A different day

Here in the studio, there are a lot of things going on that we just don’t have time show you guys. So yesterday we decided to take a couple of pictures and let you see what we get up to when there are no artists to take care of.

It all kicked off at 10 in the morning, with Frank building a table and Andri making a start on the sealing. By 12, I arrived to relieve some stress by hammering cable tidies into place. A few hours later, and Andri had to leave. Frank and I took over the sealing and spent the rest of the day trying to fill in every join between the wall panels and all the window edges.

As you can see from the pictures, we all got stuck in. Countless tubes of sealant and nearly twelve hours later, and it still wasn’t finished. Who would have thought it could take this long to stick polyfiller in gaps?

The team are preparing themselves for some more hard graft on Monday and Tuesday, to get the studio back in to shape before the big opening on Thursday (June 4th).

A wave of inspiration…

DJ Mike Mago (Boemklatsch) and DJ Pitto are back for a second day in the studio. As soon as they arrive, they get back into the flow of things and we leave them to concentrate on the task at hand. They’re making use of the Korg Nano Kontrol, giving it a good workout controlling effects parameters.

Just before lunch the Kaoss Pad gets a look in too. A few crazy vocoder moments later, and a new wave of inspiration has taken hold of Mike. Frank sets up a microphone in the middle of the control room so that the guys can record some vocals to add other effects to. Pretty soon, the track has a vocal line and is sounding much more polished.

To add a bit of variety to the day, another piece of gear showed up. This time it was an offering from Pearl Drums- the drum kit will be set up in the live room once it has been completed. After showing some interest in the drums, the guys finish off the track and as predicted it sounds well refined. Another successful mash-up of artists for the Rooms of Red Bull studio!

An idea is born…

Today we have two EDM producers in the studio, DJ Mike Mago from Boemklatsch and DJ Pitto. The two producers have never worked together before and say they’re looking forward to collaborating and sharing ideas.

It’s been an experimental day, with both producers playing around with the studio equipment, figuring out as they go along what they want their track to sound like.

The MicroKorg, routed through the new Yamaha Motif XS8 as a master keyboard, has played a big part in what has been laid down so far. The AKAI MPC5000 has also proved to be an instant hit with the duo, with both of them playing around and having a lot of fun experimenting with it, creating fat beats and groovy loops!

Frank and Bart have been doing their best to assist the guys with using Logic Pro 8, but they prefer to use Ableton Live themselves.
So with a little technical studio trickery from Frank we were able to rout Mike’s MacBook to work with the TASCAM desk and the whole midi setup, running Ableton Live through the MacBook.

The track is taking shape slowly but surely and production will continue tomorrow. So stay tuned…!

On a side note, we got some good news today: They’ve ordered an air conditioning system for the studio! Oh, happy day! It’s getting pretty hot in here!

… another exciting day bursting with inspiration!

Today, we welcome back Franklin, Boy and Arjuna. They have decided to start the day with a tech house remix of the theme tune from ‘Das Boot’. Already, it’s easy to see that this is going to be another exciting day bursting with inspiration. The three of them have become more accustomed to our studio setup after spending the day here yesterday, and are really getting into the task at hand. Again, they are all really motivated and by the time our lunch break has rolled around, the control room has been buzzing all morning. A quick bite of lunch later, and everybody is refreshed and keen to carry on with the fun.

In the afternoon, some more people come and join us to sit and listen to Franklin, Arjuna and Boy creating their remix. We seriously thought about starting a game of how many people can we fit in the studio; but decided three artists, three engineers, two bloggers and a radio tech was probably enough… The extra bodies aren’t inhibiting the productiveness (or the dancing!) of the artists though, who with the help of Frank are learning a lot about Logic Pro 8.

As the day draws to a close, the track has some finishing touches added to it and sounds great. It’s taken all day, but it was worth the effort, and the many cans of Red Bull! The guys leave looking tired but happy- they seem to have got a lot out of the last couple of days.

Playing any instrument within reach…

Today we have Arjuna Schiks, Franklin Reeves and Boy Bianchi in the studio. They are the first artists we’ve had here since the RBMA taster, and they seem very happy to be here. Frank is engineer for the session, and Matthijs is assisting.

As I sit typing this, they are enthusiastically running around the studio, playing any instrument within reach. They look like they’re having a great time, but at this stage it all seems a bit chaotic! Frank is in the middle of their creative madness trying his best to answer all the questions they are firing his way.

After a quick lunch break, everything has started to calm down a bit. Franklin is sitting intently watching the screen, the track slowly emerging. So far, it’s sounding pretty good. The MicroKorg and the MPC 5000 (from Akai) are the favourite toys of the day- all three of the guys have been having fun on these, adding more to their track. Frank can sit back for a while and let them do their thing.

The guys will be back in the studio tomorrow to finish off their track, so check out the next blog entry to see how everything goes!

© photos by: Matthijs Kleywegt

The Gear

First glance at Rooms of RedBull Studio by SAE

Imagine this. Not one Mac Pro, but two. A smart mixing desk from Tascam. All the outboard gear you could ever want. Oh, and a fridge full of Red Bull.

Welcome to the Rooms of Red Bull studio, run by the SAE Team. Everything is brand new, and it’s all ready and waiting to create some truly awesome music with anybody who walks through the door. From the pre-amps (we have plenty by the way- the Liquid 4PRE and the Focusrite ISA 828) to the TC Reverb 4000, to the KRK monitors: we have packed the studio full of the latest technology. With the option of working purely in Logic Pro 8, or taking advantage of all the features of the Tascam DM-4800, there are plenty of ways to get the best out of any time spent in this studio. Artists can pick and choose between the huge selection of vintage and modern synths (we have Yamahas, Korgs, Novation and many more), or they can get some recording done using the selection of Røde microphones we got our hands on.

Moving through to the live room, we have those nice Røde mics (including an NT-4), a Marshall amp and a Mesa Boogie cabinet, with more gadgets on the way. With 16 channels, there is plenty of room for the imagination to run wild. And with the large windows looking out from the live room into the lounge area of the Rooms, the whole studio becomes a stage with an audience.