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New Image for Galaxy Studios
The long-established Belgian studio complex continues to explore new technologies. JIM EVANS reports.
Galaxy Studios was founded in
1982 by Wilfried and Guy Van
Baelen. Located in the heart of
Europe between Brussels and Antwerp,
the purpose-built, fully air-conditioned
residential studio-complex floats
on springs for isolation. The studios
comprise a large live recording hall
(up to 100 musicians) plus editing,
mastering, mixing, and sound-topicture
suites.
The Galaxy complex, now confidently
approaching its thirtieth birthday,
raised more than a few eyebrows
when it first came on the recording
scene, but soon became established
on the international circuit. The owners
have never been scared to opt for
innovation and have become adept at
spotting changing market trends.
David Hawkins of Eastlake Audio
was closely involved in Galaxy’s design
and build. He recalls, “One of the most
surprising of all projects I have been
involved with over the past thirty or
so years came about when a young
Belgian guy came to us and told me
his family had farmland in Flanders
and wanted to build a major groundup
studio complex. When he outlined
the scale of his plans and the fact that
he had an existing studio operating
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out of a disused chicken shed, I was
somewhat skeptical to say the least.
However, those seemingly outlandish
ambitions eventually became
Galaxy Studios, surely one of the
most impressive ground-up studio
developments in recent times.”
In recent times, while continuing
to enjoy steady audio recording
and mastering business, Galaxy has
widened the scope of its activities to
include audio archiving, DVD and Bu-ray
disc authoring, DVD production, and
film score recording. The new ‘image
department’ is fully equipped for most
A/V and post production requirements,
while a Neve DFC Gemini console is
due to be installed soon.
Guus Fluit recently joined Galaxy as
Marketing Consultant after 15 years
with EMI Belgium. He says, “ In my
experience as A&R and Marketing
Director, I have always enjoyed working
in the creative environment of a studio,
and have always been impressed by
Galaxy’s love for good sound and its
quest for perfection.
“I am particularly impressed with
its creative attitude to counter the
problems the music industry is facing,
and its vision to develop future business
models. Besides remaining one of the
30 Years
Made in the U.S.A.
last dedicated residential audio studios,
Galaxy has chosen the path to become
a one-stop shop for sound and image,
and this opens up fantastic synergies
and opportunities. It will be my task
to communicate this new vision and
mission to the world.”
Galaxy’s policy of being at the
cutting edge of audio and video
technology is reflected in the many
and varied projects it is involved with.
Take, for example, heavy metal act
Within Temptation.
Within Temptation’s most ambitious
live show to date, Black Symphony, was
a unique concert at Rotterdam’s Ahoy
Arena last year. Sold out months in
advance, Within Temptation performed
to 10,000 fans with the 60-piece
Metropole Orchestra and a 20-voice
classical choir, as well as on-stage
stilt performers, costume changes,
and an array of stunning pyrotechnic
and lighting effects.
The colossal production extended
to Europe’s largest video screen (a
massive 400m2), reaching across the
entire width of the stage. Kerrang!
magazine awarded the concert its
highest 5-star rating, saying “this really is
the greatest show on earth”. The show
was captured through 14 cameras in
AUDIO MEDIA MAY 2009
full HD 1080/25 by Cinévideogroup
and directed by Hans Pannecoucke,
and sound was supervised by Galaxy
resident engineer Ronald Prent.
The release of the SD DVD certainly did
not go unnoticed, entering high in the
European DVD charts, reaching the Top
10 across the continent. The full scope
of the Black Symphonyconcert’s quality,
however, unveils on its Blu-ray disc
format, allowing a crystal clear picture
with a resolution of 1080i, which is a
6x better resolution than a DVD. At the
same time, the superior sound of Bluray,
which provides up to 5.1 channels
of high definition uncompressed 96khz
surround sound, makes you feel as if
you were sitting next to the conductor
of the orchestra.
The spectacular concert is one of the
first dedicated Blu-ray disc productions
executed by Galaxy Studios, and one of
the first worldwide releases with these
unique audio and video specifications.
The post-production process (mixing,
mastering, editing, colouring,
authoring) was completely handled by
Galaxy Studios and supervised by DVD
Producer Wouter Strobbe.
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