The Middlesex County Magnet School recognizes the importance of tailoring facilities to fit the curriculum. For its newly expanding performing arts major, MCMS looked to a long-unused former electronics shop as an ideal space for its new music production and recording studio. Transforming the raw, industrial volume into a customized, acoustically sensitive suite required careful planning and attention to detail. The new curriculum required a combination of classroom spaces and real-world application space—meaning standard lecture instruction, performance space, and recording/editing rooms. All of it had to be acoustically isolated from the adjacent trade shops. How do you acoustically separate a suite requiring daily musical instruction and extreme sound control from the sounds of saws and power equipment? Using enhanced wall assemblies, vibration isolation, multiple sounds seals, and thoughtful placement of HVAC units, the design reduces mechanical noise.

The sound entering and leaving the suite is now controlled. The focal point of the suite is the recording studio. Specifically shaped and fitted with an engineered layout of acoustical diffusers and panels to control the sound reverberations, this space is a musician’s dream. With a design based on professional recording studio standards, this new studio has been an attraction for prospective students, helping to increase enrollment in the Middlesex County Magnet Schools performing arts major.