Studio Blog

The massively upgraded Sound and Motion Studios in Johannesburg has launched! With all the construction done, and the studio kitted out, we were excited to show it off.

We celebrated the completion of the upgrade in style, at our studio launch on the 10th of September! Joined by top names from the media and music industries, we enjoyed an amazing set performed by Isochronous who recently finished recording their new album at the Johannesburg studio.

Thank you to all who attended and enjoyed this amazing evening with us. With the excitement of the launch over, and the long days of construction now just a memory, we have continued to turn heads and ears as we get on with what we do best! If you did not make it to the launch, and would like to see the studio, please don’t hesitate to contact us on 011 492 1201 or come through to have a look.

We look forward to seeing you soon,

The Sound & Motion Crew

It’s official, the launch date is set! The new fancy, shiny, expanded and kitted out JHB studio will be open for business as of the 10th of September! Due to the expansion the studio has doubled in size with all rooms designated to a specific purpose. It also boasts a large selection of industry leading gear which means it can professionally cater to any production requirements you may have!

Please contact us if you have any queries.

Watch this space for more updates and photos as we get closer to the launch date!

Sound & Motion Studios was lucky enough to well represent at the EA Sessions Workshops featuring Grammy Award winners Vance Powell (The Raconteurs, Jars of Clay, Buddy Guy) and Fabrice DuPont (Jennifer Lopez, Queen Latifa, Bon Jovi). Matthew, Fuzzy and Tyron from Sound & Motion Cape Town; and Richard and James from Sound & Motion Joburg had an incredible experience and picked up valuable lessons and insights which we've already put into practice from these ace engineers.

Sound & Motion also proudly sponsored the CityVarsity, top 2nd year sound student, Jonathon Bandli, for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. As you can see from the photo, he's tired but happy!

“Vampire” is actually a track from way back when the Mouth of Me EP was first released. We used the original Reason session and tracking as a starting point and were in close contact with Paul Ressel, who was simultaneously working on production from his end at Metropolis Studios in London where he has a production room.

Sean Ou Tim then came in to record drums for the track, with Matthew James behind the desk - full mic setup in our live room including 2 shinybox ribbons as an AB room pair and Neuman 103 overheads running into a TLA C1. We tracked multiple versions of the song going for a thunky retro kit sound (think oceans 11). As additional percussion ideas, he laid out all his cymbals flat on the floor and played them (along with pots and pans from or kitchen) whilst on his knees—if you don't believe us check out the link below to the video we took!

Inge Beckmann arrived later that day to lay down and comp some incredible vocal stylings—not unexpected as any Lark fan will know! These takes were combined with the originals from Paul's old bedroom studio here in Cape Town—real blast from the past!

As a bonus we also tracked some eerie violin parts played by Kyla Rose Smith (Freshly Ground) We comped down the tracks and sent the whole session via courier to Paul in London where he chose/changed parts to prepare for Simon (Fuzzy) to mix at Fortress Studios in London. Given the Swing-electro vibe of the track, Fuzzy opted to mix it old school, using an Otari 2” 24 track tape machine, a Neve console and selected outboard with Protools only being used for the transfer. Check out the photo's below—looks like Paul and Fuzz had a great time bonding over all that analogue gear!

Keep a look out for upcoming lark releases to hear how it turned out!

Last month we had a brilliant White Room Session with Funka Mundo, Edi's amazing World Fushion band. It has been a long-time dream of Fuzzy's to feature this legendary South African performer at our White Room Sessions, and we are pleased to say the evening was a huge success!

Attendees were treated to an amazing performance, including the out-of-the-ordinary, in the shape of Edi's guitar synthesizer, “Synthia,” and Ronan Skillen's amazing assortment of percussion instruments. We are hoping to grab a video of the evening, but for now check out our block to listen to a track recorded live by Matt James.

Stay tuned for info about our next exclusive White Room Session!

Not only a man of leisure, Simon recently travelled to Europe to represent Sound & Motion Studios in a whirlwind of studio visits, film expos, mixes and meetings. In between visiting world famous film/mix studios such as Pinewood and De Lane Lea, meeting top engineers and visiting bad-ass music studios (and mixing Lark tracks!) here's what he's been up to.

INTERNATIONAL CINEMA EXPO:

First stop was Amsterdam for the International Cinema Expo, one of the World's biggest professional cinema events. Seminars and tradeshows dealing with 3D and advances in Digital Cinema production were the order of the day... although Simon's mostly been gloating about being on set for the new Tim Burton movie, “Alice in Wonderland.” He left the expo saturated with new information and laden down with cool literature. Fuzzy said, “I generally felt pretty stupid most of the time. Digital cinema bodes well for the future and the influx of 3D formats is being identified as a new advancement in cinema audio. People are now asking 'how do you mix for 3D?'. I learnt a lot—and most importantly learnt what I DON'T know.”

ALLIANCE WITH UK DOLBY MIX STUDIOS AND AUDIO MASTERING:

Over in London, Simon has been forging alliances with top Dolby Final Mix facilities who we will be working closely with to deliver final mixes for feature films in Dolby Surround, transferring work from our own cinema mix room, the Indigo Room, at Sound & Motion Cape Town. We're also acting as an agent and go-between for a top UK based mastering engineer for the client who wants to take their CD master up a notch (bam!) No name dropping yet! We're still in the final stages, but when you see what these guys have worked on, you'll realise you've seen and heard their work hundreds of times! Stay tuned for more info on these exciting developments.

SOUND & MOTION BRANCH IN EUROPE?

We've been thinking about it for a while, meetings have gone well and it looks like plans are finally in the pipeline for a branch of Sound & Motion in Dublin, Ireland. It's going to be a while, but you heard about it first right here!