Run entirely by volunteers and broadcasting 24 hours a day, seven days a week, UK Community Radio station Mix 92.6 is now quipped with the largest Vicbooth Ultra modular sound insulation pod in the UK following assistance provided by HHB Communications on moving to its new premises.

Taking the lead on this project for 92.6 was Dave Neal, a long-time volunteer who is currently working in the engineering team for the station.

Mix 92.6 is an Ofcom-licensed community station broadcasting on FM and online. When moving from its previous premises to its current site in St Albans, Herts, the team at Mix 92.6 opted to use Vicoustic’s Vicbooth Ultra as a modular studio-orientated acoutic control solution.

Neal will be familiar to many, being an industry veteran with nearly 40 years of professional experience of professional audio through time at Studer, Revox, BSS Audio, DDA and Soundcraft. With a background in audio and electronic engineering, his skills have been well used at Mix 92.6. It was his expertise that was relied upon to research and decide on the tools needed for the station’s new location.

One of the principle challenges Neal faced during this project was that the original studio’s custom-build of timber and acoustic treatment were fitted to an odd-shaped space, and unable to be used in the new location. When planning for the new studios it was decided that the new solution should be ‘off-the-shelf’, pre-empting the possibility that the station might needed to relocate again. This meant finding a studio that was the right size, had the right features, and was above all acoustically suitable.

The Vicbooth Ultra appealed immediately: ‘It was specific to recording studios and was something that we could build ourselves with no mess,’ Neal explains. ‘The sustainability aspect of it also appealed as we have a very popular Environment Matters programme. Should we ever need to move premises in the future, we knew it could move with us. The online configurator tool gave us a price indication which did match our budget.’

As distributor for Vicoustic’s Vicbooth Ultra, HHB Communications has a demo system set up at its headquarters in London. ‘After reaching out I was quickly put in touch with Matthew Whittaker at HHB and we went from there,’ Neal says. ‘Being represented by HHB gave me absolute confidence that Vicbooth would not only be a great product but that I would get top-level service from the company.’

Now that the studio is fully operational, Neal has had his confidence validated: ‘It’s been better than we hoped,’ he says. ‘The integrated cable management has made system installation much easier, and the acoustic isolation is just right for us. It’s a solid booth.

‘Our volunteers have been blown away by the quality of the booth and are really looking forward to going live with their programmes from it,’ he adds. ‘We’re just finishing off all the last touches now including some led strip lights on the outside to show when the studio is live, and it looks great.’

HHB Account Manager Matthew Whittaker worked with Neal to ensure that the Vicbooth would be right for the station. ‘Community radio plays such an important role at both a local and grassroots level, and it was important that we ensured Mix 92.6 had the right solution and guidance from us for their requirements,’ he says. ‘The Vicbooth Ultra has been such a good solution for the station.’

While not custom built, Vicbooths modularity offers users a variety of options. For Mix 92.6, this meant additional ventilation fan units andadditional sound treatment panels. With an online configurator tool Neal found choosing windows, doors and other options straightforward. Even though they had to rely on a team of volunteers working in their free time to assemble the booth, they were able to get the studios up and running in good time.