The action is returning to Times Square, the home of Quad Studios. On most days, New York City’s famed crossroads feels as beautifully chaotic as ever, a healthy mix of midtown professionals, tourists, and oddball characters crowding the sidewalks.

Stand on 7^th Avenue just north of 48^th Street, then look and listen skyward. Several stories up in the building marked 723 the intersection’s energy is amplified – and then some – at Quad.

There’s a new source of juice within the Quad complex: Studio Q5. Open for business since spring, Q5 introduced a tantalizing recording and mixing option to producers, labels and artists working in NYC. Drawn by its privacy, powerfully spacious control room, and expansive live room, its influential clients have included Swae Lee, Cardi B, Lil Baby, Bad Bunny, Gucci Mane, Big Daddy Kane, Ozuna, Cyndi Lauper, and John Legend.

The careful design of Q5 reflects the latest evolutions in music production workflow and amenities. Adding to the tech and acoustics is the staffing, guided by highly experienced industry pros including Quad’s Owner Ricky Hosn, Operations Manager Alessio Casalini, Booking Manager Glenn Swan and Studio Manager Tino Passante.

Studio Q5 at Quad Studios features dual Raven touchscreens and LOTS of volume.

The NYC Studio Scene: Macro Factors

Quad is one part of a larger NYC studio vertical that waited patiently for the pandemic to subside, only to find that more obstacles to business-as-usual awaited.

“2022 definitely looked different from the previous two years,” Hosn says. “The biggest difference was that the world had reopened after a two-year lockdown. People were going out again and artists were touring once again. That meant artists were spending more time on the road and less time in the studio.

“In the short term we felt the impact of that in the studio business, but of course we want our artists to be successful. That’s how we get them in the studio again. Fortunately, Quad has a wide range of clientele to the extent that the increased touring didn’t impact us too badly, and our business remains buzzing on a daily basis.”

According to Casalini, although 2022 has been a challenging year for recording studios in general, there is also reason for optimism. “Artists were not able to perform due to Covid for the last two years,” he notes. “This year everyone was touring all over the world and we definitely felt it in the studio business. On the other hand, labels came back strong, artists have more budget and I think it will get better.

“The biggest challenge in the last few years is probably the real estate in New York. But we know that already – prices keep going up for rent, utilities, insurance. at the same time studio rates stay pretty much the same.”

Elite Audio Biz Dev

When it comes to business development, Quad is purposeful about its mission statement and how it identifies opportunities. In times of market volatility, maintaining focus is essential.

Hosn is direct about the staff’s aspirations for the studio, a constantly evolving space that has been highly regarded in NYC and worldwide since the 1970’s. “Quad has always focused on being the best we can be in the recording business, that has always kept our rooms busy,” he says. “When any business is busy, expansion is usually not far behind. The last few years we’ve had opportunities to expand in the building due to other studios going out of business.

“Since these were ready-built studios in the building it made sense for us to expand into those spaces. Even though we still had to make big investments to bring those rooms to Quad standards, it was definitely smarter than finding something at a different location and building from the ground up.”

“For example, we took over a third floor at the end of last year and finally opened Q5 in March,” Casalini adds. “The first few months were great, then everything slowed down during the summer because of all the music festivals and touring, and that’s when you wish you only had two floors to maintain. But as soon as summer was over, Q5 has been booked solid every day and now we wish we had one more room to book!

“Also aside from building new studios I believe investing in the facility as a whole. Maintaining equipment, replacing furniture, improving client service, building a strong and competent staff is absolutely necessary for the business to survive even during slow times. The key is to be able to reinvent yourself and adapt to new things constantly.”

One example of opportunistic expansion is Quad’s newest studio Q5, which opened in March 2022. A few stories down from the Quad mothership at 723 7^th Avenue, its origins are rooted in the closing of another studio that had previously occupied the space.

“Covid took a toll on many businesses around the world,” Hosn reflects. “One of those businesses was a recording studio on the third floor. Once they shut their doors and moved out, we saw it as a great opportunity for us to expand and took the space.”

