Readers' Studios: Mario Walzberg's StudiOjo in the Netherlands
I am sending you a photo of the location of my studio, which is situated in the garden behind our home, in a small town called Wateringen (close to the city 'The Hague') in The Netherlands.
My studio is build in my back yard (with a separate entrance for the musicians), partly in a stone building, and partly in a woodshed. The stone building is isolated from the inside (box-in-a-box principle, manufactured by Esmono.nl). Almost 65 dB out of a 100 is absorbed by this system, so no angry neighbors here!
A heating, air conditioning and air refreshment system supply a comfortable stay in the studio.
My recording-room (5x3,5 meters) and my control-room (3x3,5 meters) are both situated in the stone building (on the left side on the photo). For a break during recording we have a cozy sort of lounge-room, which is situated in the woodshed (as seen on the right side of the photo). There we also have a small toilet, an even smaller kitchen, some audio/tv/dvd/cd equipment and some guitars for relaxation, and .... even a shower (yes, with cold & hot water) and a double-bed!
If the weather is nice, one can also enjoy sitting in the sun on our garden-terrace, which is approximately 8x3 meters.
As you can see, we added a Mediterranean touch to our studio environment by using terracotta-colours, and adding tropical plants and even 2 palm trees to our garden!
My investment in this building and it's sound-proofing was, well let's say HUGE, but it is money well spent! (but I need A LOT OF artists to have a return on investment).
I record everything in my studio: all styles of music and sound, from bachelor parties to demo's for upcoming artists, karaoke, radio programs, rap, classical, complete bands, voiceovers etc. etc.
All recording and use of effects is done digitally. I use some top-brands like Neumann microphones, Gibson and Martin guitars etc. (see http://www.studiojo.nl/studio_techniek.html for a full list) and I use Cubase 4 most of the time (sometimes Pro Tools) for recording and editing.
My wife designs all the artwork for the cd-covers, which we supply with recordings. Now aren't we a nice family company?
Mario Walzberg
www.StudiOjo.nl (only in Dutch at the moment)
David Mellor
David Mellor is CEO and Course Director of Audio Masterclass. David has designed courses in audio education and training since 1986 and is the publisher and principal writer of Adventures In Audio.
