Sonic Vista Studios

Last updated
Sonic Vista Studios (Villa Entrance) SVS-VillaPhoto.jpg
Sonic Vista Studios (Villa Entrance)

Sonic Vista Studios is a recording studio located in a 400-year-old Villa in the hills of Ibiza, Spain. [1] Sonic Vista offers services such as: audio recording, mixing, mastering, remote recording, music production, voice-overs and overdubs. [2]

Contents

Background

Sonic Vista Studios (Studio A) Sonic Vista Studios (Studio A).jpg
Sonic Vista Studios (Studio A)

Founded by L. Henry Sarmiento II, Sonic Vista Studios officially opened in November 2004. Conceptually, the studio was created around two main influences: Chris Blackwell's Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas and Rick Rubin's "The Mansion" in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles. The objective was to offer artists an escape from the noisy city life as well as an inspiring location to create music. [3]

The studio's first client was Hideo Kobayashi [4] from Tokyo, Japan in 2004 who needed mastering for his album "Yellow Diamond".

In 2004 Apple's iTunes needed mastering services for their "iTunes Exclusive" releases and with a list of songs that needed to be polished before releasing them on iTunes Store. These songs were written and performed at Bad Habit Recordings [5] (formally Sy Klopps Studios) in San Francisco, California by artists such as Goldfrapp, Bloc Party, Flaming Lips, Cat Power and Nouvelle Vague.

That same year was when the Pacha Group also became an official client.

In 2007, Ms. Dynamite wrote and recorded a record with Rez Safinia and Niara Scarlett.

In 2008 when Ibiza Rocks Hotel began hosting live music bands and Dj's, Sonic Vista put together a high-end remote rack for the occasion and has been recording their live performances ever since. Live recording and then mixing back at Sonic Vista for the Ibiza Rocks show on MTV England. Artist include: Ellie Goulding, Dizzie Rascal, Jake Bugg, Florence and the Machine, Calvin Harris and Biffy Clyro to name a few. [6]

In 2009, Lady Gaga went to Ibiza accompanied by her producer RedOne for a show at Eden Club [7] in San Antonio. Whilst on the Island they booked a songwriting/recording session with Sonic Vista and recorded the song Alejandro.

A few songs from Sounds from Nowheresville by the Ting Tings were written/recorded at Sonic Vista Studios in 2011. Other A-list artists also include Swedish House Mafia, [8] David Guetta, Akon, Taio Cruz, Ne-Yo, Mousse T, Ms. Dynamite, Idris Elba, 50 Cent, Ester Dean, Andy Taylor and Priyanka Chopra.

In 2011, Eva Herzigová recorded a Voice over for a Dolce & Gabbana commercial. [9]

Redfoo from LMFAO worked on his remix for Carly Rae Jepsen's song This Kiss in 2012 and David Guetta, [10] [11] Akon recorded the song Play Hard at Sonic Vista in July 2012. [12]

Sander Kleinenberg worked on remixes for Katy Perry and Robin Thicke at Sonic Vista in 2013.

That same year, Sonic Vista mastered the official aftermovie for Ultra Music Festival in Miami. [13]

Also in 2013, Lena Headey of HBO Game of Thrones recorded a voice over for their DVD collection.

The 400 year old villa in which the studio is located was previously occupied by the late ibizenco artist Vincent Calbet, known for his amazing paintings of mediterranean landscapes and his coloring techniques using striking brushworks. [14]

It was the first studio to bring Pro Tools HD to Ibiza in 2004 and is the first to have a Pro Tools HDX system on the Island. [15]

In 2014, [16] Sonic Vista Studios became a writer for the music business column of "Headliner", a music technology lifestyle magazine. [17]

