Tag Archives: frank sablotny

Black Pearl Studios

 

Chopper the Musical team: Warren Wills, Frank Sablotny, Frank Howson and Yury Kogan at Black Pearl Studios.
Chopper the Musical team: Warren Wills, Frank Sablotny, Frank Howson and Yury Kogan at Black Pearl Studios.

When orchestrating a music or sound project the difference between mediocracy and brilliance lives within the realms of ‘sound staging and vision’, quotes sound maestro Yury Kogan from Black Pearl Studios.

Yury’s finely tuned senses for the art of sound and staging first began when he was four years old living in St Petersburg, Russia. Aware they would be migrating to Australia in the not too distant future his parents purposely introduced Yury to all the artistic majesty and grandeur that ‘the world’s most beautiful city’ had to offer.

Ignited and cultivated at an early age Yury’s explosive passion for sound and excellence has manifested in the creation of Black Pearl Studios. Also a musician, Yury lovingly designed his studios under the guidance and advice from a couple of the best sound architects in the world with the end result allowing for fantastic natural acoustics.

Yury has always been a dedicated collector and since the 1980’s he has amassed one of world’s best collections of musical instruments including 140 prestigious guitars, loads of drum kits and over 370 specialist microphones to suit any voice.

Being a stickler for sound Yury likes to be prepared and oversees projects the ‘old way’ as they did back in the 1970’s when the cost of an album was about $3000. To ensure excellence and for less than half the price he incorporates preparation time a week in advance with setup the night before, allowing for musicians to be able to come in and get straight into it. This way he can pull a choice instrument out of the vault if he feels it will enhance the sound and provide a selection of 4 to 5 microphones for each particular voice type.

My introduction to Black Pearl Studios, Yuri and his wife Galina was while photographing the recording of the first four songs for Chopper the Musical, all of which were cut in record time with fantastic results.

Now attracting some of the best sound engineers in the business including multi-award winning Julian Mendelsohn there is no doubt in my mind that Black Pearl Studio’s natural progression is to become known as one of the best recording studios in this country if not the world.

Vered Harel, Lucy Gale and Mick Pealing recording songs for Chopper the Musical at Black Pearl Studios.
Vered Harel, Lucy Gale and Mick Pealing recording songs for Chopper the Musical at Black Pearl Studios.