Riot Atlanta has completed a major studio expansion and reconstruction effort that includes an infrastructure designed to support high definition, editorial, visual effects, and finishing. The studio upgraded its audio post capabilities, adding three new 5.1 mixing suites, equipped with Fairlight DREAM Constellation consoles and MSoft's server-based music and sound effects storage system.

Design for the audio suites was handled by Bret Thoeny of Boto Design. Systems integration services were supplied by Ascent Media Systems and Technology Services. MLA provided the acoustical engineering.

Engineer Matt Melberg says that one of the main improvements the Riot staff sought from the remodel was “true isolation,” which proved challenging for the designers. “We're in a traditional office space, and if something really loud happens on the seventh floor, you'll hear it on the second or third floor. If you're situated on the ground floor when you build a studio, it's easier to get great isolation because you can just use mass. We couldn't do that in this building because the load would have been too great.”

“Marshall Long [of Marshall Long Acoustics, Los Angeles] did the calculations on the floor system so we could balance the weight and the acoustical requirements with the structural engineer in Atlanta,” Thoeny adds. “The rooms are floated and all the air conditioning is separate-zoned with sound dampers to kill the sound coming down the ductwork.”

The studio was highlighted in the June, 2006 issue of Mix, in their design feature entitled Mix's “Class of 2006” and subsequently made the August cover.