Equipment

The first piece of equipment that entered the studio was Pro Tools HD system and a special Roland digital chorus DC-50 previously owned by the Grateful Dead. Today, Sonic Vista Studios is the most equipped studio on the island having the very best of analogue and digital technology: Avid Pro Tools HDX, Burl Audio, [18] [19] Millennia, GML, Manley, Thermionic Culture, Elysia, Solid State Logic, Crane Song, [20] Argosy Console, TC Electronic, Akai, Softube, Waves, Kush Audio, sE Electronics, Dynaudio, Monkey Banana, Yamaha, Modulus and many other brands. [21]

Louis Henry Sarmiento II

Louis Henry Sarmiento II (founder) Henry Sarmiento II.jpg
Louis Henry Sarmiento II (founder)

Louis Henry Sarmiento II was born in October 1971 of a Swedish mother and Colombian father. [22]   Growing up in New York, [23] his musical endeavors started in 1988 when he hitchhiked to a Max Creek show [24] and suddenly accompanied the band on the road as their roadie for a few shows. [25] The experience was so enriching that the following year, during the summer of 1989, he decided to gather the remaining $200 in his pocket and drive west towards California to pursue a career in the music industry. After numerous trips across the country, he finally got offered his first official job as a roadie for the reggae group Strictly Roots in 1991 at the age of nineteen years. [26] From roadie he went on to become the band's mixing engineer in 6 weeks, this attracted the attention of other groups such as Inka Inka, a band for which he engineered until 1996. [27]

In 1997 he got involved with a Dot-com start-up company by the name of muzic.com. [28] This new adventure encouraged him to move to San Francisco where the upcoming company would be housed at Herbie Herbert's warehouse with Sy Klopps Studios and Nocturne Productions. The company's reputation grew and got the attention of key figures in the music industry; doing demonstrations at MIDEM, Cannes as well as partnering up with Liquid Audio technology, the new start-up was one of the first to materialize the notion of digital distribution, a model that is now the main reference to how music is discovered, purchased and listened to by audiences today. muzic.com was at the forefront of the digital music revolution just waiting around the corner but never skyrocketed to success because of the Dot-com bubble that was soaring at the time. [29]

However Herbie Herbert saw something special in Sarmiento and decided to keep him as Studio Executive/Engineer of Sy Klopps Studios. [30] Before he knew it, Sarmiento was already recording significant bands such as Tower of Power, Starship and Trichromes (led by Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead and Herbie Herbert). He worked at Sy Klopps until 2004, the year he decided to leave to Ibiza [31] to found Sonic Vista Studios. [32]

His first experience in Ibiza was actually in 2003, when he came on holiday with friend/producer Miguel Migs who was doing a show at Pacha. At the time he felt that the music scene in San Francisco was becoming stale and thought about relocating to an Island. In 2003 Ibiza was already an important destination for music tourism but lacked in professional studios services. Sarmiento hence saw an opportunity and founded Sonic Vista Studios one year later. The first session being held on 29 November 2004. [33] He is also the first person to bring a Pro Tools HDX system to the Island. [34] [35]

In 2016, Henry Sarmiento was featured on Billboard (magazine)'s story "The Real Ibiza". [36]

Clients

[37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43]

ArtistsStudio SessionDescription
Lady Gaga Vocal RecordingLady Gaga and Red One wrote Alejandro
50 Cent Vocal RecordingSongwriting for G-Unit Inc.
Akon Vocal RecordingWriting Play Hard with David Guetta
Ne-Yo Vocal RecordingSongwriting Session
Taio Cruz Vocal RecordingWriting for Def Jam
David Guetta EngineeringWriting for 2U (song) with Jason "Poo Bear" Boyd
David Guetta Vocal RecordingProducing Play Hard with Akon
Swedish House Mafia Vocal RecordingProducing Session
Ting Tings RecordingRecording songs for Sounds from Nowheresville
Priyanka Chopra Vocal RecordingRecording New Album with RedOne Team and Ester Dean
Kelis Vocal RecordingSongwriting Session
Idris Elba MixingRemix of Something Really Bad
Redfoo Production and MixingRemix for This Kiss for Carly Rae Jepsen
Andy Taylor Recording/MixingNew Album
Lena Headey Vocal RecordingVoice Over Sessions for Game of Thrones DVD
Eva Herzigová Vocal RecordingVoice Over Sessions for Dolce & Gabbana Commercial
Plan B Remote RecordingLive at Ibiza Rocks
Goldfrapp MasteringMastered for iTunes Exclusive
Yeah Yeah Yeahs MasteringMastered for iTunes Exclusive
No Doubt MixingAnthony Gorry Remix of Settle Down
Dizzee Rascal Remote RecordingLive at Mallorca Rocks Hotel

