Studio Consultancy for Aldi Tasting Kitchen TV Studio
Drama by Design was appointed to provide both studio consultancy and acoustic consultancy services for the creation of a new teaching and recording studio facility. The brief was to deliver a flexible, professional-standard space capable of supporting high-quality recording for educational use, while allowing for future expansion and technical upgrades.
Our studio consultancy focused on developing a technically robust yet intuitive system that would be straightforward for staff and students to operate. The lighting design centres around a Doughty studio rail system, with fixed rails running the length of the studio carefully coordinated with suspended ceiling panels and general lighting. Low-level outlets were provided for floor-mounted lighting positions to maximise flexibility. Kino Flo and Dedolight LED studio luminaires are suspended beneath the rails on wheeled carriages, allowing rapid reconfiguration of lighting positions. Control is wireless via an iPad running the Synthe FX lighting control app, giving users simple, flexible control without the need for a dedicated lighting desk.
Wall-mounted facility panels are distributed around the studio and within the ceiling, providing connection points for microphones, cameras, and monitors. These are wired back to central patch panels, allowing adaptable signal routing and future system expansion. Two Panasonic AG-DVX200 4K fixed-lens camcorders on tripod stands form the core recording system, with provision to connect additional cameras via the facility panels as required.
Audio capture is achieved through a combination of Audix M55 hanging microphones for audience pick-up and Sennheiser DW-3 radio microphones for presenter use. Rather than incorporating a separate recording system, the design routes microphone signals to a Yamaha MTX3 digital signal processor. The DSP is controlled via an Apple iPad within the studio, enabling straightforward management of audio levels and routing. The processed audio is then returned to the facility panels and fed directly to the cameras, ensuring that all cameras receive the same synchronised audio feed. Recordings are made directly onto SD cards within the cameras, providing a streamlined and cost-effective workflow.
A wall-mounted large-format display screen allows live monitoring of any camera output within the studio, giving immediate visual feedback during recording. The screen can also be used to display promotional content or previously recorded material, increasing the functional versatility of the space.
The system has been deliberately designed with future adaptability in mind. Infrastructure and signal pathways allow for potential upgrades to support live streaming, as well as the introduction of a separate gallery and edit suite, without fundamental reconfiguration of the core installation.
Alongside the studio systems design, Drama by Design provided comprehensive acoustic consultancy to ensure the space achieved appropriate performance standards. This included review and advice on internal sound insulation between adjacent rooms and between floors, control of building services noise, management of reverberation within the studio, and consideration of external noise emissions. Particular attention was given to achieving suitable acoustic separation to protect recordings from disturbance, while also ensuring internal sound conditions were controlled and appropriate for speech and media production.
Through the integration of technical studio design and detailed acoustic consultancy, Drama by Design delivered a flexible, future-ready recording environment that balances professional capability with ease of use — a space designed to support high-quality content creation both now and as operational needs evolve.
