Casa Frida Estudio Installs PMC Monitoring System

Casa Frida Estudio, one of the most prestigious music facilities in Argentina, has upgraded its main control room to Dolby Atmos specifications and installed a PMC monitoring system based on the company's result6 monitors.

Owned and operated by producer and engineer Hernán Caratozzolo, Casa Frida Estudio recently moved to Zona Norte, Buenos Aires – a rural location an hour from the capital that delivers the calm and tranquillity that comes from being surrounded by nature.

"By disconnecting from the city's hustle and bustle, musicians can focus on their music and foster inspiration," Caratozzolo explained. "We offer music recording, post-production, stereo mixing, 5.1 mixing and Dolby Atmos mixing in 7.1.4. In addition, we also offer audiovisual recording services and analogue mastering."

Alongside a main recording room and three ISO rooms, Casa Frida has a 45m2 control room that is equipped with an Amek Tac Scorpion II 40 channel console, Rupert Neve Designs and API summing mixers and a wide range of outboard equipment and microphones. The new Dolby Atmos monitoring system exclusively features PMC result6 monitors which are used for front, left, centre, right, height and surround channels. It complemented by an Audient ORIA monitoring centre that is designed to create immersive audio mixes for all formats.

Caratozzolo's decision to incorporate Dolby Atmos was based on a desire to explore the creative possibilities of the format.

"Although digital platforms are advancing in offering the user music mixed in immersive audio, we have installed a Dolby Atmos monitoring system because we believe that this format offers us a new creative possibility to convey the sensation and experience that we musicians and engineers experience in the studio," he explained. "Imagine placing a user with their headphones in the middle of an orchestra. With immersive audio, musicians and engineers can more faithfully representing sound in space and bring that sensation closer to the listener."

Caratozzolo, who has recorded and produced more than 2000 albums for the Argentine and Latin American independent scene, says he chose PMC monitors because he is a fan of PMC's proprietary Advanced Transmission Line (ATL) technology and the precision and neutrality of high frequencies that PMC monitors deliver.

"PMC monitors gave us peace of mind when setting up the Dolby Atmos system, in terms of phase cancellation," he said. "We also appreciate the uniform response that the sound has at different volume levels and the very low harmonic distortion."

Opened in 1997, Casa Frida Estudio is renowned for its exceptional acoustics. Caratozzolo, a recording engineer with over 30 years' experience, designed and carried out the remodelling of the control room. Among his many credits are three awards and nine nominations for the Gardel Awards, and a nomination for Best Tango Album at the 14th Annual Latin Grammy Awards.

"I try to provide warmth, conceptual clarity, support for the musician and a solid knowledge of production that provides human, technical and artistic optimization for each project," he said.

Casa Frida's PMC monitoring system was supplied and installed by PMC’s Argentinian distributor Planeta Analogico, a company that Caratozzolo has worked with on many occasions in the past. "Planeta Analogico recommended PMC as our first option, and we trusted them," he said.

Since installing the new monitoring system in June 2024, Casa Frida has started work on a series of album remixes in 7.1.4 for various artists who have previously recorded and mixed stereo projects at the facility.

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