. The control room A console is a SSL 4056 G + with TOTAL RECALL and the big monitors are Genelec 1039. All equipment represents the professional standard for international production and has been featured and recommended by manufacturers (such as David Foster) who collaborate with Pierpaolo Guerrini and Andrea Bocelli. On the back of the control room a wall of medium-high frequencies tuned QRD diffusers has been built to uniformly distribute sound throughout the large room. On the ceiling, on the back, there is a perforated striped wood ceiling lamp which both absorption medium-low-frequencies and diffuse high-frequencies. Even in the backstage spaces, there are excellent definition and intelligibility of speech. The control room is perfectly symmetrical and there is a optimum balance between the right and the left channel also with the big monitors, so the stereophonic sensation is very immersive and engaging.
Live Rooms
Area 30 m2 Volume 100 m3
Reverberation time 0.35s @500Hz; 0.42s @63 Hz
Description
The live room is a space of about 30 square meters with natural lighting allowed by a glass door on the courtyard. The acoustics that we wanted to recreate in this environment, in agreement with Pierpaolo Guerrini, is that of a somewhat lively room and a bit bigger than the actual size. For this reason even in this room QRD diffusers and wood absorbers / diffusers have been placed on the ceiling, which, thanks to their geometry (inverted wedge), scatter ceiling reflections. Another effect of acoustic diffusion is given by the local stone (typical of these buildings in Tuscany) with which a large part of the background wall has covered and which works on the highest frequencies. The result is a very brilliant room with a slight controlled reverberation, perfect for voice recording, but also for strings, winds and percussions.

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