ProAudio Review - July 2008 - (Page 38)

Production Room Profile by Ty Ford WLOY: Real World Facilities For An On-Campus Radio Station ohn Devecka came to Maryland from LPB Communications in 2002 to be the Operations Manager at WLOY, the not quite on-the-air Loyola College radio station. He also took on the administrative responsibilities of the facility, student club and live events. Under Devecka’s supervision, the process of building out the radio station took two years from discussion to completion; it went on the air in March of 2003. The new radio station would replace a weight room with rubber mats and sweaty college students on the first floor of a dormitory building that also housed the student newspaper and yearbook offices. ditional room-within-a-room acoustical design. The Loyola facilities staff did the bulk of the build-out. Ziger and Snead (Baltimore, MD) did the architectural design. David Kahn of Acoustic Dimensions (Larchmont, NY) did the acoustic design.” Some college radio stations are created in whatever space that can be grabbed from existing offices and classrooms with little thought to the workflow, acoustic and technical realities of a real broadcast facility. You only have to walk through WLOY’s front door airlock and into the news area to realize that a great deal of thought was put into this facility. Devecka chose the main entrance air dio. The protected electrical, networking, telecom wiring and low-flow HVAC ductwork was installed by the Loyola College facilities crew. “Not only did they do a great job, but their pride in the project is evident throughout,” says Devecka. “Having it done in house means that we get questions answered immediately and by the person that did the original work.” Devecka’s design intent was to include traditional professional audio gear and new technology to give his students the knowledge that would allow them to land jobs regardless of where they chose to work. “We have legacy rack-mounted gear as well as the most recent plug-ins." THE PLANT Working with Father Michael Braden at Loyola, Devecka had put forth a plan to create a seven room complex; a 10 by 14foot air studio, a 10 by 14-foot production studio, two 9 by 10 foot recording rooms, a lobby/four desk radio news operation, music library, and engineering office, all with nine foot ceilings. According to Devecka, “The intent was to attract new students to the college and to build lab facilities for the existing students. We started talking about a fixed budget to cover the whole project. I said forget about the initial gear and let’s make sure the basic construction is done right. If it isn’t, there’s no fixing that. Among other things that meant making sure the rooms were well isolated from the rest of the building. WLOY’s nine-foot ceilings are part of a tra- lock doors from Overly Doors (Greensburg, PA) with a 52 dB rating. The second airlock, between the news area, air studio and Recording A was designed because it was cheaper to construct a passage with three doors, each with a 52 dB rating, than using doors with a 60 dB rating and no air lock. The laminated half-inch double pane, vacuum-sealed, slanted windows between studios came from Globe-Amerada (Chicago, IL). Several windows exposing the studios to the outside campus are 8.5 feet x 4 feet. Others, between studios, are three feet by 4.5 feet. A sightline from the air studio through two other studios allows bands to play live on the air, with different isolated spaces for instrument amps and drums. All of the recording rooms, production studio and workstations are wired back to engineering and to the main air stu- RPG Diffuser Systems (Upper Marlboro, MD) supplied the acoustic treatment for the studios. Studio Technology (Kennett Square, PA) custom built the air studio furniture. The production room desk came from MidAtlantic Products (Fairfield, NJ). THE GEAR Devecka’s design intent was to include traditional professional audio gear and new technology to give his students the knowledge that would allow them to land jobs regardless of where they chose to work. “We have legacy rack-mounted gear as well as the most recent plug-ins: everything from Mini Disc to now CF and SD. The production studio console is an LPB 38 | ProAudio Review | July 2008 www.proaudioreview.com http://www.proaudioreview.com

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ProAudio Review - July 2008 Contents Publisher's Page: Inside Broadcast Production Studio News and New Products Steinberg Nuendo 4 Digital Audio Workstation Developments & Trends: Digital Audio Workstation I/O JZ Microphones Black Hole BH-1 Apple Logic Studio Behind The Scenes: JBL Professional – A 60-Year Legacy Broadcast News and New Products WLOY: Real World Facilities For An On-Campus Radio Station Post News and New Products Hot Gear InfoComm 08 Chandler Limited TG1 Abbey Road/EMI Series Limiter/Compressor Live News and New Products Cerwin-Vega! Professional Active Series CVA-28 and CVA-118 Speakers QSC Audio Model GX5 Power Amplifier From The Road: A Week In The Life — Gear Essentials Contracting News and New Products Taming The Driving Factor — Drums UpSampler: sE Instrument Reflection Filter Buyer’s Guide: Live Sound Amplifiers Single Slice: Roger Powell “Fallout Shelter”

ProAudio Review - July 2008

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