Frequently asked questions

SoniPlan’s primary focus is podcast studios and audio post-production facilities for teams whose spaces are central to their work. We work with independent businesses, established creator-led media companies, and production or post teams within larger media organizations.

We’re a strong fit when you’re building new rooms, expanding a facility, or addressing spaces your team has outgrown. The priorities are dependable recording and monitoring, an efficient workflow, and a space that feels right for the people working in it and the clients or guests they host.

Our approach suits teams looking for a specialist design partner who stays involved through construction, carrying the design’s performance, usability and aesthetic goals into the finished space.

We design podcast studios and audio post-production facilities, from individual rooms to multi-room suites and full facility plans.

For podcast teams, that includes audio-first and video-forward recording rooms, flexible capture spaces, control and switching spaces, and rooms for editing and mixing.

For audio post teams, it includes Dolby Atmos rooms, mix rooms, audio edit suites, voiceover booths and ADR rooms. We also plan the supporting technical spaces and infrastructure that help the facility operate reliably.

Across these projects, we bring acoustics, workflow and interior design together so the rooms perform consistently and support the way your team works.

Yes. Dolby Atmos rooms are a core specialty. We have designed and overseen the construction of many Dolby Atmos-capable mix rooms and guided projects through room tuning and Dolby certification. Among them is Studio A at Motion Picture Enterprises, the first studio on the East Coast to achieve Dolby Atmos Home Entertainment certification.

We bring together room geometry, sound isolation, background noise control, acoustic treatment and speaker placement to support accurate, repeatable immersive monitoring. During design, we use Dolby’s technical guidance and the Dolby Atmos Room Design Tool (DARDT) to evaluate the proposed room and speaker layout.

We lead the room design and coordinate with specialist partners on system engineering, integration and calibration. Where Dolby certification is part of the project, we help guide that process in coordination with Dolby.

Yes. We selectively take on music studio projects for individuals, independent studios and larger organizations. Our experience includes designing studios for musicians, composers, producers and engineers.

The best fit is a well-funded project with high expectations for acoustic performance, workflow and attention to detail. We look for clients who want us to lead the design and remain involved through construction, helping carry those goals into the finished space.

Dolby Atmos music studios are a particular strength, but Atmos capability is not a requirement.

Yes. We often design video edit rooms, color correction rooms and screening rooms alongside audio spaces for post-production, finishing and media companies.

These rooms share many of the needs we address in audio studios: appropriate acoustic treatment, speaker placement, clear sightlines, practical furniture layouts and comfortable seating for clients. We apply our audio-room expertise to those overlapping needs, tailoring the design to how each space will be used.

This is a natural extension of our work when a facility needs audio and video rooms to function well together.

No. We’re based in the New York City metro area and work with clients coast to coast, including Los Angeles. Locally, we serve New York City, Jersey City, Stamford and the surrounding region.

Ideally, involve SoniPlan before the layout, construction budget and major building decisions are fixed. Early planning helps connect the rooms you need with the acoustic requirements, workflow and constraints of the space.

A useful time to start a conversation is when you’re considering a new facility, planning a move or expansion, or deciding how to adapt an existing space. If you’re considering a new location, it’s worth speaking with us before signing a lease or committing to the space. You don’t need to arrive with a finished brief or a complete design.

If your project is already underway, we can discuss what has been decided and where our involvement could still help.

Yes. We help clients evaluate prospective studio locations through site surveys and a review of the building’s existing conditions. A space that looks promising can have limitations that affect the room layout, acoustic performance or feasibility of the build.

We look at factors such as:

• Available floor-to-ceiling height
• Plumbing and mechanical systems that cannot readily be relocated
• The existing building’s sound isolation
• Background noise
• Structural load constraints, with input from a structural engineer where needed

Understanding these conditions before you commit helps you choose a suitable space and plan the project around what the building can support.

The first call is a free, 30-minute conversation to talk through your project and see if there’s a good fit. We’ll learn about what you’re building, where you are in the process, and what matters most to the outcome. By the end, you’ll have a clearer sense of the right next step and whether SoniPlan is the right partner for the work ahead.

There’s no commitment to move forward, and you don’t need to complete the Studio Self-Assessment before booking.

Most projects begin with an introductory call to understand what you’re planning and whether there’s a good fit. The next step is usually a Discovery Sprint: a focused, paid engagement that establishes your priorities, performance goals and the constraints that will shape the project.

