Counting The Beatles, Abba, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, One Direction, Wyclef Jean and Mutt Lange among its clientele, Baggpipe sits in the Johanneshov district of Stockholm in what was once a 1930s cinema.
Opened as EMI Studios in 1962 it became Cosmos Studios under the ownership of producer, mixer, musician, songwriter and music-entrepreneur Kent (Gillström) Isaacs. As Baggpipe, it has entered into a joint creative venture with musician/songwriter/producer Anders Bagge’s creative operations in order to focus on collaborative songwriting activities. ‘We’re creating a commercial meeting place for the best in the business,’ Bagge explains. ‘A new platform for musical creatives and the development of tomorrow’s talented young songwriters.’
As part of a recent upgrade, Baggpipe has invested in a Solid State Logic Duality δelta Pro-Station analogue hybrid console for its main commercial control room. The console was supplied by SSL’s Swedish partner, Arva Trading.
The facility comprises 12 studios – ten production rooms and two larger commercial rooms. The Duality is now installed gone into Studio 1, the larger of the two commercial rooms, which also has a live area with a maximum capacity of around 55 musicians. Studio 2 is a DAW-based room, mainly used for voice, or production and song writing.
The ten production rooms used to be rented out to independent producers but are now part of the Baggpipe initiative. ‘Instead of everyone in their room working on their own things, everyone will work together towards the same goals,’ explains Willem Bleeker is the Studio Manager and Chief Engineer at Baggpipe, and the man responsible for overseeing the ongoing refurbishment. ‘For a lot of the time that will be with the same artists. It’s more focussed on songs and songwriting.’
The Duality δelta console is a 48-channel Pro Station type, with the ‘wrap-around’ style layout bringing all 48-channels within arm’s reach of the studio sweet-spot. ‘Of course, I looked at other consoles,’ says Bleeker. ‘Other manufacturers, digital options and so on, but in the end it was an easy choice. It’s the flexibility on the console that I really like. We do so many different things at the studio, and the recall is fantastic. I can interrupt an on-going mix, run a recording session, and then come back to the mix with no problem.’
The Duality console features a dual path channel architecture so processing can be placed in both the record and monitor paths, while flexible busing technology allows patch-free sub groups using the 24 track buses. It also has full 5.1 support, including monitoring calibration tools.
These facilities mean that Baggpipe can accommodate clients ranging from core music bookings to broadcast and advertising. The large live room is in particular demand for string ensemble sessions, and around once a month they host a shared client session organised by an LA-based arranger. ‘It’s expensive to book an orchestral session for one client,’ explains Bleeker. ‘In this way multiple clients share the costs. We do between 15 and 20 songs in one day on those sessions.’
Sound quality is paramount for Baggpipe, and the Duality SuperAnalogue inputs and full SSL EQ and dynamics processing on every channel was a big draw. Bleeker has been using the console’s VHD (Variable Harmonic Drive) circuit that can be switched into every input on the Duality to give an adjustable harmonic distortion to deliver a wide range of input colours. I use that all the time,’ he says. ‘On the mix, I’m doing right now I think I have it on almost every channel. I love it for snare, electric guitars, bass, and on B3 it’s amazing. I do use it to record too.’
