Studio Makers Spotlight: Francis Manzella Design

March 16th, 2014 by David Weiss

Ears of experience pay off.

Francis Manzella hears where his clients are coming from.

Francis Manzella hears where you’re coming from.

Designers operating at the level of Francis Manzella – Fran to his friends – create world-class sound facilities following decades of hard-won knowhow. But making studios like Manzella’s calls for more than just putting in time. It calls for artistry, intuition, architectural mastery, and an innate love of audio.

From the freshly minted Guilford Sound in Vermont, to New Jersey’s the Barber Shop, Sterling Sound to the enlightened 25^th Street Recording in Oakland, Manzella’s portfolio is as inspiring to view as it is to listen to.

Get inside the mind of a studio architect and speaker builder who craves the chance to push boundaries – always in the name of achieving his clients’ desired sonic signatures.

Firm Name: Francis Manzella Design Ltd.

Website: http://www.fmdesign.com

Location: Mahopac, NY

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We also work on acoustic and technical design for restaurants, conference rooms, nightclubs and I’ve actually had the opportunity to design a very modern nightclub over in Tbilisi (Republic or Georgia) recently from the ground up. This project included working with some very talented sub-consultants on video, stage lighting and specialty installations including interior illuminated waterfalls and 3D video projection.

We are always looking to stretch our limits and do new types of work. I always tell people, if it involves great sound, then I’m interested!

Design Philosophy: The biggest dictate at FM Design is that each project is unique. We resolve to seek out solutions for each client that meet their needs, wants and budget. We are always looking at new solutions and techniques to broaden our design palette.

Although we do have a basic philosophy about control room design guided by strong consideration of modal response, early reflection control and generous amounts of full bandwidth bass trapping, we always look at each project as a unique challenge.

I try to let the venue and the client’s aesthetic sensibility guide us through the preliminary conceptualization. I often assign “homework” and ask new clients to assemble photos of spaces (or things) that they are attracted to aesthetically and tell me what it is they like about these photos. They don’t have to be studios and actually we are better served when they are not.

I’ve designed studios in 100-year-old post and beam barns, churches that had been converted into a dance club, a casino hotel and a Star Trek-inspired studio in a non descript commercial building in NJ.

Of course there are elements that appear in many of our designs because they work! Visually a studio can look like almost anything as long as we can stretch fabric over it. We’ve done very clean contemporary minimalistic designs, and also very “old school” wood paneled rooms. It’s all about the customers’ vision, the needs and their budget.

For live recording spaces, we once again try and respond to the clients lead. If a particular client is doing an analog retro studio, they probably are going to be attracted to larger live spaces. Other clients will have other recording sensibilities, and we will try to give them the acoustic palette they are looking for in the recording spaces.

In general I like to do mid-to large-sized live rooms with a variety of isolation booths offering a range of acoustic signatures. This gives a (commercial) studio a broad range of acoustic environments to fit the needs of a wide range of clients.

The control room at 25th Street Recording, Oakland.

Select Portfolio:

Sterling Sound NYC

The Studio at The Palms, Las Vegas

Guilford Sound, VT

The Barber Shop, NJ

Masterdisk NYC

25 Street Recording, Oakland

Dallas Audio Post

Life Studios, Rome, private studio for recording artist Gigi D’Alessio

Forward Studios, Rome

The live room for Life Studios in Rome, a private facility for artist Gigi D’Allessio.

Facility Focus: I want to go back a couple of years to 25 Street Recording in Oakland. What was interesting and somewhat unique about this project is that the owner, David Lichtenstein, wanted to do a very analog, large retro studio. So many projects just don’t even consider large live rooms anymore these days.

He is a drummer who has a background as an engineer and producer and he has a vast collection of equipment, instruments and mics. He wanted to build one large studio to put all his “stuff” into and offer something that just wasn’t really available in the Bay Area anymore: analog recording in a large great sounding live room, with an analog-heavy, large control room that also sounds awesome. I would have to say that we succeeded in achieving these results.

The project went through a long search for a suitable venue. When Dave finally located the old auto shop in downtown Oakland, we immediately saw a great potential to do a truly world class project. The console selection process was long and thorough and Dave finally selected the API Vision with ATC 5.1 main monitoring.

We also spent a lot of time with Dave and the contractor (Dennis Stearns builders) identifying and locating unique sustainable and recycled materials for the project including all the wood flooring, which in a previous life was bleachers at a nearby stadium.

He’s really got a great place that just feels like you are recording in the ‘80’s except it’s also fully digital capable and sounds way better than most of the control rooms from that era, and has almost any toy or classic instrument you can ask for. The place has been very well received and is loved by engineer/producers who have had an opportunity to work there.

Expansive — Dallas Audio Post

The Team:

FM Design is: Francis Manzella – Principal and Owner, Bill Seegmuller – Senior designer and architect, Lars Tofastrud – Senior acoustician, designer and Partner in Griffin Audio USA, Roberto Rosu – European Sales Rep (and HVAC specialist!).

In 2004 Lars and I formalized a new partnership and formed Griffin Audio USA. Griffin provides high end custom studio loudspeakers for the recording and media industries. We offer systems ranging from our midfield G2B, which is a dual 8″ 2-way with a 4″ ribbon tweeter, up to our flagship G1A that is an 18″ 3-Way system with an 8″ Ribbon Super-Tweeter capable of extremely high output, low distortion playback including a full DSP processing package and custom Griffin amplifiers based on ICEPower high efficiency technology. Griffin also offers 15″ and 18″ Subwoofers to complete surround systems or add extra low octave support in larger systems. Griffin systems are installed in projects around the world including Life studio – Rome, Canoa Studio – Lisbon, The Studio at The Palms in Las Vegas, 2 Hard Records – Kingston Jamaica, Manhattan Center Studio in NYC, and The Barber Shop in NJ.

Some great contractors we have worked with include: Sonic Construction (NJ), Audio Structures (NY) and Dennis Stearns Builders (No Cal).

Ted Jensen’s room at Sterling Sound, NYC.

Feedback:

Visit the “Testimonials” page on our Website for quotes.

The Barbershop in Hopatcong, NJ, is home to an SSL 9000K in the Manzella-designed Studio A.

Biggest Beef: I wish everybody would REMEMBER the Golden Triangle of service. You can have it great, fast or cheap… pick two!

Dream Project: I have been so privileged to work with many great recording folks, artists and producers, that I don’t want to slight any of them by saying there’s somebody else… but…if I had to pick someone I would love to have a chance to work with it would be George Martin. He has done so much innovative work, that I’m sure it would be enlightening to do any type of project involving him. Imagine doing the personal studio for such a visionary. That would be a treat.

— Francis Manzella, President & Principal Designer, Francis Manzella Design