Misha Hedman is a co-owner of New York City’s OZ Studios and Product Manager for MBK Entertainment.
The décor of MBK Entertainment’s new 7,800 square foot recording facility, Oz Studios, was designed specifically to encourage creativity for artists, so much so that the lights are adjustable to match the color to the mood of the musicians.
“The decorations are meant to inspire and can change based on your mood,” explained co-owner Mischa Hedman during a tour last week. Hedman owns the studio with partners Jeff Robinson, Jeanine Mclean and Suzette Williams.
Located on 8th Ave. and 36th Street in New York City, Oz Studios opened in September, 2012 and is part of MBK Entertainment, a management, booking and development firm for new musicians, focusing on the R&B, rap, hip hop and pop genres.
The facility provides artists with two separate recording and production rooms, with a SSL Duality SE-24-Input Analog Console in Studio A, along with a separate lounge to write and playback recordings.
Two years ago, when a pipe burst in MBK’s former office space, damaging most of the company’s equipment, it opened the doors for the company to start its own studio.
“We always dreamed of owning an in-house studio,” said Mclean, who is also the VP/ Managing Partner for MBK. “Our previous offices were too small to build something that would meet our needs.”
Designed by the Walters-Storyk Design Group, which has also designed studios for Alicia Keys and Jay-Z, OZ Studios incorporates all the ergonomic and aesthetic requirements MBK had, and enabled the company to build two sets of recording rooms and live studios.
Producer Arcelious Harris working at the facility’s SSL Duality SE desk.
Studio A, also called “Penny Lane,” houses the SSL Duality console, along with custom Augspurger monitors, an Apple Logic Pro Studio and Avid Pro Tools HD3 in its 190 square-foot control room. The coinciding 230 square foot live room overlooks the Hudson River.
Studio B, or “Hope Road,” includes an SSL Matrix console, Adam S5X-V studio monitors within a 150 square foot space.“A lot of artists use the B room because they like the feel of it,” Hedman said. “It’s very comfortable, but it really depends on what the artists are doing. They love the B room for writing because it’s a really creative space, especially during certain parts of the day.”
The studio also has a 600 square foot lounge area and smaller secluded lounge for musicians to listen to recordings. In each room, musicians can adjust the color of the lighting to set a certain mood and inspire creativity.
Since Oz Studios opened its doors less than a month ago, the facility is used exclusively for MBK artists, such as Gabi Wilson, Daisha and Anthony Hall, however Hedman said the studio is available for other musicians to rent out.
“We’ve obviously had our own artists in, but we’ve also had a lot of artists come to visit and book the studio,” Hedman said.
MBK Entertainment / Oz Studios