Casalini and Hosn saw a chance to alleviate late night bottlenecks in Quad’s existing Q1/Q2/Q3/Q4 studios upstairs. “There were a lot of times where we had to turn sessions away because we were fully booked, especially at night,” says Casalini. “The floor became available at the end of 2020 and after a lot of thinking and back and forth between Ricky and me we decided to take it.

“What was attractive to us was the size of the control room, bigger than any other room we had, and the large live room with two booths. Additionally, the studio occupies a private floor – that plays a big factor during the booking process, clients love privacy! We had seen that previously with Q4.”

Q5 Studio Design: Multifunctional Music Production

When designing Q5, Quad’s concept was to build a large format studio sporting modern vibes, with a private floor location they expected to attract bigger artists and labels. Meanwhile, from an audio engineering standpoint they saw a hybrid practitioner as their target demographic.

Hosn observes, “These days the line between engineer and producer is thinner than ever. Thanks to technological advances, everyone has access to amazing tools in the recording industry. We built Q5 like we built the rest of our rooms: multifunctional and beneficial to anything audio related. The fact that this was our largest room and is completely private makes it appealing to everyone, especially major label artists.”

Casalini and Hosn personally architected the space, with inspiration from a respected Quad collaborator whose imprint can be seen in studios throughout the building. “There is a lot of influence from the late Larry Swist in our designs,” Hosn says. “He built Studio Q2 back in 2005 and we worked together on Studio Q1 in 2011. Since then we have gone on to build Studios Q3, Q4, and Q5 all in-house.” The same contractor is used for each studio build to assure consistency.

The sonic characteristics they aimed to replicate is what Hosn and Casalini call “The Quad Sound” which distinguishes Q1-Q4. “We used Studio Q1 frequency response as a starting point,” says Casalini. “The goal was a punchy and low tight bass and overall balanced sound and a defined image. Of course, loudness is important for our clients, but the key is to try to maintain clarity and I think we achieved that.”

From a gear standpoint, Quad kept a lid on tech overload, opting instead to focus on sound and vibe. The room is well-equipped, but the emphasis is on people first.

“We went for a minimal approach in terms of equipment: Pro Tools HDX, Avid HD I/O 16 x16, double Slate Raven system, a few preamps and compressors,” Casalini says. “The only thing we didn’t try to spare was the speakers. We decided to go with the Augspurger Quattro with 4 x 15” and 2 x 18” per side for a total of 10,000 watts of power if I’m not mistaken, probably the biggest system in New York.

“We also prepared and made the room in a way that could be easily expanded based on necessity. Since we opened in March we have already added another 16 channels of Apogee converters and more Neve and API preamps. And we are discussing an analog console now – it’s always a work in progress.”

With a spacious control room and equally expansive live room, Q5 a is multitalented studio. “The amount of detail we put into the sound of our rooms makes every Quad room fit for mixing,” explains Hosn. “The difference with Q5 is the size of the live room: It’s one of the biggest live rooms in the city which makes it appealing for all sorts of live tracking including orchestras, film scoring and standard 4-piece bands.”

The Q5 live room.

While the live room had not initially been envisioned as a full tracking room, planning ahead helped the space grow quickly when plans changed. Casalini says, “We ran new wires everywhere. We left space for extra patchbays, wiring for extra equipment, and more so that one day with a minimal soldering job we could transform it into a big tracking room, which is actually what’s happening now.”

Throughout the design and construction process, Quad’s team kept their eyes open for any new opportunities, challenges, and surprises that might unfold.

“We approached Q5 like all the rooms we’ve designed: We look at the room as one large instrument that produces sound,” says Hosn. “The challenging part of building Q5 was the size of the room. Previous rooms we’ve built were smaller in size and easier to play with the sound. You can write a book on this subject, but long story short we were able to get very close to the sound we wanted when we first started this project.”

