Theatre sound veterans Masque Sound & Recording opened a new facility in the heart of Broadway this month that features state-of-the-art sound-effects recording.

"It's like a costume shop for sound designers," says John Kilgore, Masque's director of recording services. "I have bolts of sound fabric that can be cut and shaped to exactly what is needed."

Housed in the Film Center Building and designed by Francis Manzella of FM Design, the facility sports two fully networked control rooms, a central machine room, a live room, a 5.1 monitoring system, and a giant SFX library boasting over 114,000 sound effects available facility-wide on a network server. "Not only can you search for a sound, you can also audition it on the spot and download it directly to ProTools," notes Kilgore.

Adds Masque vice president Geoff Shearing, "Our focus was on building the kind of facility we'd be proud to have our name on. This is an acoustically accurate and inviting space that feels good. It's also a creative space, and when you couple that with John's talent, the possibilities are endless."

In addition to its New York headquarters, Masque also has facilities in Orlando and Tempe, AZ, which primarily service the corporate theatre, special events, and television markets.