Mili High Ceiling Studio

Japan's music producer for anime and video games

Mili is a Japanese band and music group that has provided music for popular anime and video games such as "Ghost In The Shell", "Goblin Slayer", "Limbus Company", "Library Of Ruina", "Ender Lillies", and “The Magician's Promise”.

A "world-class music production group", Mili freely manipulates classical, electronic, rock, jazz, and many other genres of music. They have provided many songs to animation, game, and IT companies, not only in Japan, but also in Korea, China, Canada, and Poland.

We interviewed Yamato Kasai, a composer and key figure in Mili, who has installed Vicoustic in his private studio in a beautiful forest in Karuizawa, surrounded by analog synthesizers and guitar amplifiers.

Recreating an orchestra environment at a private studio

Please tell us about your monitoring environment and room acoustics.

Yamato Kasai: I have been struggling with the monitoring environment for a long time. The ceiling height is one of the most important factors. In Japan, the ceiling height is usually around 2.3m. This means that when you sit down, your head is in the middle of reflections from the floor and the ceiling, in other words, from above and below. I wanted to somehow get out of this situation, which was not good for me.

Also, I used to be a member of an orchestra, and I know the importance of natural resonance, so I did not want to make the room completely dead. I didn't need a completely dead environment like a normal recording studio, but I wanted to create a room with a sound that I liked. So, I built a room with very high ceilings and planed to add some sound absorption panels in stages as needed.

As a first stage, a total of 17 Wavewood Ultra Lite were installed, three on the front wall and six each on the side walls. Then, as a bass trap, three units of Super Bass Extreme Ultra were installed in the corners of the front wall, for a total of six units. In addition, six Multifuser DC3 diffusion panels are installed on the back wall.

 "It is so much better!! The room was so large that the sound reflections were affecting the direct sound and I couldn't see the contours of the sound."

Did you notice any difference in the sound before and after Vicoustic was installed?

Yamato Kasai: It is so much better!!  (lol) I once tried to work in a room that had not been treated, but I immediately thought, “No way. I can’t do this.” The room was so large that the sound reflections were affecting the direct sound and I couldn't see the contours of the sound. It was like, ”It's hard to even write a song.”

Choosing acoustic panels

Why did you choose Wavewood Ultra Lite?

Yamato Kasai: Basically, I wanted something with a good visual aspect and high performance. I had heard that a little reflection/diffusion is better than perfect sound absorption, so I chose Wavewood Ultra Lite for the sound-absorbing panels. As for the placement of the panels, since I compose music on this side of the room, I thought it would be good to treat the sound from the speakers to the listening position first, so I placed them around the listening position. In particular, using Wavewood Ultra Lite to suppress the first reflections from the wall next to the speakers really worked well. I also found that simply changing the height of the ears and the environment surrounding the ears and speakers improved things a lot.

Since I am a Genelec 8331 user, I used the GRADE report, one of the GLM functions, to select the Vicoustic panel based on the room acoustic measurements shown in the report.

GLM's GRADE report allows you to check the condition of your room as a numerical value, so with a little study of room acoustic theory, anyone can easily select a sound control panel, right?

Yamato Kasai: Actually, that is how I installed Super Bass Extreme Ultra, which was very effective! In particular, as you could see in the waveform when measuring with the GLM, the peak around 50Hz was reduced considerably.

Vicoustic also has a unique service where you give Vicoustic information about your room and they will send you a report on how many and which panels to put where. We recommend it as well.

Yamato Kasai: I see! It is very attractive that you can actually send a drawing or photo of your room and receive professional consultation while doing DIY panel installation. If you don't have the budget to hire a professional sound installation company, Vicoustic may be a good choice.

Yamato Kasai purchased Vicoustic panels and installed them himself for room tuning. The equipment was delivered by Genelec Japan, Vicoustic's Distributor in the country. This interview/case study was originally published in Japanese at Genelec.jp and Music Ecosystems.