Sony Music Studios Tokyo is conveniently located near Nogizaka station on the Tokyo Metro Chiyoda line, midway between Roppongi and Aoyama. The interior comprises five recording studios on the third underground floor, including two rooms where 30-40 person orchestras can be recorded, a 12-room suite of mastering studios on the second underground floor, and a suite of video editing and DVD/Blu-ray disc authoring studios on the first underground floor.
This configuration enables integrated production of the total creative package, from music to video. The studio lobby is on the third underground floor, but is filled with natural light from the above-ground atrium, giving visitors a feeling of welcome. In fact, the underground location of Sony Music Studios Tokyo is due largely to its obsession with sound quality.
One of the main features of the studios is their strong sound and vibration damping properties, which are difficult to achieve in conventional studios. The construction of Sony Music Studios Tokyo required digging to a depth of 30 meters and pouring large amounts of concrete to construct a foundation that floats on rubber.
The five studios that sit atop the foundation feature large custom monitors embedded directly inside the studio walls, which are themselves encased in 50 tons of concrete. With five studios, that makes a total of 250 tons of concrete just for the walls! The result reflects an obsession with sound that is unmatched by above-ground studios.
The list of digital and analogue effects on offer at Sony Music Studios Tokyo is truly breathtaking, and covers effects from the late 1950’s through to now. It should come as no surprise that their studio’s feature many of the classic Japanese effects we love, such as the Sony MU-R201, Sony DRE-2000, Yamaha REV5 and REV7 and many more.
