Openroom Productions is the first of its kind in South Africa, combining a state of the art production studio with some of the best producers in the country who’re making magic behind ‘closed’ doors. Situated in a primary position on The Greenway in Greenside, the vibe that been created – between Odd Café and a few other stores on the street – is unlike any other in the country. Founder and head producer Darryl Torr beckoned us inside to learn more.
Catherine Grenfell: Give us the concept behind Openroom Productions…
Darryl Torr: The concept of Openroom Productions is to bring together a professional studio complex and a creative public space. Studios are often dungeons and far removed from the public, we wanted to have our own space where we could hide and get work done, but at the same time be situated in a cultural hub. Openroom Productions has been a company for almost 10 years, and although my ideas and studio space has evolved with time, at the core of Openroom Productions is a production team, who believe in the highest quality audio production in a professional environment.
CG: How did you go about deciding on how to design your Greenside studios?
DT: The studio was built to the highest international, studio production standards. An acoustic engineer was hired to design and build our studio so that it would be most suitable for the kind of production we do. The studio was built from the ground up to be a recording studio, meaning it’s 100% acoustically treated! I also added the 6X4m glass window that looks out on to the streets of Greenside. It is really amazing to be in the studio and watch cars drive past without hearing a thing inside the studio. The studio complex is comprised of Studio A, which is the large live room & control room and Studio B downstairs, which is a smaller pre-production/post-production suite. It was also a dream of mine to have the studio alongside a coffee shop, merging popular culture with the studio environment.
CT: Give us a bit of background into your career as well as the people that work for you?
DT: I have been in this industry for some 15 years. I started recording and producing bands in the early nighties in South Africa. I have always been very passionate about passing on the knowledge I have learnt to a younger generation, and encouraging and building up engineers and producers. I never wanted to only create a career for myself but to build the production industry in South Africa. I currently have a very competent team of assistant engineers and studio hands who work with me on all my projects on a daily basis. I have worked closely with Sarel Van Vuuren for a number of years, and he has recently moved on to opening his own studio and working on his own projects, which is amazing for me to see. Tammy Goldenberg is my right-hand lady and deals with some of the running of the studio as well as recording and bringing in her own artists to work with. This has been awesome as we have learnt to run the business side of the studio together. Alan Shenton is my booking agent and deals with my calendar and liaises with clients, which allows me to spend all my time in the studio behind the mixing console and with the bands/artists that I’m working with. Wesley Ayliffe and Michael Prinsloo are our assistant engineers, who are learning a great deal about this environment and will soon be engineering their own projects.
Source: http://www.yourlmg.com/blog/1on1-at-the-openroom-studio
You can read more by picking up a copy of the Jan 2012 issue of yourLMG.
