Swedish producer opens recording studio in Kuldīga used by Latvian bands

Swedish music producer Mikael Landen has set up a recording studio called Hallen in the Kaļķu iela quarter of Kuldīga, a town in western Latvia. It began as a small room for his own work, but Latvian bands such as Carnival Youth and Sudden Lights have now recorded music there. Landen moved to Latvia with his wife Edīte, who is Latvian, and the family has lived in Kuldīga for two and a half years.

From side jobs to music

Landen grew up in Lundsbrunn, a village of 900 people in southern Sweden between Gothenburg and Stockholm. He began recording sound on a computer around 2003. Music became his main occupation only about five years ago. Until then he worked in factories, drove a truck, delivered goods and worked with people with disabilities. He later began getting audio jobs, first podcasts, and went on to create 300–400 calm, lo-fi style tracks, which became some of his better-earning work.

How the studio came about

In the Kaļķu iela quarter he first rented a space of about 30 square metres. Later, local entrepreneur Toms Egle offered him the whole area. Landen tried recording in the large, empty room and found its acoustics very good, producing an open, natural sound. He and his wife therefore decided to offer the space to other musicians. The studio was already in use before it had a website, as word spread by mouth.

The bands Polifauna, Carnival Youth and Sudden Lights have recorded there. Landen worked as recording engineer on seven songs of Carnival Youth's album Labākā doma pasaulē. He also mixed the album Veta Begas by Swedish artist De Clair, who recorded six or seven of its songs in Kuldīga.

Life in Kuldīga

The couple have two children: a three-year-old daughter and a son born in May. Landen says he feels part of the community in Kuldīga and likes the town's cultural life. He still regards the studio as an experiment and is watching how it develops.