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Record producer</span> Individual who oversees and manages the recording of an artists music

A record producer is a music recording project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions: ensuring artists deliver acceptable performances, supervising the technical engineering of the recording, and coordinating the production team and process. The producer's involvement in a musical project can vary in depth and scope. Sometimes in popular genres the producer may create the recording's entire sound and structure. However in classical music recording, for example, the producer serves as more of a liaison between the conductor and the engineering team. The role is often likened to that of a film director though there are important differences. It is distinct from the role of an executive producer, who is mostly involved in the recording project on an administrative level, and from the audio engineer who operates the recording technology.

A sound editor is a creative professional responsible for selecting and assembling sound recordings in preparation for the final sound mixing or mastering of a television program, motion picture, video game, or any production involving recorded or synthetic sound. The sound editor works with the supervising sound editor. The supervising sound editor often assigns scenes and reels the sound editor based on the editor's strengths and area of expertise. Sound editing developed out of the need to fix the incomplete, undramatic, or technically inferior sound recordings of early talkies, and over the decades has become a respected filmmaking craft, with sound editors implementing the aesthetic goals of motion picture sound design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pro Tools</span> Digital audio workstation

Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture and, more generally, sound recording, editing, and mastering processes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital audio workstation</span> Computer system used for editing and creating music and audio

A digital audio workstation (DAW) is an electronic device or application software used for recording, editing and producing audio files. DAWs come in a wide variety of configurations from a single software program on a laptop, to an integrated stand-alone unit, all the way to a highly complex configuration of numerous components controlled by a central computer. Regardless of configuration, modern DAWs have a central interface that allows the user to alter and mix multiple recordings and tracks into a final produced piece.

Acid Pro is a professional digital audio workstation (DAW) software program currently developed by Magix Software. It was originally called Acid pH1 and published by Sonic Foundry, later by Sony Creative Software as Acid Pro, and since spring 2018 by Magix as both Acid Pro and a simplified version, Acid Music Studio. Acid Pro 8 supports 32-bit and 64-bit architectures, and has MIDI, ASIO, VST, VST3, DirectX Audio, and 5.1 surround sound support.

Avid Audio is an American digital audio technology company. It was founded in 1984 by Peter Gotcher and Evan Brooks. The company began as a project to raise money for the founders' band, selling EPROM chips for drum machines. It is a subsidiary of Avid Technology, and during 2010 the Digidesign brand was phased out. Avid Audio products will continue to be produced and will now carry the Avid brand name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SonicStage</span>

SonicStage is a discontinued software product from Sony that is used for managing portable devices when they are plugged into a computer running Microsoft Windows. It comprises a music player and library manager, similar to iTunes, Windows Media Player and RealPlayer. It is used to manage the library of ATRAC and MP3 recordings on a PC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Guetta</span> French DJ and music producer (born 1967)

Pierre David Guetta is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 14 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs poll. In 2013, Billboard crowned "When Love Takes Over" as the number one dance-pop collaboration of all time.

M-Audio is a business unit of inMusic Brands that designs and markets audio and MIDI interfaces, keyboards and MIDI controllers, synthesizers, loudspeakers, studio monitors, digital DJ systems, microphones, and music software. The company has independent offices in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France and Japan.

