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WSDG delivers acoustic treatment for Dolby Atmos control room at Centre des Musiques Actuelles in Geneva

Acoustic consulting and media systems engineering firm WSDG has completed work on a Dolby Atmos control room for the Centre des Musiques Actuelles (CMA) in Geneva, Switzerland. CMA includes the École des Musiques Actuelles (EMA), a contemporary music school offering training in pop, rock, jazz, and other modern genres.

The facility spans 3,000 square metres over two floors and features 45 classrooms, a 300-seat auditorium, a 200-person club, plus recording and production facilities. The concept for both the Dolby Atmos control room and the immersive Ansermet Auditorium was initiated by Ladislav Agabekov (pictured), sound engineer and technical director at CMA. Eric Henry, Director of Operations at ACR Pro, partnered throughout the process, playing a key role as system integrator.

The project, part of EMA’s 38 million Swiss Franc facility renovation, began in January 2024 and was completed in early 2025, with final system calibrations taking place in March. WSDG served as the acoustic consultant for the Dolby Atmos control room, collaborating with Valentin Cattel from the local architectural firm Reynaud Gaillard Architects, who oversaw building integration and installation, and system integrator ACR Pro.

The new 20 sq m control room serves as the technical heart of the school’s audio production facilities, enabling immersive audio recording, mixing, and post-production within their educational and performance complex. “EMA wanted to create an Atmos mixing room with a 7.2.4 speaker system”, explains Amin Nehmeh, Project Engineer at WSDG. The control room was designed to interface seamlessly with EMA’s other facilities, particularly their 300-seat main auditorium, equipped with a d&b Audiotechnik Soundscape system featuring 64 loudspeakers for immersive live sound reinforcement projects and performances.

Ladislav Agabekov, Technical Project Manager at EMA, elaborates on the strategic importance of the new facility: “We are mainly focused on music production. When we produce a completely object-based live recording in the auditorium, we can immediately reproduce that for the artist in the control room as an immersive experience, and also create binaural content for streaming. It’s very attractive for creative purposes, especially for classical musicians, electronic musicians, and the experimental music clients we frequently host.”

WSDG employed the Niro (Non-cuboid Iterative Room Optimizer) developed by Redi Acoustics to optimise the acoustic qualities of the compact space. The room presented unique challenges due to its size. “Funnily enough, the smaller the room, the more thought you need to put into it”, Nehmeh notes. “You have to fight more against the room. Smaller rooms are prone to resonances or eigenmodes at higher frequencies, hence can cause more relevant frequency cancellation issues.”

The acoustic treatment engineered by WSDG includes strategically placed absorption panels behind the loudspeakers and around the soffit, specially designed ceiling clouds, and a stretch fabric ceiling with built-in insulation toward the rear of the room. A large diffusor occupies a significant portion of the back wall behind the sofa, helping to scatter reflections. The lower sections up to 60-80 cm height feature Helmholtz absorbers for low-frequency control.

The loudspeaker setup features Genelec’s flagship “The Ones” 8361s as the main monitors, Genelec W371A subwoofers, and smaller POE-powered surrounds. The entire system is networked, utilising Dante protocol and controlled via an Avid S4 controller and Pro Tools.

The WSDG team for the project included Amin Nehmeh, Dirk Noy (Partner, General Manager Europe), Leandro Kirjner (Director of Production), and Silvia Molho (Partner, Art Director), with the company’s Miami office responsible for handling the design aspects, determining geometry, colours, and materials.

C2A Swiss, specialising in composite materials, manufactured the acoustic elements based on the specifications from WSDG’s engineering reports. The school’s regular carpenter also made significant contributions to the project.

(Photos: Dirk Noy/WSDG/Centre des Musiques Actuelles)

www.wsdg.com

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