Uncle Ralph's Secret Studio

We recently took a little trip to a place in Accra called Pig Farm (which, incidentally, seems not to contain any pigs nor farms), to see a man called Uncle Ralph. Uncle Ralph is a unique character. In Ghana he is the Godfather of sound, owner of the country’s biggest and best sound equipment and, so it turns out, the most impressive, outstanding music studio in the whole of Africa.

You wouldn’t think it to see it from the outside. Ralph told us that he’s stood outside his house and overheard people saying they’ve heard the owner is dead, or in jail in Germany. But once you get past the decaying exterior, you see inside a musician’s dream. This hidden gem has seen the likes of Stevie Wonder and Isaac Hayes pass through its mammoth doors, to record in a studio on parallel with many of the best in the world but in the least likely of places. Apparently (well, not apparently, we’ve seen the photos), 10

years ago Richard Branson heard about it and stopped off in his private jet, on his way to South Africa, with the SOLE purpose of coming to check this place out. Literally took the immigration officer with him from the airport, stayed for a coupla hours to have a look, then carried on (I WANNA DO THAT SHIT!!)

Look at uncle Ralph showing chale boy the ropes! You’d never guess it’s not even switched on would you?

So, for all you musical tech geeks out there (you know who you are), check out the specs…

CONSOLE: Euphonix CS3000 fitted: 96 faders in 104 fader frame 64chs ES108 Dynamics MX

464 Centre Section Expander Cube (8 Bus) Machine Controller

MULTITRACKS: 48 Track Euphonix R-1 Hard Disc System AM 713 Analog to Madi Convertor (2) MA 703 Madi to Analog Convertor (2) Tascam 16 Tracks 1" with DBX Noise Reduction Alesis XT ADAT (2) Akai DR1200 Digital 12 Track (4)

MONITORS: Pr PMC BB5 with XBD Sub Bass Driven by Bryston Pr JBL 4330 Driven by C

Audio Pr Yamaha NS10 Driven By Yamaha P3250 Pr Auratones Driven by Peavy CS200 Beyer DT100 Headphones (25) Fostex D20 Headphones (20) Sony MDR Headphones (4) Driven by C Audio Pr JBL 4310 (studio) Driven by Peavy CS1800G

TWO TRACKS: Akai DD 1000 Tascam DA45 DAT Technics 360 DAT Tascam CD-RW 2000 (2)

Tascam CD-D4000 Mk II CD Copiers (2) Denon DCD-485 CD Player Technics SL1210 Turntable Revox B215 Cassette Deck Maranz SD4050 Dual Cassette Deck Z Systems 8 Channel

Digi Patch

REVERBS & DELAYS: Lexicon 960L with Larc Lexicon 480L with Larc Lexicon PCM 70 with

controller AMS RMX 16 AMS 1580S DMX Evintide H3000 SE TC2290 Yamaha SPX 1000 TC D2(2)

EQUALISERS & SPATIAL PROCESSORS: Medici Eq (2) Kalark Technic DN410 TLA 31115

Tubetech EQ1A (4) Francenstein BBE 862 (2) Drawmer DF320 (2) TC 1140 TC Chorus Flanger BBE 381 Gtr Preamp BBE 382 Bass Preamp

DYNAMICS: TC Finalyser Purple Audio MC76 (2) DBX 160A (4) Tl Audio Fatman (4) Valley

People Keepex II (20) Valley People Commander (18) Valley People Leveller (2) Valley People Gain Brain (2) Valley People DSP De-essers (8) Aphex Dominator (22) Aphex Expressor (11) Kalark Technic DN6000 Analyser

KEYBOARDS & MIDI: Korg SG1D Sampling Piano Roland D50 Yamaha SY99 Yamaha DX7 Mk

II E-mu Vintage Keys E-mu Morpheous Yamaha TG77 E-mu Procussion E-mu Proteus 1 E-mu Proteus 3 World Korg Triton Pro Akai MPC60 Roland SPD20 with FD-& and KD-7 Pedals Macintosh Quadra with Vision Pro & Digidesign AD Akai S1000 Studio 5 (2) Korg Z3 Guitar Synth Korg A3 Processor Digitech Legend GSP21

MICROPHONES: Neuman TLM170 (3) Neuman M150 Valve (4) Neuman KM 184 (4) Neuman

TLM 103 (12) Audio Technica AT 4033 (2) AKG C414 (7) AKG C451 (2) AKG D112 (2) Senheisser 421H (6) Senheisser MD 441 (1) Shure SM57 (10) BSS DI Boxes (11) Assoted other

DI boxes

STUDIO DRUM KIT: Pearl Export Series with Zildjians

For more info see www.black-city.net (where, like in this blog, the pictures do not do this place justice in the slightest)

PEACE!!!