Milestone Studios is one of Cape Town’s best-kept secrets, unless you’re in the music industry.
It’s an iconic establishment in the Cape Town CBD. Aptly named after jazz great Miles Davis, Milestone Studios, is a legendary recording studio in the heart of the CBD that opened in 1987, with many great artists passing through its doors.
The family business was started by Murray Anderson, a musician with technical skills. Today the Milestone five-person team includes his daughter Claire, one of the sound engineers, who works side by side with Murray to manage the business.
Over 38 years, Murray gradually built the studio, creating a space where musicians, choirs and orchestras can thrive and make high-quality recordings. They also offer soundproof locations for film companies and advertising agency voice-overs.
Milestone Studios was initially based in the Old Castle Brewery in Woodstock. ““A band I played in was signed to a record company that wanted to start a studio. I had the technical know-how,” says Murray. “Back then, I literally had one microphone, one cassette recorder, one keyboard and one drum box.” The business slowly grew, and they acquired fancier equipment, transitioning from analogue to digital.
In 1989, Murray moved the business to its current Bloem Street address. “We used to record on reels of tape,” he says. “The building was later knocked down in 2004. That’s how we got to build these studios from scratch.
“It was not an easy time, after that big financial crash in 2008. Banks didn’t want to lend me money to finish off the studio. I just scraped away and gradually built it up.”
Claire Anderson, 28, has been quietly listening. “Watching what was happening to my dad, it was about real determination and a force of will to carry on. And a belief in the value of local music.”
DESIGN ELEMENTS
Fortunately, rebuilding was a boost for Milestone, ultimately attracting local and international musical talent. “The live room is what sets us apart from other studios,” explains Claire. It was purpose-built by a specialist architect, with features to optimise sound quality. The space is large enough to accommodate an orchestra or a choir and often does.
The live recording room features a curved front and non-parallel walls, to prevent unwanted sound reflections. “Most standard rooms aren’t great from a sound point perspective because they are square or rectangular,” says Claire. “Then you get a standing wave: one or other frequency will be boosted or cut,” adds Murray. “What you want is all the frequencies to be equal. We basically started with nothing on the walls, measured it, put up some panels to absorb the sound, then diffusers, until we got it right.”
There are wooden wall panels, and quirky sound absorbers resembling bobbing corks suspended from the ceiling. Mobile orange-red fabric screens from the seventies prevent sound from bleeding between microphones.
Four adjacent isolation booths are used for setting up different musicians. “In a small studio, you must record each part separately. First the drums, then bass, then guitar, etcetera,” explains Murray.
“At Milestone, everyone interacts in real time but is recorded separately. We can record every individual musician element simultaneously, while keeping the sound controlled,” says Claire. “So, for a choir, you’d put the choir in the live room and isolate somebody playing a djembe drum in a smaller booth so it wouldn’t be so loud.”
“It’s particularly relevant for jazz, where people improvise and are more inventive,” Murray adds. “You can’t do that without musicians playing together. Also, if you’re all in one room and someone makes a mistake, everyone must redo the track.”
“It’s called a live room because when people play music, you want to get some response from the room,” smiles Claire, going upstairs to a small booth. “But for voiceovers, we offer this dead room.”
ADAPT OR DIE
Back in the control room with its mixing desk, the sound is incredible. As a small business, Claire says they were grateful for the heads up about Dolby Atmos (the new surround-sound standard for premium Apple music releases) from one of their major record labels four years ago. “It’s nice to know what you need to stay relevant. Obviously, we made it happen.”
Another time, a practical consideration prompted adaptation: when the orchestra couldn’t fit a timpani drum through a studio door, Milestone modified the door.
“We’re quite proactive about making a plan. It was a battle to build this studio. And I really love coming here. I believe the studio provides a service for Cape Town,” says Murray.
Claire agrees. “My life has been made so much better by listening to great music. It’s a privilege to play a small part in that. To later hear an album, you really love and have heard unfold as it was recorded. To remember how it first sounded, what they tried ...”
MILESTONE STUDIOS RECORDINGS
• Cape Jazz legend Abullah Ibrahim, Robbie Jansen, Basil ‘Manenberg’ Coetzee, Tony Cedras (who was in Paul Simon’s Graceland band). More recently, Mandisi Dyantyis.
• African musicians including Amampondo, Abavuki and Ibuyambo. The late traditional Xhosa bow-playing legend Madosini.
• Shared sessions of multiple classical composers — it’s more cost-effective than booking the orchestra on an individual basis.
• 8 goals for Africa for the United Nations in 2010, including South Africa’s Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Jimmy Dludlu and Hugh Masekela, plus Oliver Mtukudzi from Zimbabwe.
• Zolani Mahola of Freshly Ground. Msaki.
• US singer Miley Cyrus recorded Head like a Hole, a song for the Black Mirror TV series, while in South Africa shooting the series.
• Klipwerf Orkes boeremusiek.
• Cape Town rapper Youngsta CPT. DJ Lag.
• Queen’s 40664 concert in 2003.
• Voice-overs for Tom Felton, Morgan Freeman, Jeff Bridges and Juliette Binoche.
• Klipdrift Met Eish advertisement. “It’s a creative challenge to write a memorable piece of music in 30 seconds, but I really enjoy that.” – Murray Anderson.
Milestone Studios
Find it: 21 Bloem Street, Cape Town.
Contact: 021424 6000, milestones.co.za
Images: Ed Suter, Sharon Sorour-Morris