ANYCOLOR, an entertainment company that has many popular VTubers and virtual live streamers (hereinafter referred to as Livers), including "Nijisanji," has relocated its production base studio and started operations in October 2024. Previously, the studio was operated in five rooms, but after the relocation, it expanded to 16 rooms, both large and small. At the same time, the quality has also been improved. We spoke to them about the circumstances of the relocation and what they were looking for in creating the studio.
A spacious 3D studio with high ceilings
Mizukoshi Kazumi, head of the ANYCOLOR studio division, looks back on the circumstances surrounding the studio's relocation:
"For the past few years, we have not had enough studios for the number of live streamers we have. The number of talents is increasing, and we also operate an academy and put effort into training, so new talents are constantly emerging from there. We needed to prepare a venue that was appropriate for that scale."
The new studio will be configured as follows:
- 3D Studio x 3
- 5 x 2D studios (one with green screen)
- 2 recording studios
- MA (edit) studio x 2
- 4x personal streaming booths
Let's start with the 3D studio. 3D studios are important in creating content for live streamers. Motion capture markers are attached to the live streamer's body and props, and their movements are tracked and controlled by special cameras installed around the front, back, left, right, and top of the acting area (the area where the performer's movements can be captured). Mizukoshi says that when moving his studio, he wanted a property with a high ceiling for the 3D studio.
"The higher the ceiling height in a 3D studio, the better. High ceilings allow for more room for jumping movements in dance, and allow for more accurate capture of the motion."
Kimihiko Deguchi of Nihon Onkyo Engineering, who was in charge of the design, had this to say about the composition of the 3D studio's floor:
"The structure of the floor in the acting area has been changed, and it is now a floating floor that is neither too hard nor too soft, so that there is less strain on the feet when jumping around, and the floor does not sink too much. On the other hand, the part where the truss rests is separated from the acting area, so that the motion capture camera does not shake."
The 3D studio has three rooms, large, medium and small, and the largest, 3D/1 studio, is designed to be spacious enough to host large-scale sports events. Shuttle runs and soccer games were actually held in the previous 3D studio, but the new size makes it easier for live streamers to realize their ideas.
Also features a comprehensive 2D studio
One of ANYCOLOR's features is "the large number of 2D studios," says Shibata Tomohiro, deputy general manager of the company's studio division.
"We have about 200 live streamers, the largest number in the industry, and we frequently hold events that bring together large numbers of people. Having a well-equipped 2D studio is an advantage in that we can handle that. In fact, for a special event to celebrate our recent relocation, 50 people gathered and streamed live across multiple studios."
Of the 2D studios, the 2D/A studio is the largest. In addition, there is the similarly sized 2D/B studio, as well as the smaller 2D/C studio, 2D/D studio, and green screen studio, for a total of five studios, allowing for ample room to handle large numbers of people and multiple projects. Mizukoshi continues:
"The atmosphere that is created when performers are next to each other offline is something that doesn't exist when connected online. Also, we've had more opportunities to promote products recently, so we want to ensure the quality of the streams in those cases. In particular, we've had more streams recently with elaborate content that is rich in variety elements, so we think it's better to have the live streamers use our studio instead of their homes in the sense that we can respond flexibly to those kinds of things."
The 2D/A studio has a small room separated by a door. Mizukoshi says that this is very convenient for operational purposes. For example, when creating content using a card game, the staff will move the cards in this small room according to the instructions of the live streamer. The captured image will be displayed on the live stream screen.
The studios are also flexible in how they are operated. Normally, video and audio control is done in sub-rooms in each studio, but for content that spans multiple studios, they are aggregated in one sub-room and distributed. In addition, each studio is connected by an IP network, which allows multiple studios to exchange data with ultra-low latency for both 2D and 3D content, and can be used for content.
Soundproofing was a major theme of this move.
ANYCOLOR produces a lot of lively content. In addition, multiple studios are often in operation at the same time, so soundproofing each studio was a major theme during the move. Mizukoshi says, "Soundproofing was an issue in the studio before the move."
"When we were broadcasting karaoke in one studio, the sound was leaking into the adjacent studio so loud that people could hear what was being sung, which affected their broadcasts and recordings."
In order to operate the studios efficiently, soundproofing was repeatedly considered, and various measures were taken, such as adding voids (soundproofing spaces) to the 2D studio that were not planned for in the original design, and reversing the plan to place a recording studio with high soundproofing performance in the direction where sound was coming in from outside.
"We had particularly detailed discussions and put a lot of effort into soundproofing the recording studio," says Shibata.
"Because some of the content uses binaural microphones, we wanted to eliminate all noise other than the sounds we were recording. Also, acoustically, if it's too dead, it can be uncomfortable to be in the space for long periods of time, so we had them adjust it so that it became a comfortable space where we could record for long periods of time without feeling uncomfortable."
The amount of content using binaural microphones is increasing, and ANYCOLOR uses them outside of recording studios. Takumi Yanagisawa of Nihon Onkyo Engineering, who was in charge of the recording studio for this project, had this to say about this:
"For this reason, the interior acoustics of the 2D/C and 2D/D studios are finished to be similar to those of a recording studio/MA (editing) studio."
According to Mizukoshi, the two 2D studios are also popular with sound operators. "Large rooms like 2D/A Studio and B Studio are nice, but these studios are also flexible and easy to use, so we would like to use them more often. The sound is good and mixing is easy."
The popular personal streaming booth
Regarding the individual streaming booths, which are intended for use by one or two live streamers, Mizukoshi said that what was initially planned to be two rooms has been increased to four.
"We thought there would be demand for them, but they've been used even more than we expected and are used every day. They're really comfortable. One of the four spaces is permanently equipped with a binaural microphone," says Yanagisawa of Nihon Onkyo Engineering, adding that these spaces are also designed to have high soundproofing capabilities.
"It has a floating floor, just like a recording studio, but the walls and ceiling are made of soundproof steel panels to ensure sound insulation. You can shout in the next room and still be safe."
According to Mizukoshi, "It was fine even when playing the trombone." Although the four rooms are connected together, there doesn't appear to be any noise impact on content production.
Thus, ANYCOLOR's new studio was completed. Although it is a space that expresses the new world of VTubers/Virtual Livers, each studio is built faithfully to the basics, making use of the technology that has been cultivated so far. There is no doubt that the ideas of the performers and production team, which are born from a flexible mindset, will be warmly welcomed.
