Mumbai studio explores new verticals with Genelec

With the addition of two rooms to handle both stereo and immersive projects, Mumbai’s Boing Recording Studios has future-proofed its facility with a combination of Genelec Smart Active Monitors and 9301B multichannel digital audio interfaces.

Founded in 2013 by Mayur Tekchandaney and Jiten Solanki, Boing has been an active player in Mumbai’s vibrant studio market for 10 years and started life with two recording suites. Studio One is equipped with Genelec 1038CF main monitors paired with a 7071 subwoofer and 8341s for nearfields. Meanwhile, Studio Two was created to be a workhorse space to handle down edits and occasional tracking.

“As requirements grew, we realized that we desperately needed more studios,” recalls Jiten Solanki – CEO and senior engineer at Boing. “COVID taught us that we needed to build another vertical in our business model, something complementing our advertising work. We decided that in the expansion project we’d make one of the two new studios an Atmos room. The room would be able to do OTT broadcast work along with advertising.”

Boing’s Studio Three cloned its flagship Studio One, but with Genelec 1238DFs as the mains, 8351s for nearfield work and a 7380 subwoofer. However, Studio Four proved to be more of a challenge.

“We were able to build the room to our requirements but deciding on monitoring was a challenge,” recalls Solanki. “Advertising meant a stereo setup, whereas OTT meant a 7.1.4 setup, so we needed a hybrid. As we were taking our first steps into immersive monitoring, which was to run hand in glove with a high SPL stereo production environment, we were trying to understand what monitoring to go with.”

After discussions with Shiv Sood from local Genelec distributor Sound Team they found an ideal solution in the 9301B multichannel digital audio interface.

“The 9301B provides seamless multichannel audio to the AES input of the subwoofer,” continues Solanki. “This became the basis of the monitoring setup in Studio Four. For the main 2.1 monitors, we chose the 8351 three-way coaxials along with a 7380 subwoofer. This gave us the SPL required for advertising work. For the centre channel we chose the 8341; a fantastic match with the 8351s – tonally the same but with an SPL which suited our Atmos requirement. For the surrounds and overheads, we went with two-way 8330s – and the 9301B handles the bass management of all monitors. Finally, we use Genelec’s GLM calibration software, which manages our workflow seamlessly.”

With the expansion project complete, Solanki is happy to reflect on the positive relationship that the studio has with the manufacturer. “Genelec and Boing have a symbiotic relationship. Our monitoring is almost exclusively Genelec, and this has helped establish Boing as one of the best studios in India.”