Designed to feel more like a cosy, hi-tech band-room than a commercial studio, the North-African decor and wooden styling combined with aluminium and glass creates an atmosphere of creativity and spontaneity. Air-conditioning keeps the African weather under control.
The facility caters for most music projects from The Performing Artist / Songwriter / Band to the Corporate Client (Jingles / Voice-Overs / Film and Television Music).

Built on a hill in Silverton Ridge, an up-market residential suburb of Pretoria, it is very central yet removed from the buzz and tension of the city. 5 minutes from the city of Pretoria and 35 minutes from Johannesburg, it is the ideal facility for the artist seeking a quality production in a relaxed environment. What started as a simple hi-tech “band room” with top digital recording equipment in 2001 has now developed into a 60 square meter, three-room air-conditioned recording facility capable of audio productions of excellence in just about any genre. All but the most elaborate productions can be done at One Big Room’s own premises. The recording equipment is also completely mobile and can be used on location at live performances, sound stages and any other required location such as school halls, churches, seminar facilities etc. Albums such as “Lebo Mogale live at The Sheraton” and “Faith Band International Live” are witness to the live-capabilities of One Big Room.

Designed by owner Ludwig Bouwer, the studio features two live rooms. One (six meters by four meters) with a floating wooden floor and variable acoustics to achieve any of a great number of ambiences, from a rich natural reverb to an intimate and up-front sound. The other, a four meter by two meter isolation booth, features a well-insulated, acoustically dead environment designed for voice, acoustic guitar and electric guitar. A combination of the two rooms can also be achieved by opening the sliding doors between the rooms.

Please note that the studio is compatible with ProTools as well as Cubase/Nuendo and file-swapping (OMF format) can be achieved easily.

An unusual and very popular feature of the studio is that it takes into account the excellent weather that South Africa enjoys in that both live rooms have double-glass windows overlooking a garden. These windows can even be opened when strict isolation is not required. This gives the artist and client natural sunlight and a welcome breath of fresh air and creates a relaxed, creative work environment.

"A civilization is only as great as its dreams, and its dreams are dreamed by artists." - Hubbard.

I believe that the environment and "vibe" in the studio is more important than anything else. Yes, you need good equipment, and yes, you need as much knowledge and experience as you can gather, but all that is worth nothing if the artist is unhappy and uncomfortable while trying to create his masterpiece.

Secondly, and unlike many other smaller studios, we spent most of our budget on the room acoustics - one of the most important factors in any recording involving real drums and guitars. Software can do a lot, but a bad room will sound bad - no matter what you do with the software. Producers and artists in the rest of the world have known this for a long time. 

The South African music industry will only grow to the degree that independent / young artists are helped and pointed in the right direction. In an industry where a mere demo is just not enough anymore, the opportunity to record broadcast quality material at an affordable rate lets more artists onto the playing field which in turn opens up endless possibilities in terms of career development, export etc. Once the artist is on the way to a viable music career, he or she is free to sign to a major label or remain independent within or outside of South Africa.

To facilitate all this, we offer more than just a good recording. We offer a top-notch studio and expertise at very competitive recording rates. Assistance in artistic decisions as well as in live productions and showcases, plus access to high-quality CD reproduction and inlay design services through my network of contacts are all part of the service.

 - Ludwig Bouwer
   Owner, One Big Room Studios

The JiP/Rockspaaider National Competition:



A battle of the bands for Afrikaans-singing school-bands.

One Big Room Studios is proud to be one of the official organisers (since 2004) of the JiP Rockspaaider School Bands competition. BEELD / Volksblad / Die Burger are the largest group of newspapers in South Africa and has done major work in promoting original South African music.

See JiP newspaper for more details.

Beeld/JiP recently published 8 articles written by Ludwig Bouwer on how to start a band. 

In recent years there has been an absolute explosion of what one could loosely refer to as recording studios. It seems that the only qualification one needs these days is to be able to point a mouse and burn a CD to call oneself a sound-engineer or, even better, a producer.

Well, maybe that is so, if you produce elevator tracks or karaoke files (anyone remember E-Jay?), or if you use samples recorded in Abbey Road or The Hit Factory. But when it comes down to making albums with real musicians and lots of energy (you know, balls and attitude), or capturing the nuances inherent in a hand-crafted classical guitar from Spain or Canada, the game is still played like it was in the sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties. In other words, a tight band and an engineer with GREAT ears, GOOD gear and REAL experience still counts more than any number of fancy plug-ins, sequencers and whatever else the latest talent-substitution-software might be.

We get called by lots of artists to quote on music production - albums, mixes, mastering, whatever - and we always give the best deal we can. Subsequently, lots of clients record here - always to leave with a smile on the face and a decent, sellable product in hand. Strangely, many of our clients tell us we should consider raising our prices (go figger)!

But every now-and-then I run into a "shopper" that seems to shop with his bargain-basement cap on, as if he's at the local Red-Dot sale, or some street market selling curios. It's as if the quality of his own artwork means nothing to this individual - all he wants is to make an album at fifty bucks an hour. Invariably he'll say: "Well, I can record in so-and-so's (garage/bedroom/outhouse)-studio for a grand per week, or for free, or for the price of a six-pack of beer." I say, good for you. And good luck to you. If you want to make a demo to give to your granny, please go there. But if you want to be proud of your recording effort, get airplay and sell albums, compete on the local MP3 charts or play your music to a club-owner or a record company, at least find a studio and an engineer that can actually, honestly, deliver BROADCAST QUALITY recordings. Both industry people and fans are used to very high standards these days, and garage demos get garage gigs.

Now, I'm not saying you should find the fanciest or most expensive studio either, because anyone can make a bank loan! 


So what should you look for?
Booking a studio should not only get you a quality recording (a good room and microphones), mixing (good ears) and mastering environment, but also studio staff that are actually ABLE to hear things such as tuning problems, timing mistakes, potential disaster areas and all the other little details that add up to making a project a success or a flop (and therefore an investment or a waste of your money). 

A good engineer will have vision of where the session is going and where it COULD go.

He normally has personal musical knowledge and experience and can make valuable suggestions, because he's actually "been there".

A good engineer will not get lazy when it's time to mix and master - he'll do it until it sounds right.

And if all the above costs a little bit more, it's because you are getting more -  more efficiency, more experience, better gear and a more useable product. Those artists who get this point never seem to quibble much about price. Ask any of the happening studios out there.


Remember, you will most likely not be around to make excuses for the quality of your tracks while radio stations, record companies and journalists consider your material, so make sure the product is RIGHT for the purpose it was intended for.



Shop with your ears. :O)

Cheers, ludwig