Jaunted Haunts Press

SUI Studios – 07/02/2009

Today brought the rare privilege of being the first people to do recording in an amazing new studio in Cape Town that has taken almost two years, and a scary amount of money,  to build. SUI Studios has been  labour of love for Dan Manojlovic, who was one of the partners in the original SUI studios in Wale Street, which ceased to be in 2005. Dan makes a living importing high-end microphones, rack units and other equipment, which means that the calibre of goodies in this studio is remarkable to say the least.

An AEA A440 ribbon mic and a nice condensor whose name I forget

One of the most impressive things here is the live room, which has been isolated to the extent that it’s basically a room within a room, resting on a slab of concrete which in turn rests on sheets of extremely dense foam rubber, which means that the room is dead quiet, even though it’s underneath a fairly busy section of Cape Town (just off Church Square).

Then there’s the gigantic mixing console in the control room, which is actually only a controller that is fully integrated with the ProTools setup – for instance if volume levels are automated within a ProTools session, the faders on the console will move accordingly.

Now i’m the first guy in the world who will argue in favour of warts-and-all home recordings as an aesthetic device, but the immensity of the privilege to record in this space, and the immaculate attention to detail that went into preparing it, is not lost on me.  SUI Studios is not yet commercially open, but should officially open its door over the next two months.