I have spent the last months building a new studio.
When I launched Studio Arlen after college I was still working out of a spare bedroom I’d converted into a little booth and mixing studio. I mostly record my own stuff, at max bringing in one session musician at a time, so it was really enough space. After years on the road recording in tunnels and breezeways, on live stages, any four walls was enough to make me happy.
But, the real world creeps in, status matters. My studio lost out on two serious bids in 2020 scoring for TV pilots because I was quote ‘good, but still too small’. Too small, I thought, what does that mean?
After all, my output rivals that of most Studios. My work is diverse, from epic fight symphonies to hip-hop beats and techno-thrillers. I’ve scored TV Pilots, created musicals, won film festivals. If you were to look at Studio Arlen purely on merit, I’m ready to take on any project.
The only thing that separates my studio from a bigger one really is equipment. I’ve never been much of a gearhead beyond what I needed to put my sound to work. You do not need great equipment to record a great song, and sometimes those imperfections in sound create a world of meaning and subtly. Modern recordings can be generic, digitally cold and without character in their mechanical perfection. They key to finding humanity in the machine then is to let humanity be human, celebrate those imperfections.
That’s always been my justification for staying small and focusing on how software can manipulate sound. I began as an in-the-box musician out of necessity, but along the way I began to see it as it’s own unique artform, almost…like folk, you know? Instead of one dude and a guitar, I’m one dude in a studio, making music just for you, controlling every aspect of the performance so that you can chill and enjoy something. If I break some stuff, you’ll forgive me.
All of that is still true though regardless if my space is big or small, and honestly, the productions I work with are right to seek the assurance of a big, official looking structure. It was time to build a new home.
New Studio
So I got to work back in November.
300 sq. ft. of space I’ve been tearing down and building up. Rack-mounted compressors, speaker set ups for conventional mixing or 5.1 surround to accommodate ambisonics and VR. Enough space to record a band ( though it might be a touch cramped). I installed floating floors, wired an entirely new electrical system. New heating system, AC, air filtering, insulation.
Heck, I even put in a bunch of those sweet USB outlets because, well it looks cool doesn’t it?
I am controlling every bit of the space’s sound, and by the time I finish this summer I plan to have a handsome enough room to establish Studio Arlen’s legitimacy with the more discerning production companies. Perhaps not on the level of Hans Zimmer, but enough. Along the way I’ll gain a new space with complete customization and the ability to record more artists and expand my productions in new ways.
I suppose I could have saved myself some time and brought in a crew, but that’s just not the Studio Arlen way is it? Everything here is handmade, and soon, the custom sound bouncing off these handmade walls will echo into your living room, transporting you right to my mixing chair.
