Acoustic Upgrade for Award-Winning Alt-J Producer Charlie Andrew

Before we moved into the house to start tracking alt-J’s ‘The Dream’ I knew there had to be quite a bit of work done to improve the acoustics of the live area as well as the control room. Gav is always the first person I’d call in this situation. He and Dave made the process extremely easy. Once they had the dimensions and knew the materials of the construction Dave was able to map out an acoustic treatment that completely transformed the sound of the room without intruding on our space. Installation by the Kazbar team was quick and easy and we were able to start recording straight away. The whole process was effortless and I love how the album sounds. Thank you Kazbar for making it possible. You managed to turn a horribly echoey/reflective room into one of the best sounding live rooms I’ve ever used!

Charlie Andrew

Record Producer, Mixer and Songwriter
alt-J, Francobollo, Marika Hackman, Sivu

In May of 2020, record producer; Charlie Andrew contacted Kazbar Systems to provide an acoustic solution to a premises to be used for recording and producing the new alt-J album.

Charlie Andrew is a British record producer, mixer and songwriter, best known for his work with indie band alt-J. In 2013 Charlie was awarded ‘Breakthrough Producer of the Year’ by his peers at Music Producers Guild awards, in 2016 he won the ‘Producer of the Year’ and in turn was granted the Brit Award for ‘British Producer of the Year’.

In 2016, Charlie announced the launch of his new record label and publishing ventures Square Leg Records & Big Tree Music with Swedish band Francobollo the first signing to both companies; in 2017 he signed singer-songwriter Sivu.
Charlie also plays drums in the Laurel Collective and is part of the In the Woods Festival team.

Acoustic Solution for Charlie Andrew

There were two areas that required treatments, a Control Room measuring approximately 10 m2 and a Live Area, measuring approximately 30 m2. The ceiling height was circa 2.3m, with a number of windows to the walls.
After the acoustic testing and calculations had been completed, Dave Eccleston, Kazbar Systems Technical Manager, formed an acoustic upgrade proposal.

A range of bespoke acoustic treatments was manufactured to reduce the reverb time (RT) of the room to sub 0.4 seconds across the frequency range. The treatments included tuned LF absorber or bass traps and HF/MF absorber to the walls and ceiling. Wall treatments are retained by invisible fixings, with the ceiling absorbers hung from chains.

All of the acoustic treatments were wrapped in Camira fabric in the colour of the Client’s choice.

Technical Cabling

In addition to the acoustic upgrade, Charlie required the two areas to be interconnected with audio, video and data ties to and from the Control and Live Room areas. Bespoke cabling and custom connection boxes were installed and tested.

The studio acoustics and technical cabling were completed on time and to budget.