Iyuno relies on Genelec monitors for Burbank facility

Entertainment technology and localisation company Iyuno, which provides dubbing, subtitling and media services to the world’s leading entertainment studios, recently unveiled its new state-of-the-art global headquarters in Burbank, CA. Following the adoption of Genelec audio monitoring solutions at several of its facilities in Europe, Iyuno has reinforced its commitment to high-quality audio by equipping 11 studios, including three Dolby Atmos Home Entertainment mix rooms, at the new facility with a variety of the brand’s Smart Active Monitors and subwoofers.

Iyuno, which collaborates with media and entertainment clients including Amazon Studios, BBC Studios, Disney, DreamWorks, HBO and Warner Bros. Discovery, boasts the largest global footprint of any localisation provider, with 45 offices in 33 countries across Europe, Asia and the Americas. The company had previously standardised on another monitor brand, says Donato Masci, CEO and technical director at Studio Sound Service, an acoustic design and consultancy firm headquartered in Florence, Italy, that has collaborated on numerous facilities for Iyuno. However, with the expansion of its Dolby Atmos capabilities, Iyuno strategically chose to standardise with Genelec to ensure consistency and precision across its studios.

Daniele Turchetta, Iyuno’s VP of global dubbing technologies, initially decided to begin using Genelec monitors at its facilities in France, Germany and Spain, as the studios at those locations were being renovated and expanded. “It started with the Atmos mix rooms,” said Masci, “and they liked them, so they wanted to also use them for ADR in particular.”

“They discovered that Genelec was a nice choice for everyone,” he continued, “When they build a brand-new facility, it’s good to have only one supplier, so now Genelec is a standard for them.” That reflects the brand’s use throughout the industry, he also noted: “Genelec speakers are used a lot, from OB vans to post-production facilities, so Genelec really is a standard.”

Located in Burbank's Media District, Iyuno’s 52,000-square-foot global headquarters sets a new benchmark for localisation technology and innovation. The facility features cutting-edge studios, mix rooms, and edit suites across two floors, with a dedicated third floor for office operations and production management. “We designed six ADR recording rooms, two voiceover rooms, three Dolby Atmos Home Entertainment mix rooms, one theatrical mix room, a pre-lay/ADR room and five simple audio edit rooms,” reported Cecilia Torracchi, technical vice director and partner, Studio Sound Service.

“Genelec has become one of the standards, if not the standard,” said Nicholas Tucker, Iyuno’s director of studio operations – U.S., “so it’s great to have the same speakers and same lack of sound signature, shall we say, for mixers who are maybe working in multiple facilities, especially in Burbank,” where many post-production facilities and several film and TV studio lots are clustered.

Four of the ADR control rooms offer two-way Genelec 8340 monitors in an LCR configuration, while the other two feature 5.1 systems of 8340s plus a 7380 subwoofer. Stereo pairs of 8340s have been integrated into the two voiceover rooms. The three Dolby Atmos Home Entertainment mix rooms feature Genelec 7.1.4 immersive setups, each configured for the relative size differences in the floor plans: Mix 1 includes 8361 and 8350 monitors with a 7382 sub, Mix 2 features 8351 and 8340 speakers with a 7380 sub, and Mix 3 offers 8341 and 8340 models with a 7380 sub.

Torracchi, who has been working with Daniele Turchetta since 2017, noted, “Daniele has a very good technical background, so he knows what he’s talking about, and his requests are very precise. In the end, that guarantees a great result. One of the first times I met him was in Finland at Genelec’s headquarters for a training course. He was not our client and wasn’t using Genelec at that time, but I remember that he was very impressed by the listening training. He has wanted to use Genelec monitors for a very long time, so we were all happy when he finally succeeded.”

Studio Sound Service’s acoustic design for some of the new rooms in Burbank was reportedly a little different to previous locations. “Some of Iyuno’s clients have been asking for reduced reverberation times in the lower frequencies,” Masci revealed. This is unusual, he said, “But they decided to go in that direction to have more natural voices and recordings. The request was for a very short reverberation time below 100 Hz.”

Masci and Turchetta have collaborated for years with renowned British acoustician Andy Munro, who invented a broadband absorber that works very well at low frequencies, and who had also previously worked with one of Iyuno’s main clients. They worked together to tighten up the reverberation times in Iyuno’s Burbank ADR studios. “That absorber is the core of the acoustic solution that we have continued to improve in recent years for Iyuno all over the world,” Masci said.

That acoustic design was also applied in the Dolby Atmos mix rooms, Turchetta furthered. “We are used to working with Dolby, so we know that they prefer dry acoustics to make Dolby Atmos sound better. So the mixing rooms also have quite dry acoustics. It’s a little different because those rooms are bigger, but the same systems that Andy Munro designed and improved over the years were also installed in these rooms.”

Turchetta remarked, “For several years now, Genelec has become a standard for all our new projects, and it couldn’t help but be the right choice for our headquarters, surely the most prestigious and technologically advanced facility we have at Iyuno. Thanks to the collaboration with the local team, we chose the most suitable configuration for each room as a starting point for the acoustic design by Studio Sound Service and Andy Munro. I am very proud of the result achieved and I thank Genelec HQ and Genelec Inc. for their support.”