WSDG has successfully completed work on a Dolby Atmos control room for the Centre des Musiques Actuelles (CMA) in Geneva. 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 more than 32,00 square feet over two floors and features 45 classrooms, a 300-seat auditorium, a 200-person club, and state-of-the-art recording and production facilities.
The concept for both the Dolby Atmos control room and the immersive Ansermet Auditorium was initiated by Ladislav Agabekov, sound engineer and technical director at CMA. 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 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.
The new, 215-square-foot control room serves as the technical heart of the school's comprehensive 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,” explained Amin Nehmeh, project engineer at WSDG. “With Dolby Atmos becoming increasingly prevalent in the industry, the client wanted to ensure they were at the cutting edge, which meant upgrading to the newest standards.”
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.
“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," Ladislav Agabekov, technical project manager at EMA elaborated. "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 optimize the acoustic qualities of the compact space. The room presented unique challenges due to its size.
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 and enhance spatial clarity. The lower sections up to 60-80cm height feature Helmholtz absorbers for low-frequency control.
The loudspeaker setup features Genelec's "The Ones" 8361s as the main monitors, Genelec W371A subwoofers, and smaller POE-powered surrounds. The entire system is networked, utilizing Dante protocol and controlled via an Avid S4 controller and Pro Tools.
“The results now that I've been working in the room are very, very good,” Agabekov confirmed. “It's quite an impressive room in terms of its acoustic qualities, and I have two Dolby Atmos live projects that I’m excited to mix in there.”
Agabekov sees a bright future for immersive audio. “The Dolby Atmos format for music is not so well implemented in Switzerland as in the U.S. because we don't have the same caliber of major record labels, and we know that Apple's Spatial Audio or Dolby Atmos is mainly used by them for the time being. But we expect that it'll be democratized in the months and years to come.
"The EMA Geneva project represents an exciting evolution in professional audio facilities. What makes this project particularly special is how seamlessly the Atmos room integrates with our existing performance spaces. The collaborative spirit between all parties involved—from the architects to the WSDG team, the system integrators, and the school itself—created an environment where technical excellence could truly flourish.”