In Olav Tryggvasons gate, there is a gem of a concert venue and a bar. Since its inception in 2012, Moskus has become an important meeting place and a beloved music scene for established and non-established artists. During the corona pandemic, a new idea developed, and last spring it was put into practice.
With inspiration from the “mobile studios” of the 60s and 70s, Moskus Recordings was created. During every concert played on stage, there is a sound technician who continuously mixes live in a small studio in the basement. Magnus Lykkelig is the general manager and owner of Moskus. He tells, together with studio technician Mona Hynne, about the concept.
What is Musk Recordings?
The sound tests for tonight’s concert are well under way, and the sound from the stage upstairs follows us down the stairs and into the studio, where studio technician Mona Hynne sits comfortably behind the mixing desk.
Hynne works freelance as a technician and mixer, and is part of a team of eight who are responsible for live mixing at Moskus Recordings through Øra studio. She has been part of the team since its inception and was involved in the studio’s first recording in 2023. Since the project began, all concerts at Moskus have been live mixed, and the artists get live recordings and mixes home with them after the concert.
– In a concert context, there is a lot of energy, so it will be different to the energy you have in the studio. There is an audience you get reactions from, and everything takes place in the moment. The value of having a recording of a concert is therefore very great, says Hynne.
Next door to the studio there is a room that Lykliklig calls the “repair room”. The room was established so that bands and artists would have the opportunity to fix what they were not completely satisfied with.
There will also be an opportunity to include things they did not have time to do during the concert itself, and to make recordings with the studio’s equipment for their own use and possible releases.
– Nobody plays a concert and thinks “Yes, it’s set! Let’s release it.” That is why we have extended the studio with a rehearsal room, prep room or a “repair room”. Here there are opportunities to have the live recording “repaired” before a possible release, says Lykkelig.
The local bands Earth Moon Transit and NSB have both released live mixes from their concerts at Moskus under the name “Moskus Sessions”. So far, only these two albums have been released through Moskus Recordings.
– We believe that it will gradually loosen up, that people will pick it up and want to record their own concerts. Part of the idea behind the project is that it should be a cheap way to get music released. You can earn money by recording a record – imagine that, says Lykkelig.
Hynne then adds that part of the core of the project is that not all music needs to be made that much nicer in the studio.
– Sometimes it can be important to keep the energy and audience feeling that a live concert gives. Through live mixing, you keep exactly that, says Hynne.
From digital concerts to live mixes
It turned out that it was the pandemic that was to become the triggering factor for the idea behind Moskus Recordings. When society shut down, so did the bars and concert stages.
As Moskus already had a concert series ready, Lykkelig and booking manager Tor Schjølberg decided to start with digital concerts from the bar’s premises only a few days after closing down, with bands and artists such as Ida Jenshus, Stage Dolls, Erlend Ropstad and Gåte.
– The actual recordings of the digital concerts were done through a fairly simple set-up, with a mixer right on the floor and a couple of cameras placed around the stage, says Lykkelig.
Despite the simple setup, it was the digital concerts during the pandemic that were to be the start of what would later develop into Moskus Recordings.
– We got to try ourselves as a studio. We organized around 30 to 40 concerts during the pandemic, which were recorded and broadcast live on YouTube and Facebook. Then the whole place was a live studio, and this is the continuation. Those were the two best years of my working career, Lykkelig says with a smile.
The way forward
The plan for the project going forward is to hear from the bands that have already been live mixed, whether they have two songs they are happy with, so that Moskus Recordings can release a separate single series, says Lykkelig.
At the same time as the concerts are mixed live, they are also recorded on camera. In total, there are eight cameras that will be set up around the venue during the concert.
– The camera recordings made during the concerts can be important for the concept going forward, as it can then be spread further through platforms such as YouTube and Facebook, Hynne believes.
Lykkelig and Hynne agree that the project has not been marketed much, but that the rumor is spreading. Happy hopes that more people will pick it up and thus want to release their own live records in the future.
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Tags: Moskus Recordings live concert release
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