The Red Bull Music Studios Cape Town: An Introduction
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The Red Bull Music Studios in Cape Town are nestled away at the top of Jamieson street in an a-typical hip creative complex that is home to architects, small ad agencies, photographers, new-media entrepreneurs and the like. Jamieson street is itself tucked away in the ever-vibrant corner of town where Long Street meets Kloof Street. For those completely unfamiliar with Cape Town this is where the stage was built and manned for the 2010 World Cup draw.
Although the studio has been active since mid-2008, 2009 is the year that it found its feet. The studio is a space for music makers from any background to get creative without the normal restrictions of studio hire prices
The kind of projects that have been pushed through the studio last year range from impromptu music jams, full-on recording sessions, music workshops and large-scale endeavours like a "Third World Perspective": A Red Bull Music Academy Taster where twenty SA musical minds came together for five days to share knowledge and make music, a project modelled out of and intended to demonstrate the RBMA.
To get an idea of the physical space that is the Red Bull Studios Cape Town, picture it like this: There are two studios kitted with various production gear. Studio A has a small recording booth, really designed for vocal recording more than anything else. Studio B has no booth but does have a set of Turntables and CDJs for DJs. Both studios have a set of Roland electronic drums, Studio A having the more advanced kit. In between the studio is a large area dominated by a couch on one end of the room. This space is either for kicking back in, or for "couch-sessions" as they are commonly known where musical gurus sit back on the aforementioned couch and divulge knowledge about their work.
But although 2009 was a productive year for the studios, there is much to be done to make sure it is a space that is used to its optimum. First of all the scope of the artists and bands coming in needs to be broadened. For purely geographical reasons many of the artists coming into the studio are from Cape Town. Moreover it is fairly obvious to say that South African music is rich, diverse and widespread across the country. The studio team will need to figure out how to tap into those musical pockets of the country far out of reach and give those who would normally have little means of laying down there musical ideas a chance to shine.
As 2010 shoots itself past like a meteor, with January a thing of the past, the studio itself has been hectically busy. Typical day-time sessions feature the likes of mutant-opera singer Inge Beckman whose songs are born out of her subconscious ocean depths and Crosby aka Digi Analog, one of Gugulethu's hardest working emcees, deejays (as in Soundsystem culture deejay, a party hype-man similar to an emcee) and producers. Nights get more banging with the likes of the prolific Spoek Mathambo who is bridging the gap between South African dance music and international electronica with the fervour of a fiendish alchemist.
Its an amazing space, a space to make musicians zealous and jealous, a space that tries to keep its doors literally open to anyone, because it knows it is a one of a kind thing
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