DUBAI — Babajim Istanbul Studios and Mastering is the prime address for recording, mixing and mastering services in Beyo?lu, downtown Istanbul that opened in April 2010. Designed by studio architect Roger D'Arcy, the state of the art facility was undertaken with the direction of mastering engineer Pieter Snapper, producer Reuben de Lautour and audio engineer Alp Turaç. “It's an interesting story. The studio was conceived and founded by Ethel Özen, an American expatriate living in Istanbul. She wanted to create a studio that could be used to support and provide focus to the local music scene while continuing to function as a viable commercial entity. The three studio partners, Alp, Pieter, and myself, worked with her closely from the beginning, supervising and consulting during the construction and opening of the facility. We run the business side of the studio, and collaborate with her on community projects, such as the annual BeThe Band competition, the winner of which receives a full album and release package from the studio and Babajim Records, our associated record label,” Reuben told Saudi Gazette. He said even when a lot of mixing nowadays is done "in-the-box," people coming to a studio still expect top notch analog gear and a variety of colours to choose from. “We have two analog mixing boards, a Rupert Neve Designs 5088 in Studio A, and a TL audio VTC-32 in Studio B. We have a range of outboard analog compressors (Neve, API, Tubetech, Empirical Labs, Teletronix), EQs (Neve, API, TL audio), and other toys like a Bricasti M7 Reverb unit, and the Neve Portico 5042 Truetape tape emulator. Most of our outboard gear is movable so can be used in either studio. Of course we have the usual array of industry standard plugins too: waves, autotune, melodyne, a few different options for drum replacement, and other bits and bobs, all running on ProTools. Both studios have identical systems so you can transfer projects between studios and not lose any plugins or settings.” Discussing the role Babajim plays to organize a production solution for musicians in the Middle East, Reuben said: “First, we invite the artist to the studio for a cup of tea. Then we sit and listen with them to their music, and make a plan suited to their project and their budget. Since we have two recording and mixing rooms, and mastering all under one roof, we can provide highly customized solutions to our clients. For our international guests we also provide help in finding local session musicians, arrangers, accommodation and of course we have plenty of advice about what to eat and how to enjoy the nightlife during their stay.” Babajim's mastering room is unique in its inception. It is built from scratch from the ground up, one of the few rooms in the region to be designed specifically for mastering. Mastering engineer Pieter Snapper said: "The acoustics of the Babajim Mastering studio are designed for a very accurate, flat frequency response, and the special shape of the facility eliminates side reflections at the listening position completely, making for extremely accurate localization. There are four different analog dynamics processors - a Maselec Stereo and High-Frequency Limiter, an API 2500 Stereo Buss Compressor, a Crane Song STC-8 Mastering Compressor, and a Thermionic Culture Phoenix (Variable-Mu) Mastering Compressor. Of the four. the two I use the most are the Crane Song for subtle, transparent compression, and the Phoenix for color and "glue." "We have three analog EQs with very different characters - a Nightpro EQ3 for broad strokes, air, and M/S processing, a Crane Song Ibis which I would describe as transparent but "heavy", and the main workhorse, a Buzz Audio REQ-2.2 Mastering EQ which is very flexible and musical, especially in the highest and lowest frequency ranges. On the digital side I rely heavily on our Weiss EQ-1-LP-DYN 7-band parametric EQ for invisible corrective work, and a tc electronic System 6000 four-engine processor for nearly everything else. The converters I use most are the Crane Song HEDD 192 and the Sonic Studio Model 304. The amazing Maselec MTC-6 Transfer Console, whose ergonomics and sound are nearly perfect, controls the whole rig. All in all it's a very powerful, flexible system that gives the mastering engineer options at every turn." Reuben said the secret of Babajim has nothing to do with any of the technical equipment at all - it is the sound of the rooms themselves. “All studios were designed by world-renowned studio architect Roger D'Arcy, who built more than 500 studios during his 25 year career. Our main live room has an eight metre ceiling, and also features two movable walls in order to manipulate the acoustic to suit anything from rock drums to classical piano. We also have a wonderful Fazioli F228 grand piano, and a Yamaha Maple Custom drum kit.”
