Profiled in MIX magazine’s “Class of 2011” this past June, Stonewall Studio is a private-use studio in Cantonment, FL (just north of Pensacola) owned by engineer Chris Myers. Designed by Jeff Hedback of HDAcoustics, the 450sf garage-turned-studio features four rooms and a NE style control room that utilizes the flanking hallway spaces for LF control, plus a rectangular tracking room large enough to accommodate an ensemble while remaining “attached” in vibe to the control room. For the control room, Hedback specified a Blue Sky Sky System One 2.1 as the room’s main monitoring system.

The impetus for creating the studio was three-fold for Myers, whose projects range from music to commercial production. Not only did he want to create a space that would function as a working studio for clients, as well as serving as a for-hire studio for friends and colleagues, but also, Myers engineer-in-training son would eventually inhabit the space.

“My desire was to have a place where I could produce demos for the songs that I write, and needed good acoustics and monitoring. In addition, I have a lot of friends locally in the Pensacola/NW Florida area as well as Atlanta and Nashville and wanted to create a kind of boutique studio where they could cut their band tracks/overdubs as well as vocals in a comfortable atmosphere. And lastly, I wanted a place for my son who is in the process of completing his senior year at the University of West Florida with a concentration in Electrical Engineering.  Upon graduation, he plans on entering the field of Audio Engineering and this studio would be a perfect place for him to learn the equipment and to train his ears.”

Hedback created the room as a “non-environment hybrid,” and felt it was crucial to have a full-range/sealed box system as flush-mounting was not possible for the structure of the room. “The choice was then simple as only one option was available, Blue Sky,” Hedback stated. “Chris, my client, had no previous exposure to Blue Sky, so it was on complete trust of my recommendation that he purchased the System One Left, Right and Sub.  My integration partner, Marc Meeker of Meeker Audio in Nashville, TN, set up the system and we interactively performed measurements and calibration. The system and room are exceptional, considering it’s not a large “pro” room but rather a garage conversion with pro performance!”

Interfacing with the Blue Sky system is a Euphonix MC Mix control surface with an AVID Pro Tools HD2 rig and assorted outboard gear, microphones and instruments. Looking ahead, the Blue Sky room is designed for a 5:1 upgrade in future.

“Wow!” Myers exclaimed. “Everything that I use works together incredibly well and the speakers sound incredible. One of the best things about the Blue Sky System is the instruments sound like they are supposed to. I have been in several studios where the monitors seem to change the tone of the instruments, and what this means is the engineer has to do some serious tweaking to get the appropriate sound/tone that the musician/artist/producer was after. During one of my past sessions, one of the guitar players said to me, ‘I absolutely love cutting tracks here. I’m in and out without the hassle of using plug-ins or other stuff to get the tone right.’ In my opinion, the combination of the acoustics and the Blue Sky monitors truly is unmatched here on the Gulf Coast.  If I could do it again, would I buy Blue Sky Monitors? In a heartbeat!”

“I’m also happy to report that the word is spreading among my friends in Nashville, too. We have several independent session scheduled for the near future and although we are slowly growing, and with the economy the way it is, I’m perfectly content with the progress.”