Purdue Fort Wayne Unveils $25 Million Surack-Sweetwater Music Industry Center with World-Class Dolby Atmos Console

Purdue University Fort Wayne (PFW) opened its new Surack‑Sweetwater Music Industry Center on Tuesday, a 26,000‑square‑foot campus expansion that will house recording studios, editing suites, a rehearsal hall and a custom Neve 88RS console equipped with Dolby Atmos. The $25 million building is part of Fort Wayne’s effort to climb the ranks of the country’s top music cities.

The centerpiece is a Neve 88RS analog console upgraded for Dolby Atmos. PFW says only one other console of this type exists worldwide—at Abbey Road Studios in London—making the new console a unique asset for students. The system will let students mix immersive 3‑D sound for film, gaming, and music projects, a skill set in high demand across the audio industry.

"There’s already a culture in the city of live music performance, which you know we put industry students in there either as performers or as technicians or as the people who may be behind the scenes," said Elisabeth Honn Hoegberg, dean of PFW’s College of Visual and Performing Arts. "It’s really a broad‑based industry, and so being able to draw students in from this area, educate them in a number of ways to be part of the music industry, and then put them back into the community, I feel that it just really closes the loop of growth and possibility."

Inside, the center contains three recording studios with control rooms, ten editing suites, an audio lab, rehearsal spaces and additional support rooms. It also houses the university’s Gold Top Music Group record label, launched in 2021. Hoegberg noted that student‑run labels are rare in the United States, estimating only a few dozen exist nationwide. "Seeing our students contribute to that, it’s pretty neat," she added.

The project was made possible by a $6 million donation from Sweetwater founder Chuck Surack and his wife Lisa. Sweetwater, the largest online retailer of musical instruments and pro‑audio equipment in the U.S., helped bring industry and technology degree programs back to campus—programs that had previously been housed at Sweetwater’s Fort Wayne location.

"When students are starting to come into the building now and see things, their eyes are lighting up and their mouth is kind of hanging open," Hoegberg observed. "The way the building was designed, it really features the work that’s happening. So there are lots of windows where you can see into the recording studios."

The center opens in time for the fall 2026 semester, when PFW plans to enroll a new cohort of students in music production, audio engineering and related fields. The university also announced that its College of Visual and Performing Arts has been approved for a music therapy clinic, with hiring underway for a music therapist. The program is expected to launch later this year.

Fort Wayne’s broader music‑economy strategy, released by Visit Fort Wayne in June, identifies 239 music‑related assets in Allen County, more than half of which support live music. The strategy estimates a $3.1 billion economic impact and nearly 7,000 jobs tied to the local music ecosystem. The new center aligns with the city’s Music Office, which was established to coordinate the strategy’s recommendations.

Industry observers note that the combination of a state‑of‑the‑art recording facility, a rare Dolby Atmos‑enabled console and a student‑run label creates a unique training environment. The center is expected to attract local musicians, producers and audio engineers, and to provide a pipeline of talent for Fort Wayne’s growing music scene.

PFW’s announcement was accompanied by a ribbon‑cutting ceremony that drew university officials, local business leaders and representatives from Sweetwater. The event highlighted the partnership between the university and the city’s music community.

As the building opens, students will have immediate access to professional‑grade equipment and real‑world production workflows. The center’s facilities will also support the university’s broader research and creative initiatives, including music therapy, audio technology development and community‑based music projects.

The Surack‑Sweetwater Music Industry Center represents a significant investment in Fort Wayne’s cultural infrastructure and positions Purdue Fort Wayne as a key training hub for the next generation of audio professionals.