Professional-Grade Recording Studio Comes to Canterbury College, Waterford
Canterbury College in Waterford, Queensland, has long been recognised as one of South-East Queensland’s most well-rounded independent schools, and its performing arts program is a significant part of that reputation. With a thriving Rock School program, specialist studio tuition available from Kindy through to Year 12, and a strong emphasis on contemporary music performance and recording, the college’s commitment to music education is serious. So when it came time to upgrade their recording facilities, they needed a solution that could match that ambition.
The answer was a Studiobricks Custom Size booth, supplied and installed by Envoy, and the result is a recording environment that would be at home in a professional commercial studio.
The Problem
Canterbury College’s performing arts program covers an impressive breadth of activity. The Rock School program, open to students across the school, runs multiple bands and ensembles exploring contemporary music across a wide range of genres and decades. Students work not just on performance technique but on live production and recording, skills that require proper acoustic infrastructure to teach effectively. Studio tuition lessons are delivered by specialist instructors across voice, guitar, piano, bass, keyboard and percussion, with students rotating through purpose-built studio rooms throughout the school day.
For a program this active, a soundproof booth that offers genuine sound isolation is not a luxury. It is a necessity. The ability to record instruments cleanly, without bleed from adjacent rooms and without disturbing the rest of the college, is fundamental to delivering a credible recording education.
The Solution
The Studiobricks Custom Size booth installed at Canterbury College is purpose-built to accommodate a full drum kit, with room to work comfortably around it. Every internal surface is lined with Studiobricks’ signature acoustic tile panelling, the characteristic rounded-square interlocking foam blocks that cover the walls, ceiling and even the ceiling soffit. A built-in ventilation system with a circular ceiling diffuser keeps the space comfortable during extended sessions, while integrated LED strip lighting provides a warm, even working environment.
A large observation window connects the booth directly to the control room, allowing the engineer and performer to maintain clear sightlines throughout a session. The heavy Studiobricks door with its precision sealing handle completes the isolation, keeping the acoustic environment inside the booth completely separate from the world outside.
On the control room side, the setup is equally impressive. An Allen and Heath SQ-7 digital mixing console sits at the centre of the desk, flanked by a pair of Yamaha HS series studio monitor speakers and a dual-monitor computer setup running a full DAW. A rack unit below the desk houses additional outboard gear, and a MacBook Pro rounds out the workstation. A Kemper Profiler is also on hand for guitar amp simulation. The result is a control room capable of professional multitrack recording and mixing from day one.
The Outcome
The installation gives Canterbury College’s music students access to a recording workflow that mirrors real industry practice. A student can set up at the drum kit, put on headphones, and perform while a teacher or fellow student engineers the session from the control room, with full visual contact through the window and clean, isolated audio captured through the booth’s microphone inputs. That kind of hands-on, professional experience is exactly what a serious music education program requires.
The Studiobricks Custom booth’s modular construction also means the college retains flexibility for the future. The booth can be reconfigured or relocated as the program evolves, without the permanent disruption and cost of fixed acoustic construction.
For schools with award-winning music programs and a genuine commitment to preparing students for industry, this is the kind of infrastructure investment that makes a real difference.
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