Walter James "Herbie" Herbert II was an American music manager and musician. He was best known for his work with Santana and Journey.

VENUE is a brand of live sound digital mixing consoles introduced by Digidesign in February 2005. The family now includes 5 different consoles and a number of ways they can be configured. They can all be connected to Pro Tools, the audio editing software also created by Avid/Digidesign, to provide recording and 'Virtual Soundcheck' facilities. One of the system's key marketing points is its use of the same AAX DSP/TDM plugins as Pro Tools, an industry standard digital audio workstation (DAW). This is designed to enable the sounds recorded by the artist in the studio to be easily recreated on stage, and to allow for greater flexibility in signal processing without heavy and mechanical-shock-sensitive racks of external processors. There is also a PC-based offline editor for creation and editing of show files, although there is no audio processing in the editor.

Parachute Music is a not-for-profit music organisation from New Zealand. It was formed in 1989 and runs a hub of studio facilities and artist/producer support programmes in Kingsland, Auckland. From 1992 to 2014, the organisation ran the annual Parachute Festival, which grew to become a staple of the Kiwi summer, regularly attracting an audience of 25,000+ to the four-day festival. It also previously provided Artist Management services including: Parachute Records, Parachute Publishing, and artist training.

The Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences is a private for-profit technical school specializing in audio recording, audio engineering and production education with its main location in Tempe and a satellite campus in Gilbert, Arizona. It is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges and approved by the Arizona State Board of Private Postsecondary Education.

<i>Trichromes</i> 2002 studio album by The Trichromes

Trichromes is an album by the Trichromes, a rock band led by former Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann. The group's only full-length album, it was released in 2002. Robert Hunter wrote the lyrics for eight of the eleven songs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morten Breum</span> Danish DJ and music producer

Morten Breum, better known by his artist name Morten, is a Danish DJ and producer, together with David guetta he developed and created The sound that we known as “future rave”.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Kerzner</span> American musician, producer, sound designer

David Nathaniel Kerzner is an American musician, songwriter, producer, and sound designer as well as founder of the sound sampling development company Sonic Reality Inc. Along with Simon Collins, Kerzner is the co-founder of the band Sound of Contact. He is also the co-founder of the band Mantra Vega. His debut solo album, New World, was released in December 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luciano (DJ)</span> Chilean-Swiss DJ and producer (born 1978)

Lucien Nicolet, known mononymously as Luciano, is a Swiss and Chilean DJ and producer. He is a five-time DJ Awards winner and ten-time nominee. He helped promote the underground electronic music scene in Chile. His DJ sets are strongly influenced by Latin American music. Luciano's initial style of minimal techno has evolved into a blend of house and techno.

Art&Music Recording is an Italian music record label, publishing company and recording studio cofounded by Dr. Shiver and Omar Zenzon in 2009. The headquarters are located in Gallarate, a few kilometers North of Milan.

<i>7</i> (David Guetta album) 2018 studio album by David Guetta

7 is the seventh studio album by French DJ and record producer David Guetta, released on 14 September 2018 by What a Music, Parlophone and Big Beat Records. Released as a double album, the collection features commercial pop collaborations on the first disc, whilst disc two features underground house music akin to Guetta's starting roots as a DJ. The latter is credited to Jack Back, which Guetta revealed to be his alias and as a means to release more dance music alongside his pop collaborations. This side of the album is known as the Jack Back Project and was also released independently as a mixtape titled the Jack Back Mixtape, preceded by the release of the song "Overtone".