You’ll receive a Studio Roadmap setting out our findings, recommendations and a proposed path forward. It helps you understand what the project involves and how to approach it before moving into detailed design.

Design development and construction documents follow in the Design & Documentation stage, once the scope and direction are agreed.

We work in three stages:

1. Discovery Sprint: We establish your priorities, performance goals and the constraints that will shape the project. The Studio Roadmap sets out our findings, recommendations and a path forward.

2. Design & Documentation: We develop the room layouts, acoustics and interior design, coordinate with the wider project team, and prepare the construction documents that guide the build.

3. Build Support & Validation: We stay involved through construction to answer questions, review critical details and help resolve issues that could affect the outcome. Acoustic evaluation during construction and as rooms are completed helps check the work against the project’s performance goals.

The stages connect early decisions to the finished space, keeping the design’s acoustic, practical and aesthetic goals in view throughout.

The core deliverable is a set of construction documents: detailed plans and drawings showing how your studio is to be built. We develop these during the Design & Documentation stage, after the Studio Roadmap has established the project’s direction.

These documents bring together the room layouts, acoustic and sound-isolation details, and interior design decisions developed during the design process. They give contractors the information they need to price and carry out the work, and provide a shared reference for coordinating with the wider project team.

We define the specific deliverables in your proposal to suit the rooms, scope and complexity of the project. Where permits, stamped drawings or engineering are required, those elements are provided by the appropriate licensed professionals and coordinated with our studio design.

We typically lead the studio project and serve as its primary project manager from early design through construction and completion. We keep the project team aligned and carry the project’s acoustic, practical and aesthetic goals through to the finished space.

Our construction administration and coordination includes answering contractor questions, reviewing critical details and proposed substitutions, and working with the contractor and other specialists to resolve issues as they arise. We advocate for the client when decisions could affect the room’s performance or the agreed design.

We lead regular coordination meetings throughout construction to keep decisions moving, whether we’re working locally or elsewhere in the country. For local projects, we also typically maintain a regular onsite presence.

Acoustic evaluation begins during construction, helping identify issues while they can still be addressed, and continues as rooms are completed to check the results against the project’s performance goals.

The general contractor remains responsible for the building work and day-to-day site operations. We lead the overall studio project, providing the design direction, coordination and support that help turn the plans into a working studio.

Yes. We work with architects, engineers and contractors already engaged by the client, bringing specialist studio-design expertise into the project team.

We typically lead the studio project and serve as its primary project manager. We coordinate the room layouts, acoustics, interior design and technical requirements with the other disciplines, helping the team resolve decisions around a common set of goals.

Early in the project, we clarify each team member’s role and how we’ll work together. If the studio is part of a larger facility build, we coordinate our work with the team leading it. Licensed architects and engineers remain responsible for their professional services, and the contractor manages construction and day-to-day site operations.

No. The general contractor is responsible for carrying out the construction, managing subcontractors and day-to-day site operations, and determining how the work is executed.

We typically lead the studio project and serve as its primary project manager, working closely with the contractor to coordinate the build. We provide construction administration and design oversight to help carry the studio’s acoustic, practical and aesthetic goals into the finished space.

We coordinate AV/IT integration as part of our studio projects, working with specialist system designers and integrators.

We lead the room and facility design, planning the acoustics, room layouts, equipment spaces and cable pathways around the system’s needs. We coordinate with the technical specialists and construction team so the room, infrastructure and systems are designed to work together.

Specialist system designers and integrators handle system design, installation, configuration and calibration as required by the project. We remain involved to keep that work aligned with the studio’s performance goals and the way your team will use the space.

Our fees reflect the scope and complexity of the studio project, including the rooms involved, their performance requirements and the level of design and construction support needed. We set out the services and fees in a project-specific proposal.

SoniPlan’s fees are one part of the overall project budget. Other costs may include construction, mechanical and electrical work, AV/IT systems, furniture and services provided by other professionals.

Early planning helps align the budget with your priorities and the realities of the space. As the design develops, contractor and specialist pricing gives the team a more detailed basis for decisions.

Timing depends on the scope of the project, the condition of the space and how much design and construction work is needed. A single room within an existing facility can follow a very different schedule from a complete studio buildout.

Coordination with architects and engineers, permitting, contractor availability, and material or equipment lead times can all affect the schedule. Some activities can overlap, while others need to happen in sequence.

We discuss your target opening date early, identify the key dependencies and help establish a realistic project schedule. Throughout design and construction, we coordinate with the team to keep decisions moving and address issues that could affect progress.