20 l July 2012
www.prosoundnewseurope.com
studioreport SWEDEN Location, atmosphere, technology
There are three reasons to record at Fenix Recording Studios in Varnham, owner Lars Hallbäck tells Jim Evans, as the facility celebrates one year of operation
FENIX RECORDING Studios in Varnham – mid way between Stockholm and Gothenburg – is owned and operated by musician and music business entrepreneur Lars Hallbäck. His band, Crossfade, is currently recording its third album there. But while using the studio for Crossfade and other personal recording projects, Hallbäck has developed the impressive facility as a full-on commercial operation. Hallbäck checked out many potential locations for his project before settling on Varnhem. It is just 10 minutes from the nearest town where the trains run every hour between Stockholm and Gothenburg. Across the street is a small hotel that accommodates up to 20 people, so most of Fenix’s customers stay there. “After I decided to go ahead
and build a larger studio, I searched for about a year but couldn’t find a building suitable for a large studio with enough ceiling height. Then I found out about this 650sqm building, with a ceiling height of 8m. So Ingemar Olsson from Audio
AUSTRIA MG Sound expands with Munro By Erica Basnicki
VIENNA’S MG Sound has moved into a new building, designed by Munro Acoustics and architect Roland Gasperl. The move doubles the studio’s size and facilities, and includes a Dolby mixing theatre. As Munro Acoustics’ Andy Munro explained, the move “was a
daunting prospect with both technical and logistic challenges galore”.
The facilities include two
main music studios – boasting Europe’s biggest SSL 9000 K console – with a shared live recording area, a larger ‘orchestral’ space with natural acoustics, and three post- production rooms, including a
dedicated mastering suite, with adjacent overdub rooms. “The results have been very
encouraging with the rooms that are completely finished sounding very good indeed,” continues Munro. “All of our acoustic design is modular so every room can be adjusted according to the final measurements and artistic feedback.”
The studio was designed and co-ordinated by architect Roland Gasperl who also provided the original MG Sounds interior design
Studio owners Martin Böhm and Ludwig Coss adds: “Our goal was always to put Vienna on the map musically speaking. We are enthusiastic about
developing a business operation that provides a 360º range of audio services.”n
www.mg-sound.com www.munro.co.uk
personal studio for some years and since the Fenix control room is designed from the ground up to be a 5.1 room as well I wanted it to have full size surround monitoring, with the surround speakers moveable so that you easily change the placement of them depending on what you are monitoring – music or film. So we have ATC 300 as main speakers, with 150s as surround and centre.” Asked why artists and
The spacious control room offers the best of analogue combined with the best of digital
Data Lab, the designer and myself went to take a look at it, and we saw the potential so I decided to buy it.” The spacious control room at
Fenix serves many live spaces, and the philosophy is to include the best of analogue with the best of digital. That means Pro Tools HD and Studer A827 two-inch analogue tape recorder coupled with a vast selection of outboard gear and instruments. The studio has been in full commercial operation now for about a year and is steadily attracting interest and clients. “The word is spreading and we are getting more and more interest and bookings,” says Hallbäck. “One of the first bands to
record here was Bronk, and Roine Stolt’s progressive rock band Agents of Mercy also recorded a
musicians should bring their projects to Fenix, Hallbäck suggests that it’s all about providing the combination of location, atmosphere and first- class technology. He notes: “The big room features moveable walls, the drum sound in there is just marvellous. The smaller room, 20sqm, is great for vocals or even drums if you need a drier sound.
“The 50sqm control room Lars Hallbäck with his SSL Duality
fantastic album here, all live tracking, using [the] CLASP [analogue signal processing system],” continues Hallbäck. “In my personal studio I used to mix in the box with a controller desk. Then we were invited to SSL in the UK to test the Duality. We brought a hard drive with a Pro Tools session and a mixdown that we made in
the box and flew there. We then made a quick test comparison between the SSL console and the stereo file we had brought along. Since Fenix now runs a 72- channel Duality you can understand how the test turned out. I really like the sound and flexibility of that console. “As regards monitoring, I had a pair of ATC 50s in my
offers a large enough console for big mixes, a big collection of outboards, vintage pres, microphones, Yamaha Grand, Hammond B3 with Leslie speaker, Rhodes and a very large collection of vintage and new guitar amps, and cabinets. Importantly, we can also offer a friendly atmosphere, a large lounge and creative vibes. “It is also nice that these days
more and more bands realise that even though they can do a lot in their home studios, the results when they record together in a larger studio, the sum of their collective input in the recording becomes larger than the parts alone.”n
www.fenixrecording.com
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