Donato Masci and Cecilia Torracchi from Studio Sound Service designed the entire facility and gave their support to Proaudio Construction's team until the final setup and Dolby Certification. The design called on Genelec’s "The Ones" three-way coaxial studio monitors, with the 8351 as the left-center-right solution, the more compact 8341 sibling covering the surround and height channels, and 7380 subwoofers handling the low frequency duties. The systems were then configured and calibrated using Genelec GLM software in all four control rooms.

“We were asked to provide Fox with Dolby Atmos Home Entertainment 9.1.4 mixing rooms two years prior to the release of Dolby’s approval protocol,” said Francesca Bianco, CEO at Proaudio Construction. “Located at Palazzo Marignoli, Rione I Trevi in the heart of Rome, Fox’s new facility had to be contained in an open-space working environment. At the center of the floor, in a 180m sound-proofed area, we had to fit four Atmos Home Entertainment 9.1.4 control rooms as well as two recording rooms and two post rooms. We had just 16 weeks to deliver a working facility.”

The installation itself presented a variety of challenges, not least due to the location of the facility. With access to the area heavily restricted, all construction materials needed to be delivered to the site at night before being lifted to the roof of the Palazzo Marignoli for storage. Meanwhile, technical challenges focused on soundproofing the space and ensuring the Dolby specifications were met.

“The whole team of collaborators have worked at their best and the studios have been very successful,” Masci said. "The design is appealing, and the environment is stimulating and creative. For me it was my first experience of a Dolby Atmos Home Entertainment room and when I saw and listened for the first time to some immersive audio tracks I was amazed by the dynamics and the sound immersion.”