Naramachi Studio Features & Specifications

1Features of Naramachi Studio

Creating a Sound Environment You Can Rely On

Naramachi Studio is a reference studio for immersive audio production. Most of the studio was built using a DIY approach.

Audio engineers may work across multiple studios depending on the performers, production requirements, or project conditions. In such situations, the most important consideration is the monitoring environment.

While the tonal characteristics of loudspeakers can be relatively easy to understand, the effects of loudspeaker placement and room acoustics are much more difficult to assess. As a result, when production continues in a different studio, the sound may differ from what the engineer originally intended.

To create a good production, it is essential to be able to trust the sound coming from the monitoring speakers.

The defining feature of Naramachi Studio is a sound environment that engineers can rely on. The ability to mix and evaluate sound with confidence is the foundation of the studio.

Acoustic Tuning Refined Through Critical Listening

In recent years, automatic room correction based on acoustic measurements has become increasingly common. At Naramachi Studio, however, the acoustic environment has been carefully refined through extensive critical listening rather than relying solely on automated correction.

Automatic room-correction systems can achieve a flat frequency response at specific measurement positions. However, a technically flat response does not necessarily create an environment that is easy to work in for audio production.

In immersive audio production, precise sound imaging and accurate spatial reproduction are particularly important. Many of these qualities cannot be fully evaluated through measurements alone. For this reason, the final acoustic adjustments were made through critical listening, with particular emphasis on what can be judged by ear.

Superior Acoustic Performance with Calmofoam

Naramachi Studio uses Calmofoam acoustic treatment panels manufactured by Matsumura Aqua Co., Ltd.

Compared with glass wool, Calmofoam has a lower sound absorption coefficient above 1 kHz, while providing exceptionally high absorption in the 200–500 Hz range. This characteristic allows unwanted mid-frequency resonance to be effectively controlled without excessively absorbing high frequencies, making Calmofoam highly effective as an acoustic treatment material for recording studios and listening rooms. This acoustic treatment helps create a highly resolving sound field in which even subtle details of the sound can be clearly perceived.

More about Matsumura Aqua’s Calmofoam
Engineer’s Note: Calmofoam

A Reference Studio Built Through DIY Ingenuity

Naramachi Studio is housed in a rental property, where nails cannot be driven into the walls or ceiling. Within these constraints, the acoustic environment was built using reversible construction methods, including a tension-mounted framework made with Japanese two-by-four lumber.

The studio incorporates many practical ideas that may be useful to engineers planning to build their own personal studios. It demonstrates that a reliable reference environment can be achieved without excessive investment in equipment.

Certification and Recognition

As a result of these efforts, Naramachi Studio successfully passed the certification assessment conducted by Goer Dynamics B.V. (Belgium) and was officially recognized as an AURO-3D Certified Studio.

The studio has also received high praise for its sound quality from Reiji Asakura, an audio-visual critic, and Tadashi Yamanouchi, an audio critic. Their articles about Naramachi Studio are introduced below.

• · Discovering the Rich, Spacious Sound of Naramachi Studio, a New Source of Immersive Audio — with a Focus on Its Dedicated Room Tuning: Reiji Asakura’s Iimono Research Institute, Report 130 (Stereo Sound ONLINE)
• · Bringing the Cutting Edge of Immersive Audio to the World from Nara: A Visit to Hideo Irimajiri’s Laboratory and Naramachi Studio(PHILE WEB)