Old World Meets New at Tsukihana Sounds Studio, Which Has Acquired A Solid State Logic ORIGIN Mixing Console to Support its Music and Sound Business

Kurihara was introduced to the ORIGIN console at Solid State Logic Japan by Mr. Kazuaki Yamada, manager of Cogre Musical Instruments, who handled her new studio’s system planning and equipment coordination. She did not originally intend to build a full-scale production facility but, struck by the sound quality and performance of the fully analogue console and by ORIGIN’s versatility and its ability to handle anything from recording to mixing, quickly began planning Tsukihana Sounds Studio.

The new facility offers a large tracking room of about 50 square meters (about 540 square feet) with two iso booths, for vocals and piano. In the 24-square-meter (260-sq.-ft.) control room, the ORIGIN, which is integrated into studio furniture custom-built by studio design and construction firm Acoustic Engineering, is complemented by Genelec soffit-mounted main monitors and PMC mid-field speakers.

Acoustic Engineering’s interior design makes use of traditional Japanese materials chosen not only for their appearance but also for their acoustical properties. Oyaishi stone, which is mined in the region and was used in many Japanese buildings at the beginning of the twentieth century, has a signature acoustical quality that is both diffusive and absorptive and was used in the live room as well as the control room. Juaraku-Heki, a mud and straw wall material often seen in old Japanese tea rooms, was also used throughout the facility. Shoji screens made from a type of paper used in the interior doors of many classical Japanese houses are another key design element.