Producer Pad: Redboxx Studios – Bavaria, Germany

Towering 9,718 feet above sea level, the Zugspitze stands as the highest mountain in the Bavarian Alps, and indeed all of Germany. Peering down from its peak, you just might locate a new studio whose ambitions reach the same lofty heights as this scenic summit.

That creative space is RedBoxx Studios, founded by guitarist and producer Florian Opahle. Inside, the control room spreads out with the same expansiveness as the famed range outside. An analog/digital hybrid, it has been constructed to record and mix the music of Opahle and his clients in inspirational fashion. Adding on to its utility — as well as its acoustic possibilities — is the fact that Redboxx also serves as the professional photo studio of Opahle’s wife, Assunta.

As the longtime guitar player for Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, Opahle has built up quite a worldview touring and recording: all the better to inform this uniquely atmospheric Producer Pad looking out at the Alps.

Stretch your creativity at RedBoxx Studios in Bavaria (photo credit: Jochen Veith)

The Producer: Florian Opahle

Facility Name: RedBoxx Studios – The Audio & Photo GmbH

Website: https://www.facebook.com/RedBoxxStudios/

Location: Am Eschengrund 15, 83135 Schechen, Bavaria, Germany

Date of Birth: 2017

Neighborhood Advantages: RedBoxx Studios is a 100 square-meters music production studio, as well as a 100-square meters photography studio. In other words, my best neighbor is basically my wife, who is a photographer and is running the photo studios.

But we also have got a beautiful coffee place next door, as well as lots of open space and countryside. And obviously the Alps in the background give it a great scenic overall feel.

Facility Focus: RedBoxx Studios` main focus is composing, producing, tracking and mixing. The studio has got a great collection of guitars and amps since I am a touring guitar player as well as music producer. But we also have got lots of other instruments right there at your fingertips. It makes it very comfortable to be creative and to work fast.

Florian Opahle (photo credit: Assunta Opahle)

A Producer Pad Must Have…I believe these days a studio/producer’s room needs a good mixture of everything.

At RedBoxx Studios we are using digital audio gear as well as analog stuff to get the best mixture of sonic quality and ease of use. Obviously Pro Tools is our weapon of choice when it comes to the DAW, but at the same time we enjoy using our Neve 1073 Preamps, quality selection of mics and analog gear like a huge variety of guitar amps (EL34, 6L6, KT77 etc. tube-driven heads), speaker cabinets and pedals. Our latest addition is a vintage Roland Space Echo 201.

Over the years I’ve found that using the real thing often lets you reach your musical aims and ideas faster. So to answer your question: Both worlds (digital and analog) are important, things have to be there and ready to go. The best is to have everything within easy reach.

Obviously the room and speakers are most important. We are very happy with our PMC MB2s and PMC TwoTwo 6 speakers. A dream to work with and brilliant for making decisions, even after long 12-hour recording days.

Clients/Credits: Ian Anderson/Jethro Tull (I have been working with Ian as a guitar player for the last 15 years, touring around the world. I also had the honor to play on his last two studio recordings.)

Greg Lake / ELP; Sony Music Entertainment; Starwatch; Universal Music; and many more

For a complete CV please visit http://WWW.FLORIAN-OPAHLE.COM

For Example: 

System Highlights:

Desk

– Audient Zen with Fader Automation and DAW Control

– Avis Artist Control and Mix

– Thermionic Culture Fat Bustard II Limited

– Heritage Audio MCM 8

Speaker

– PMC MB2

– PMC TwoTwo6

CPU

– Apple Mac Pros and MacBook Pros

– Apogee

– UAD

– Motu

Amps

– Friedman Dirty Shirley,

– Diezel Herbert

– Vox AC 30

– MesaBoogie Mark V

Monitor Moves: RedBoxx Studios are set up as a stereo environment. I am using a beautiful set of PMC MB2S powered by two PMC Class D 1200Watt/8Ohm amplifiers. As a near field setup I am using a pair of PMC twotwo.6, plus a  PMC Sub One if needed.

PMC’s are Opahle’s monitor of choice. (photo credit: Assunta Opahle)

When I first started to work with Gerhard Wölfle at Dorian Gray Studios, Munich I was amazed by the sonic quality there with their beautiful MB2 5.1 setup. So it was clear within minutes that one day I would like to have PMC speakers myself.

Later I bought the set of TwoTwo6s and finally when we started planning the new RedBoxx Studios we pretty soon discovered that the PMC MB2S were the only real way to go. Especially with the size of the control room.

PMC are amazing. For me they are my go-to speakers because they make it very easy to judge what is going on in a mix. They sound fantastic at low levels, don`t break up at high volumes and the impulse response is always right there. You can easily do 12-hour session days and your ears won’t get tired with PMCs. I personally could not ask for more.

Distinguishing Characteristics: The photo studio rooms here at RedBoxx Studios are also fully connected to our machine room, so we can basically record anywhere we want to enjoy all different flavors of acoustics. That gives as a lot of flexibility.

Rave Reviews: We get great comments on the color scheme, the ambience and vibe, the PMC speaker systems, and the fact that it is two things in one: audio and photography. This is particularly interesting for clients such as labels who can get more things done at RedBoxx Studios in shorter time. And it’s all under one roof which makes it fast and easy to react.

Dream Session: I would love to be a fly on the wall and just watch Jimi Hendrix recording with Eddie Kramer at Electric Lady Studios.

How You Can Make it to Your Own Producer Pad: Believe in your dreams and work hard trying to realize them!

— Florian Opahle

The center console is wide open. (photo credit: Assunta Opahle)

Straight on (photo credit: Assunta Opahle)

Creature comforts (photo credit: Assunta Opahle)

A guitarist’s guitars (photo credit: Assunta Opahle)

Amps… (photo credit: Assunta Opahle)

…amps… (photo credit: Assunta Opahle)

…and more amps! (photo credit: Assunta Opahle)

Pedals with meddle (photo credit: Assunta Opahle)

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