References

  1. "About this Sonic Vista Studios Ibiza App". Mobile Roadie. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  2. Gumble, Daniel. "Studio Spotlight: Sonic Vista Studios, Ibiza". Audio Pro International. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  3. "Argosy Desks Add to Ambience and Ergonomics at Ibiza's Sonic Vista Studios". Argosy. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  4. Hideo, Kobayashi. "Hideo Facebook Profile". Facebook. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
  5. Brislawn, Gordon. "Bad Habit Recordings - Background & History". Bad Habit Recordings. Bad Habit Recordings. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  6. Henry, Sarmiento. "Sonic Vista Insights". headlinermagazine.net/. Headliner Magazine.
  7. "Lady GaGa @ Eden Ibiza". Youtube. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  8. "Sonic Vista Studios Launch Sonic Vista Academy". Sonic Distribution. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
  9. "Dicogs". Discogs. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  10. Rolt, Amber. "Dj Dreamin': How three young aspiring DJs won Ibiza residencies". The Ibiza Paper. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  11. Guetta, David. "David Guetta SOS Interview". Sound On Sound. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
  12. "Sonic Vista Studios:: Ibiza, Spain". Gear Slutz. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  13. "Relive Ultra Miami 2013 (Official Aftermovie)". Ultra Music Festival. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
  14. Ribas, José P. "Artists of Ibiza: Vincent Calbet". liveibiza.com. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
  15. Davies, David. "L. Henry Sarmiento: Professional in Paradise". PSN Europe. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  16. Rebeka Brown, Pili y Kenzie. "Con mis ojos - Baleares". rtve.com. RTVE.
  17. Sarmiento II, Louis Henry. "Sonic Vista Insights". Headliner Magazine. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  18. Sarmiento, Henry. "Burl Artist Henry Sarmiento". BURL. BURL. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  19. Sarmiento, Henry. "BURL ARTIST". BURL. BURL. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  20. "Another visit to Sonic Vista Studios". ibiza-blog.com. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
  21. "Sonic Vista Studios". Media Pros. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
  22. "Argosy Desks Add To Ambiance And Ergonomics At Ibiza's Sonic Vista Studios". Pro Sound Web. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
  23. "Sonic Vista Studio's Henry Sarmiento II". Audio Media. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  24. Sam. "Sonic Vista Studios – Henry Sarmiento [Studio Owner]". Speakhertz. Speakhertz. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  25. "Sonic Vista Studios Masterclass". Coca Cola Company. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
  26. "Paradise Island". ISSUU. DBXPRO. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
  27. "Making Music Sonic Vista Style". Essential Ibiza. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  28. "muzic.com Teams With Liquid Audio to Offer Free Download of New Joan Jett Release 'Fetish' to be Distributed Exclusively on the Internet at http://www.muzic.com/". PRN News Wire. Retrieved 24 March 2014.{{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
  29. "Essential Ibiza - Interview With Henry Sarmiento 2014 II". Essential Ibiza. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  30. "Sonic Vista Studios - Interview With Henry Sarmiento II". All Studios. Archived from the original on 26 March 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  31. "Musica Sant Josep". Musica Sant Josep. Musica Sant Josep. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  32. Heartbreaker, Daisy. "Sonic Vista Studios". Ibiza Style. Archived from the original on 26 March 2014. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  33. "Sonic Vista Studios". Dynaudio. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  34. "Sonic Vista Studios: Bringing Pro Tools HDX to Ibiza". Avid. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  35. "Sonic Vista Studios Bringing Pro Tools HDX to Ibiza". Avid Forum. Avid. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  36. "The Real Ibiza, Episode 3". Billboard Youtube Channel. Billboard. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
  37. Miss, W. "Interview: Rebeka Brown". White Ibiza. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  38. Miss, W. "Interview: Liam Gerner" . Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  39. "Marco Bailey: The Documentary". Lucky Life TV. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
  40. "Paul van Dyk: "And it's a wrap! Great session at Sonic Vista Studios. Now time for a little break in the balearic sun"". Dash Berlin World. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
  41. Van Dyke, Paul. "Behind the Scenes of Paul van Dyk's Tour". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
  42. Sarmiento, Henry. "2U (Victoria Secret Sound Department)". IMDB. IMDN. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  43. "Sonic Vista Studios". Sound Better. Retrieved 19 March 2014.