signals
music appreciation
Aesthetics meets acoustics in a Concord, Massachusetts, sound studio
Written by REBECCA J. BELL
Photography by L. BARRY HETHERINGTON
Before ipods, surround sound, compact discs, eight-track
tapes, hi-fi stereo, or even phonographs, all music was live music. Audiences gathered in concert halls, aristocrats built opera
houses, and average folks welcomed musicians into parlors.
From this tradition sprang the art of acoustical design, and to
visit Peter Dixon’s private sound studio is to appreciate how far
that art has come.
Just a few steps from his 90-year-old Colonial-style house in Concord,
Massachusetts, Dixon’s studio combines meticulously engineered acoustics
and super-quiet soundproofing to create a personalized space where the mu-sician/composer can write, record, and listen to music. Outside, the curved
