As a collective of artists and DJ’s the SUNRISE stable is near unrivalled in its depth of talent and so when news arose that they would be purpose building a hub of studios from which to develop their sound from we had to know more. Step forward Herodot who would be leading this exciting project alongside his sister and their Unanim Acoustic Design company. We sat down with the man himself to find out just how such a project came to…
Tell us about how the idea for the SunriseHub came about and who was involved?
Well, this one was born from a coffee in my hand talking to Catalin Ghinea, while looking at this new space he found in an old factory. He has been saying for some time he wants to build a couple of recording studios to rent, for young artists who don’t have the chance to work in a professional environment. Me and my sister started the Unanim Acoustics Designcompany a few years back and had some successful projects for a few DJ’s and clubs in Bucharest. We are responsible for designing and building recording studios and all kinds of acoustics environments so we were asked to take a look at this space, give our opinion about it and possibly start this project together.
Walking around the place I realized I want to be one of the guys renting a studio, as I can’t have that professional room in an apartment. When I said it out loud it all became so clear to both of us. I was not the only one in this situation so we figured together it would be amazing to build a network of studios all connected to a big recording room, and create this place where artists can be together, grow, share music and their ideas about it…a network in the most simple form…a hub.
What facilities will you offer at the hub?
The music hub has several structures attached, plus some satellites. The structures are, a booking agency, an ATL and BTL agency, a visual arts and video mapping studio, a graphic design and paint shop, a stage and dance-floor equipment rental, and one thing that is sometimes overlooked, an artist and career management service. Simply put we even have a good doctor in the house, because we all know an artist’s favorite trick is to go nuts from time to time, so we have that covered too.
As for the satellites, we have around a bunch of things that come in handy. They were already there when we started our little hub, and as we progressed with our build we discovered more and more, and by the day it made more and more sense to build our hub in this place. We discovered artists around ranging from woodwork to furniture design and even clothing.
How many studios are there in the hub?
We have 6 studios all connected to a 40-sq. m high ceiling recording room.
Will each studio be completely different? Different equipment / tasks / characteristics?
The studios are different and not, depending on the point of view. In terms of acoustics, they are all the same. Otherwise, they are not alike at all, all the 6 control rooms have a different design.
If we are talking about equipment and tasks… well, that is the personal preference of the artist who rented the studio, it’s really up to them what they want to do… we just give them the space.
What aspect of the hub is the most exciting?
I think the most exciting thing is that a group of people, with little self-interest, dedicated a lot of time and resources to make this possible.
Apart from this I guess the recording room is another exciting thing because it is connected to all the studios, can be used in so many different ways, and it can be the starting ground for sharing learning and exploring.
Tell us about the process you went through when choosing the location and the deciding on the design for each part of the hub?
Well, the location chose us I guess, or it’s one of those things that I really can’t explain… we were not going to build a hub in the first place, we just wanted 2 studios, but after seeing this place and the surroundings ideas started flowing.
Deciding on the design was in collaboration with the artists who were involved in this project. Basically, we built the studios on their own preferences.
Did you encounter any issues when building the studios or did it all go according to plan?
Nothing goes as planned when you want to build two studios and you end up with six I think this was the fun of it in a way, of course not in those moments because you feel you wanna kill someone, but looking back, those moments were quite helpful because they solidified us as a team, gave us confidence and a lot of knowledge for future projects.
Who will be using the studios? Will it be available to the public or are these specifically for SUNRISEartists?
At the moment, all the studios are rented to some artists from the SUNRISE roster. It depends on them if apart from their own music they want to do collaborations, record bands, or make music for films. We put no boundaries.
How do you hope the Hub will evolve over time?
Since the very beginning, we have seen a lot of interest and a lot of people asking us about the next step. Speaking for myself after I write this sentence I will take a vacation, and let things evolve naturally. One thing we can say for sure is that this is just the beginning of a network and for sure we will think about expanding when the moment comes.
To check out the SunriseHUB in full you can take the virtual tour via their 3D rendering below.
More info on Unanim Acoustic Design
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