Radiobu Studio

Former MTV VJ and current Sirius XM satellite radio on-air personality Martha Quinn and her husband, show producer/engineer, composer, and former Fuzztone lead-guitarist Jordan Tarlow, wanted to create a brand new recording space that could handle production needs for her Sirius XM radio show, “Martha Quinn Presents.” The space also had to accommodate Tarlow’s television commercial and film trailer composition work.

RBDG designed a 1,100 sq.ft. personal studio consisting of a main control room, a large glass recording booth, a machine room, kitchenette, bathroom and lounge. A Digidesign Icon D-Control console is surrounded by Tarlow’s large collection of vintage recording equipment and instruments. RBDG also developed a Precision Kinetics custom 7.1 surround monitoring solution to meet the studio’s production needs, making Radiobu the first ICON-based 7.1 studio in Malibu. Radiobu is also equipped with ISDN for high-quality voice-over work.

RBDG’s design focused on maximizing traffic flow. A small storage area was incorporated at one end of the space and at the other end, an entry vestibule doubles as a separately conditioned equipment and machine room area. The control room was designed with ample space for live interviews and performances, as well as for recording musicians. From his console seat, Tarlow can easily monitor the show while a group is performing to the side. The control room also can accommodate a custom broadcast table for multiple-guest, in-studio interviews.

The existing low ceilings posed some acoustical constraints, so RBDG used a pArtScience SpaceCoupler cloud above the mix position to improve the performance of absorptive ceiling material and to tame low frequency energy. The pArtScience SpaceArrays on the rear wall distribute diffuse energy and improve surround imaging across the entire width of the console.