Former Cheiron Pros Talk Equipment
By Kai R. Lofthus
Saturday, December 23 2000
Saturday, December 23 2000
Published on AllBusiness.com
Tucked away in the hardly glamorous neighborhood of Drottningholmsvägen at Kungsholmen in Stockholm is a small, cube-shaped building that houses the soon-to-be-terminated studios of Cheiron.
There's noticeably little about the vicinity that would serve as inspiration for the company's producers and songwriters—save a few beautiful parks—let alone hint at the impact they have had on the world's music charts. But then again, this Swedish production powerhouse has never been about glamour anyway, other than the artists who have frequented the studios to record their predominantly million-selling singles and albums.
However, although the studios are closing as part of a discontinued publishing and production joint venture with the Zomba Group at the end of December, three songwriter/producers—Kristian Lundin, Jacob "Jake" Schulze, and Alexander Kronlund— will remain based there.
Meanwhile, Martin "Max" Sandberg, Tom Talomaa, Rami, and Alexandra have moved to Cosmos Studios in Söder, the southern part of Stockholm, forming the company Maratone (which is owned by Sandberg and Talomaa). Per Magnusson, David Kreuger, and Jörgen Elofsson have established a separate company called aSide Productions.
The ground floor consists of a handful of offices, a conference room, and a separate room in memory of Cheiron co-founder Dag "Denniz PoP" Volle, with his bag of golf clubs prominently placed in one corner. In the basement, there is a main studio, two smaller studios, and one editing room.
Cheiron's producers are taking a modest approach toward the usage of advanced technological equipment. For instance, they're not reading any specialist magazines.
"Sometimes people ask us, 'What sort of equipment have you got? There must be something special,' " explains Magnusson, who, in partnership with Kreuger and Elofsson, has authored songs like Britney Spears' "Sometimes" and "(You Drive Me) Crazy," and Westlife's "If I Let You Go." "No, it's just common stuff, like a Roland JV-2080 synthesizer and Akai S6000 and S3200 samplers. Nothing weird at all. Our music is just about how we're tweaking the sounds."
Adds Kreuger, "The German company SPL [Electronics, based in Niederkrüchten] makes some really strange stuff. You get some sort of different sound on synthesizers and drums with their equipment. Actually, it's rather inexpensive, but it's very good."
"We're often getting phone calls from our main supplier [DeLuxe Music, in Stockholm] with tips about new equipment, but in 99% of the cases we can't make any use of it," says Magnusson.
"We always try out new products, but there are few of them that we actually adopt and use. I usually buy things I've wanted for a long time
There's noticeably little about the vicinity that would serve as inspiration for the company's producers and songwriters—save a few beautiful parks—let alone hint at the impact they have had on the world's music charts. But then again, this Swedish production powerhouse has never been about glamour anyway, other than the artists who have frequented the studios to record their predominantly million-selling singles and albums.
However, although the studios are closing as part of a discontinued publishing and production joint venture with the Zomba Group at the end of December, three songwriter/producers—Kristian Lundin, Jacob "Jake" Schulze, and Alexander Kronlund— will remain based there.
Meanwhile, Martin "Max" Sandberg, Tom Talomaa, Rami, and Alexandra have moved to Cosmos Studios in Söder, the southern part of Stockholm, forming the company Maratone (which is owned by Sandberg and Talomaa). Per Magnusson, David Kreuger, and Jörgen Elofsson have established a separate company called aSide Productions.
The ground floor consists of a handful of offices, a conference room, and a separate room in memory of Cheiron co-founder Dag "Denniz PoP" Volle, with his bag of golf clubs prominently placed in one corner. In the basement, there is a main studio, two smaller studios, and one editing room.
Cheiron's producers are taking a modest approach toward the usage of advanced technological equipment. For instance, they're not reading any specialist magazines.
"Sometimes people ask us, 'What sort of equipment have you got? There must be something special,' " explains Magnusson, who, in partnership with Kreuger and Elofsson, has authored songs like Britney Spears' "Sometimes" and "(You Drive Me) Crazy," and Westlife's "If I Let You Go." "No, it's just common stuff, like a Roland JV-2080 synthesizer and Akai S6000 and S3200 samplers. Nothing weird at all. Our music is just about how we're tweaking the sounds."
Adds Kreuger, "The German company SPL [Electronics, based in Niederkrüchten] makes some really strange stuff. You get some sort of different sound on synthesizers and drums with their equipment. Actually, it's rather inexpensive, but it's very good."
"We're often getting phone calls from our main supplier [DeLuxe Music, in Stockholm] with tips about new equipment, but in 99% of the cases we can't make any use of it," says Magnusson.
"We always try out new products, but there are few of them that we actually adopt and use. I usually buy things I've wanted for a long time