LALA raises the bar with new Genelec-powered immersive facility

THE BACKGROUND

Founded in London during the summer of 2025, LALA’s global music expertise is fast making it the go-to choice of producers and creatives across advertising, film, and television. With its potent combination of music supervision, bespoke composition, sonic branding, sound design and music library access, LALA’s impressive client list already includes Warner Bros, Amazon Studios, Netflix, Debenhams and TUI. Now, the company has raised the bar even further with the opening of its own world-class recording and mixing facility – featuring Genelec 9.1.4 monitoring.

“Our ability to hit every touchpoint to bring creative vision to life and serve all corners of the market is unique,” comments Hannah Merrington, LALA’s Founder. “LALA brings together the collective expertise of our team: Emily Richardson’s unrivalled supervision skills and strong connection to the music industry, Lorna Hall’s extensive production and creative insights, and our composers’ creative firepower and technical skill. We’re here to match the best music talent with every project, no matter the scale.”

THE CHALLENGE

That ethos of excellence was fundamental in the creation of LALA’s new recording and mixing facility – 179 Studios – located at the company’s Wardour Street headquarters in London’s Soho. With the studio, LALA is now able to manage projects end-to-end, from the initial creative brief to delivery of the final mix, all under one roof. Equipping the room to handle immersive audio was key, as Merrington explains:

“Dolby Atmos has become the industry standard for immersive audio in cinema, home entertainment, and, increasingly, music production. The major streaming services actively support and promote spatial audio, and we're seeing more studio albums being mixed in Atmos – and this will only increase as more devices support Atmos playback. To have a competitive edge, stay technologically current and maintain production quality, we felt it was a priority to future proof the business. We’re seeing brands’ uptake for immersive audio, gaming, AR and VR, in all areas of the market we serve.”

GLM calibration gives us the assurance that a mix here will translate perfectly.

THE SOLUTION

Having chosen to embrace immersive audio, Genelec quickly emerged as LALA’s natural choice for the monitoring system at 179 Studios. “Having worked with Genelec for many years, I know how consistent they are throughout their product line,” comments Will Hulacki, resident sound designer at LALA. “Genelec’s accuracy, design approach and DSP technologies instantly made them a consideration. Once you start trying to spec an immersive room, it brings certain challenges. Genelec’s compact design, along with the ability to easily match the tonal characteristics of monitors with positions around the room, make them the perfect solution to these challenges. The ability to mix and match different monitor sizes to meet the Dolby specification was an added benefit, since we could pick the correct model for each position in the system,” he adds.

At this point, LALA turned to the experts at Scrub, the Soho-based audio reseller with a close connection to London’s post-production community. Scrub’s own state-of-the-art demonstration facilities allow a wide range of Genelec monitoring solutions to be evaluated in a controlled listening environment, so the process of auditioning began.

“We were invited down to Scrub to listen to ‘The Ones’ family of coaxial three-way point source monitors in an Atmos 7.1.4 configuration – and were impressed with the sonic accuracy, as well as the similarity across the different models,” says Hulacki. “Scrub specified a 9.1.4 configuration, since our large room could accommodate the additional monitor positions. We also considered Genelec’s two-way models, but on reflection felt that the Point Source three-way design of The Ones really leant itself to working in immersive. We’ve got 13 Genelec monitors all directed towards the critical listening position, and the results speak for themselves – it’s a great sounding room.”

With Scrub handling the studio design and integration, the monitoring system features 8361A models for LCR, 8351Bs in the surround and overhead positions, and a 7382A subwoofer handling the low end. Once the system was in place, the Scrub team carried out multiple system calibrations using Genelec’s GLM software and the Avid MTRX Studio SPQ. “We created presets that include a flat response, the Dolby Atmos Music Curve, and the X-Curve, at both 79 and 85 dB SPL reference levels,” says Scrub’s Steve Jones. “That allows the user to instantly switch to the most suitable profile for any given project or client requirement.”

The results speak for themselves – it’s a great sounding room.

The ability to calibrate The Ones, so that they’re completely tailored to the room’s acoustics, has been a real benefit for the LALA team, as Hulacki explains:

“GLM calibration gives us the assurance that mixes will translate perfectly, either to our end user after the final mix is completed, or from a premix that is brought here from a smaller GLM tuned studio. Often, we’ll start a project in my own remote Genelec equipped studio, or a smaller Genelec room here at 179 Studios, and we know that decisions we make in any GLM calibrated room will translate perfectly to our 9.1.4 studio, where we can finish the project. This seamless transition means that we can be extremely efficient with our client’s time and budget.”

From Scrub’s perspective, Jones is equally happy with the studio’s performance. “I’m really pleased with how the room turned out,” he reflects. “It was great to work with a client whose top priority was achieving the best possible audio quality – no compromises were made on equipment choice and sonics. The room looks and sounds fantastic, capable of playing back at earth-shaking levels whilst maintaining control – and without a hint of distortion.”

THE CONCLUSION

With 179 Studios now hosting LALA’s own projects, and taking dry hire bookings from third parties too, LALA’s Merrington is feeling very positive about the future:

“We’re excited to continue providing elite audio post-production services through 2026 and beyond, and with a full-spec studio in-house, we offer a truly seamless end-to-end experience. This room is the heart of our operations; hosting clients for the final mix and seeing their vision fully realised is exactly why we built it.”

For dry hire booking enquiries, LALA can be contacted at team@lalamusic.co

THE KIT

3 x 8361A
10 x 8351B
1 x 7382A
1 x GLM Calibration Kit