“The biggest challenge was the floors,” Casalini adds. “We had to redo them all including floating the floor of the entire live room. We installed new heavy acoustic doors for the live room and control room. For the control room we went with the same design as Q1 and Q4: wood and acoustic panels on the walls, big diffuser in the back, the color scheme is almost identical to Q1. We wanted to keep the same kind of vibes as the other rooms.”

Solitary Refinement

Now fully bumped out and running for several months, Q5 is getting settled in. NS10 and ProAC monitors have been added to the well-balanced sounding control room. Tracking capabilities currently stand at 32 I/O of converters, plus 20 preamps with an eye on further expansion.

The sessions can go large scale, but Q5 is designed to work intuitively when flown solo – producers, mixers, artists, and beatmakers seeking their own headspace are in workflow heaven. “Back in 2005 when we built Quad’s first modern room,” Hosn says, “We had recognized the emergence of the digital workflow and built Studio Q2 with the intention of it being a one-person operator room.

Another angle on the Q5 control room.

“At that time none of Quad’s rooms could be operated by a single person. Q5 has the footprint of the old Quad rooms, but the difference is it can be operated by one person. Everything is within the reach of the engineer/producer. They do not need to leave the sweet spot to get anything done.” The Raven systems, monitor controller, patchbays and outboard gear are all integrated into the ultra-wide main desk with gear racks on either side.

Accuracy and oomph at very high volumes is expected from a studio in Q5’s class, and Quad made sure to crush expectations. “We installed the Augspurger Quattro system in Q5 – these are the biggest speakers installed in any NYC studio,” Hosn states. “Because this was a large format room we knew that we would need to produce more energy to keep up with the Quad sound. The Quattro system is definitely doing its job.”

Casalini adds, “The system is very accurate and it’s loud, but the bass is very tight and controlled. When you turn it up to 100 you really feel the punch of the low end in your chest without sacrificing the overall clarity and balance!”

The thought behind Q5 is paying off, already hosting a number of platinum hip hop, R&B, and rock clients. Disney, Broadway shows, and a wide swatch of major labels have also booked the room.

Feedback from the Q5 clientele has been exactly what Quad was looking for. “They love it! Especially the privacy,” Casalini confirms. “It’s a different vibe. For example, Q4 and the Quad Club are on a private [12^th] floor but there are a lot of windows there, so all the lights from the streets and the Time Square billboards and that energy are passing through. Q5 is different, very quiet, very private – almost like a speakeasy versus a busy bar. It’s great to be able to offer different options.”

Quad Club: Events Make Sense

Another angle on expansion is diversification. That can be seen in Quad Club on the 12^th floor, a sizable event space open since 2019 that immerses visitors in a future-classic mega studio vibe. Club seating, a roomy 20’ bar, 130” matrix TV monitors, PA system and pool table are all included.

To Quad, hosting happenings in a purpose-built facility was beyond logical. “This was a no-brainer once the 12^th floor became available,” says Hosn. “We were hosting so many listening events and album release parties on our 10^th floor that opening up the 12^th floor space made a lot of sense.

“Events we were hosting on the 10^th floor were confined to the Q1 control room and 500 sq. ft. open space live room. The Quad Club on the 12^th floor offers over 2000 sq. ft. of open space with a large bar, big monitors and a large PA system. You’re getting a real club in a recording studio when you book an event.”

“It’s the perfect location for release parties, movie screenings, private events, TV show and commercial shoots, podcasts, and more,” Casalini says. “People love the fact that Studio Q4 is right next door. The private lounge can be used for VIP or meetings, the control room for interviews, while you serve food and drinks at the bar and play pool or chill in the big open space.”

Club Quad provides NYC with a unique event space.

— David Weiss is an Editor for SonicScoop.com, and has been covering pro audio developments for over 20 years. He is also the co-author of the music industry’s leading textbook on synch licensing, “Music Supervision, 2^nd Edition: The Complete Guide to Selecting Music for Movies, TV, Games & New Media.” Email: david@sonicscoop.com

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