Starstruck Entertainment, the parent company of Starstruck Studios was founded in 1988 by Narvel Blackstock, who remains in control. Over the last 25 years, Starstruck has developed and managed top selling acts, including Blake Shelton, Carly Pearce, Maggie Rose, Emily Ann Roberts and have recorded artists such as Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, and Taylor Swift in their studios. Famed for its’ unique studios – The Gallery and The Pond – Starstruck opened their Dolby Atmos room in the spring of 2021. Starstruck ranks as one of the most chosen recording, production, and mix venues on Music Row. Top recording engineers, such as multiple Grammy-award winner Chuck Ainlay, frequent the facility.
Noted Nashville-based acoustician, Michael Cronin, Michael Cronin Acoustic Construction, designed and built the mix room at Starstruck. Cronin, an expert at meeting Dolby’s strict guidelines, re-worked Starstruck’s existing lounge and listening room into a Dolby immersive sound studio. Cronin had years of exposure and experience with ATC speakers and suggested the ATC Dolby Atmos system would work perfectly in the new studio. Narvel Blackstock and the Starstruck staff engineers concurred as most were familiar with ATC monitor performance and value. The ATC system purchase was made through Westlake Pro Audio in Nashville.
Shawn Daugherty, Starstruck’s chief technical engineer, installed, calibrated, and integrated the immersive system room. The ATC 7.1.4 system is composed of three ATC SCM110A Pro handling left-center-right, four ATC SCM45A Pro for surrounds, four ATC SCM25Ai Pro for height, and two ATC SCM0.1/15 subwoofers. Noted Daugherty, “Accuracy, placement and performance are strategic in meeting the specifications of a Dolby Atmos system. The ATC system was strikingly easy to calibrate. In fact, when the Dolby engineers came out for the final tuning, they literally could copy and paste settings from one speaker to another – somewhat of an audio rarity. The ATC’s detailed tonal balance and exact reproduction makes it hard to imagine working in a studio that doesn’t have them.” One of the first recording engineers to use the Dolby Atmos room was Derek Bason, who was mixing tracks from Carrie Underwood’s catalog into Dolby Atmos.
Todd Tidwell, Starstruck’s chief engineer, concluded, “The ATCs live up to the hype and are worth every penny you pay for them.” He used the system for various projects for Carly Pearce in the July 11 CMA Fest in Nashville. “The ATCs are a joy to work on. I’m super confident I’m hearing every detail from every angle. Basically, you just have to hear it for yourself.”
ATC products are distributed in the U.S.A. by Transaudio Group.
