Headliner has spoken exclusively to the team behind the newly opened Gorilla DeLuxe Studios in Southern Sweden to find out about the various opportunities and challenges in the market, as well as the high-end Genelec monitoring system at its core.
Despite only recently opening its doors, work on Gorilla Studios began back in the Autumn of 2018, when the facility was built quite literally from the ground up. The concrete foundations were laid towards the end of the year, with the structure itself taking shape in the first half of 2019.
However, the onset of the pandemic in 2020 inevitably meant that the originally planned grand opening had to be scrapped due to lockdown restrictions. Eventually, in December of 2020, the studio started to welcome small scale projects, gradually taking on more work as restrictions began to ease.
When building up the studio’s spec, the first thing studio designer Claes Olsson and studio owner Andreas Pålsso decided on was the Genelec monitoring system, placing a pair of 1238s at its heart.
Headliner caught up with Olsson and Pålsso to find out more about their plans for Gorilla DeLuxe, the state of the recording industry and where the biggest opportunities in the market lie…
When did work first start on Gorilla Studios?
Claes Olsson: I was contacted by Andreas Pålsson to construct a music studio. When I first got there, there was a small shed in the backyard. We tore this up and started planning a new house. I collaborated with an architectural firm to get optimal construction. I even designed the base plate. I have also done all the installation for audio and video, and I also designed ventilation and electricity
Andreas Pålsso: The actual construction work started in autumn of 2018, with making the concrete foundation. Then followed building the house in the spring of 2019. We started with the control room in the summer of 2019, and the studio was finished in October 2020.
What type of facility is it – does it specialise in particular projects/genres, or is it suitable for a wide range of projects?
AP: It’s a traditional recording studio, a good sounding live room and an accurate control room. We are going for the genres where there is a need for a good sounding space. Live drums, guitars, vocals and so on. Right now, we are doing drums and guitars for a ‘west coast’ album. Before that we had a jazz quartet.
When did the studios open – presumably there was a significant delay due to the pandemic?
AP: We started doing minor work in December 2020. The idea of a grand opening was made impossible by the pandemic. In the end, starting a new studio like this is a slow growing business.