The AGM Concept
The Aerosol Grey Machine was built in an old barn using the classic recording studios of yesterday as a model.The studio design looks back to the days when studios had a soul, a sound of their own and a strong vibe.The acoustics of the recording spaces are meant to be used and heard on the recordings and they are easily variable so you can quickly get anything from a very live woody sound to a pretty dead yet warm sound. The sound of the recording spaces was modelled to encourage musicians to play together in the same room using the leakage between instruments to your advantage rather than considering it as a problem. Of course total separation between many sound sources is just as easy to obtain.AGM was designed with the creative process in focus. The time span from the birth of an idea to actually hearing it in its context should be as short as possible. The wide range of instruments, amps and synths available, combined with the many studio design details that reduce time-consuming set-up work make this a reality.The unique collection of musical instruments includes everything from the expected classic stuff to some very esoteric instruments. For details see the equipment list.AGM is the studio behind some of the best selling records in Sweden in the 2000’s as well as a large number of indie projects. Over the last ten years approx 100 albums have been made here.
Records made at AGM have sold over a million copies in Sweden alone during the last eight years. The vast majoroty of music made at AGM has been recorded and mixed to analog tape. The tape machines are kept in very good condition and they are used more or less daily. Of course there’s also the possibility to work digitally on the Pro Tools HD2 system. The control room design facilitates easy switching between analog and digital or the use of any combination of the two.The two echo chambers add a unique character available only at AGM. Chamber one is modelled after the classic chambers of Western Recorders LA (Beach Boys etc) and Gold Star Recording LA (Phil Spector etc). It provides a soft, warm reverb with little high frequenzy content and a decay time of approx 4-5 seconds (door closed). Chamber two is modelled to emulate the classic “Motown” reverb sound. This smaller, tiled chamber has a shorter (1-3 seconds) decay and a brighter sound. To shorten the decay time you simply open the chamber door. EQs on the send or the return of the chambers provide colour adjustment of the reverbs.The collection of mics and sound equipment also add character to the sound. Tube mics, preamps, compressors and eqs are available in many different brands, both vintage classics, modern remakes and units custom built from schematics from the 50’s and 60’s. All this combined with the picturesque, peaceful rural surroundings and the remote location has helped and inspired artists and musicians from all over the world to create beautiful music at AGM. IN 2008 AGM was made available to outside engineers and producers after ten years of being used almost exclusively by Christoffer Lundquist, the in-house producer/engineer/musician.
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