Located in Jiutepec, just south of Mexico City, the SOGA (Sounds of Gaia) complex was opened by Angel Sananda in 2012, with SOGA Recordings beginning operations in August 2015. The complex itself was nominated for a prestigious international architecture award, and includes a 175-person auditorium, two project studios, a coffee shop, a rooftop garden, accommodation for 20 people – and now a newly-installed 32-channel Rupert Neve Designs Shelford Edition 5088 analogue mixing console.
‘The core intention behind SOGA was to create a working space that could combine music production and the use of sound as a tool for wellbeing,’ Sananda explains. ‘Because I was so familiar with the workshop/retreat world and the music production world, I had a solid idea of what I needed to accomplish. The result came in the form of a retreat centre with a Class A studio inside of it – SOGA Recordings.’
The 5088 was Sananda’s choice for the core of the new hybrid digital/analogue system: ‘I’ve always been a fan of the ‘Neve sound’, and I also wanted to have something that could distinguish SOGA Recordings from the rest of the Mexican studios,’ he says. ‘When I decided to buy the 5088 there were none in Mexico, so I decided to go that way. It sounds amazing, and it enabled us to achieve the sonic signature I was looking for in the studio.’
Sananda’s goal is to create life-changing experiences for the people who visit. He does not think of his studio’s visitors as clients, but rather focuses on ‘creating the right environment inside and outside the studio so that people leave as family’.
‘The mix between the architecture of SOGA, the studio aesthetics, our love for analogue equipment and our 5088 plus the hospitality, warmth and talent of our staff has placed SOGA Recordings as one of the coolest studios in Mexico,’ Sananda reflects.
