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Good afternoon
So – I am Marco Hietala and I play in Nightwish
And now we are at my home studio
It’s called Marco’s Cockpit 2.0
I had a previous version in my old house, actually in the garden shed
Now I’ve got this studio built into the house itself
It’s small but very professional
The signal paths and equipment are clean enough for me to create album quality sound
Socks applied this morning
I had most of this gear already at Nightwish’s latest summer camp
When we were working on the ’Endless Forms Most Beautiful’ album
So most of my kit was already in use then
In other words, I have a background in training as a recording engineer
And a lot of experience of studio work
I'm the sort of guy who likes to write music and lyrics, try them out for himself and record them
So this is quite perfect, even important to me
Building this whole thing…
I got even more help than I could expect for from having a good relationship with Genelec
I have been using their gear for several years
So we decided to try the 8351s, to find out how they would sound in here
So far they sound very good
The guys from Genelec have calibrated the set a couple of times
With these monitors, calibration does not mean just listening
And then tweaking knobs, or whatever
No, this system is quite elaborate with a bespoke software
Interface and microphone, which you set up
Then the speakers give a test tone to the microphone
And the software hears how the tone sounds in this room
Meaning if there are reflections from the walls, ceiling, floor – what ever
This software then calculates the optimum correction
How the corrections are made and how to get the most flat and good response
After that you can, of course, listen to the system and check some details
Of course you have your own preferences about the balance that you want to follow
How much you want to hear the high, low or middle frequencies and such
These are mostly personal decisions
But the basic job that the calibration does, creating an optimised listening environment
It’s an essential and good job
I have sat there a number of times now
Digging music that tends to have sturdy bass
For some reason I like it
And for good, clear bass, you need acoustic treatment in your room
And in my case, Janne Riionheimo of Riionheimon Akustiikka
He dropped by, had a look at the room, checked its height and other measurements
And sent me, was it just the next day
For sure it did not take more than two days
For him to draw up these acoustic designs and email me the drawings
And the with the help of some friends and colleagues
We bought some raw timber, some smoother wood for the interior and some Rockwool
And we built it right here
We positioned everything according to the drawings and so on
All I can say is a big thank you to all
Genelec, Riionheimo and all of my buddies who helped
Next time if any of these dudes have a studio building project, I’ll be there
Yeah, that’s what’s been going on here and it really took a fair while
We started last year and now we are well into April 2017
Of course a guy like me is likely to be on the road quite often
So things are done in bits, but here it is
So thanks for watching
And if you feel inspired to build a home studio, it can be done
And you can record album quality stuff
Thank you
Okay, and this is the brand new jingle of my brand new studio
Marco’s Cockpit