Mercy Road Church Studio - Carmel

Mercy Road Church transformed an underused loading dock and warehouse area at its Carmel, Indiana campus—originally a Borders bookstore—into a dedicated songwriting, recording, and mixing studio for its worship arts ministry. Haverstick Designs developed a floor plan that maximized the available length, width, and ceiling height while preserving access to adjacent storage. Because the studio is primarily used outside service times, the isolation strategy focused on controlling nearby building noise, including an electrical transformer, without the expense of full room-within-a-room construction. Inside, deep rear-wall bass trapping, inset diffusion, broadband absorption, vertical corner traps, and a perimeter soffit trap create an accurate, controlled mix position with a slightly livelier writing and tracking area at the rear of the room.


A custom ceiling cloud fabricated by Acoustical Fulfillment incorporates the Mercy Road logo into a subtle architectural feature while providing first-reflection absorption. The perimeter soffit also integrates lighting and fresh-air return ductwork for the studio’s mini-split system. Haverstick Designs donated its design time and services, and much of the construction was completed by Mercy Road staff and church volunteers with assistance from select contractors and other professionals. The finished space gives the church’s musicians and worship leaders a comfortable, creative environment for collaborative songwriting, skill development, demo production, and preparation for future live recordings and music releases.