THE COP SHOP
The Cop Shop is the small one room studio of composer, producer and engineer Michael Haves, located at the heart of Prenzlauer Berg/ Berlin close to Mauerpark. After years of working on my own music leading to several albums with my band SUPER700 and working on soundtracks for theater and movies, i additionally started to record music for friends and external clients if my time allows it.
As a partner of Studio C in Prishtina/Kosovo I worked a lot for Albanian Bands and Musicians, while living there from 2012-2015.
Coming from a very broad jazz and indie background, i record, mix, produce and also master music of all kinds and enjoy helping people to find their own sound.
THE COMMUNITY
As part of the creative community project „Die Wache“ that consists of musicians, studios and media people, I enjoy access to a number of different recording rooms, a big hall with three acoustic zones and an amazing mastering room.
There are very gifted musicians of all kinds in house and next to my own gear, there is a nice pool of microphones, guitars, amps, pedals, and analog synthesizers. Please write me a mail for a list.
I have mobile setups of different sizes and cooperate with other studios to find the best sounding rooms and solution for each specific project and budget.
Having recorded for 25 years, since i started to tape on four track cassette machines in the 90s, I have worked as a producer and recording engineer on lots of records and for my own albums and soundtracks, so I have recorded everything from rock bands to rappers, from jazz groups to children choirs and classical music.
RECORDING
At Wache we are lucky to have one of the greatest grand pianos available at hand. A beautiful sounding Fazioli F308. Due to the room it is located in, it is predestined for amazing sounding classical and jazz records for smaller groups and solo recordings.
Here is a test recording of it done by my neighbor Martin Ruch of Control Room Berlin.
MIXING
Mixing means to make things come together, bring out depth and excitement till nothing stands between the music and the listener.
It is important to me to anticipate the vision of the artist to find their specific sound.
These days i am happily mixing completly in the box using the amazing plug-ins of Universal Audio, Plug In Alliance, Waves Kush, Slate Digital, Soundtoys and many others.
Especially in times of tight budgets , where a lot of artists want to record themselves to save money, i still encourage you to contact me early in the process.
I am willing to help with tips how to record yourself, which equipment to use and maybe how to improve certain aspects of the music, arrangment or instrumentation, so it will work out better in the mix.
PRODUCING
The record will be done.
There is many different ways to make a record and i like to help you to find the right one for you.
Starting with selecting the right songs, defining a suitable way to record them and get the best performances and mixes for them.
It includes searching the right sounds and musicians for solo artists or rehearsing
with bands to get the arrangements right.
As many musicians see themselves forced to record on their own these days, or just enjoy the process of doing so, i also offer to help only with single aspects of a production, like e.g. supporting the very important pre production phase.
Originally a bassplayer, I play several instruments and have arranged for strings, choirs and brass sections. I am friends with a lot of of amazing musicians that played and recorded for many of Germanys biggest pop and indie artists.
Next to the experiences I collected on my own, I was able to learn from renown producers like Rob Kirwan (Hozier, PJ Harvey, Depeche Mode, Editors), Gordon Raphael (The Strokes, Regina Spektor) or Alex Silva (Manic Street Preachers, Herbert Grönemeyer) on different occasions and lurk into sessions of recordist like Mark Howard (Bob Dylan, Tom Waits) or bands like Phoenix.
MASTERING
The dark art in audio. As mastering needs another level of acoustic environment and speakers, i offer mastering as a "junior engineer" at Martin Ruchs Control Room Berlin with perfect room acoustics build by swiss mastermind Jürgen Strauss around an amazing set of his Strauss Mastering speakers. These are absolutly the best speakers i have ever heard.
I would always recommend to get a mastering engineer that comes fresh to the project. If i am requested to master mixes that i did myself, i will always have to take a certain amount of time off between the mix and the mastering stage.