Eight years in the making, Washington Middle School in Honolulu recently completed a recording studio designed to inspire underprivileged students to follow their passions. The multi-million-dollar project, backed by the Hawaii State Department of Education, supports stereo and immersive productions and sports a long list of high-end recording equipment, including a Solid State Logic AWS 948 delta SuperAnalogue mixing console.
Line Studio at WMS, as the facility is known, is an example of contextualized learning, explained Sam Fong, sound recording studio director—a recording studio where students in a district where more than half the population lives below the poverty line will have opportunities to create dreams and build confidence. “Contextualized learning is a big deal for us, so it has to be relevant to young people’s lives and the dreams they will be pursuing,” he added. Exposing middle school students, ages 10 to 15, to opportunities to follow their passion and find their voice is key to future success Michael Harano, WMS principal, has publicly stated.
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Fong was attracted to the SSL brand, but also to the idea of an analogue console. “I came up in the early ‘80s, mixing on analogue consoles. It's beautiful when you get a chance to work on an analogue console.” That said, he was one of the first on the island to install a digital console, back in the day. “We really wanted this studio to be analogue, combined with the most current digital technology. Digital technology is really convenient, and a console like the AWS 948 delta basically combines the consoles of the ‘80s with modern workflows. Press a button and it becomes a comprehensive DAW controller. Then press a button and boom, you are back to a classic SSL console with all that glue and punch, with SSL’s famous Bus Compressor, with fully analogue preamps, E or G Series analogue EQs and analogue faders,” he said.
The architectural and acoustic design of Line Studio at WMS, a 1,600-square-foot space previously occupied by a computer classroom, was provided by WSDG, who also collaborated with Fong and Harano on the pro audio and video equipment complement and technical design. PK Pandey and AVN provided equipment and integration.
One of the only schools in Hawaii providing students with both pro audio and pro video production training, Line Studio at WMS also needs to help pay for itself, Fong said, so he is looking to partner with other institutions and non-profit organizations. One project that has recently been announced will be a collaboration with the Hawaii State Archives.
“We really want to support our culture and our young people and artists by providing things that most people just can't afford to access and to give them access to this acoustical space. We haven’t given people this access before in Hawaii and this will open doors for them. Opportunities for our young people are limited by being on an island, and we tend to limit our dreams to the parameters that we're given. We aim to teach our young people that there's no beginning or end point for exploration. You start at any point, and you don't stop until you decide to stop—and you don't have to stop,” Fong said. “Boy, I wish I had such opportunities when I was a teenager.”
