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Contact

Email
info@topfloorstudios.com

Location
Stora Teatern
Kungsparken 1
411 36 Gothenburg
Sweden

Find the studio
(Google Maps)

 
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About

Jakob Herrmann

Studio owner and producer Jakob Herrmann has earned a wide reputation for his work in many different genres and styles. The same reputation goes for Jakob’s knowledge about music production, drum recordings, and his great ear for song arrangements.
He has worked with albums awarded with several international Gold albums as well as wins and nomination for the “Grammis” award, the Swedish equivalent to the Grammy. Jakob has worked as producer, engineer, and technician on a large number of albums, and has also been the producer for several audio plugin companies, such as Toontrack’s Superior Drummer/EZDrummer, Softube, Bogren Digital, Centipeak, Addictive Drums, etc. To top it off, Jakob is an annual lecturer at legendary Musician’s Institute MI in Hollywood, once a year giving a masterclass about drum production to the school’s audio engineering program, as well as a drum tuning masterclass to their drum program.

Clients & Colleagues

The client list for Top Floor Studios and Jakob Herrmann as producer, recording engineer or drum tech includes artists and musicians such as Devin Townsend - Anthrax - In Flames - The Darkness - Europe - Avatar - AP Dhillon - Hurts - Machine Head - Raised Fist - Dark Tranquillity - Nico & Vinz - Cyhra - Suicideboys - Vildhjarta - Amaranthe - Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater) - Humanity’s Last Breath - Danko Jones - Hardcore Superstar - Evergrey - Diablo Swing Orchestra - VOLA - Erik Grönwall - Tebey - Cane Hill - Peter Wildoer - Justin Hawkins - Eradikated - Arkentype - Manimal - Mikael Wiehe - Kee Marcello - Bob Hund - Thyrfing - TEMIC - Darby Todd - The Resistance - Jamey Jasta (Hatebreed) - Body Count - Engel - Mustasch - Hurula - Matt Guillory - Andreas Weise - Grand Magus - Freak Kitchen - Draconian - H.e.a.t.

Other collaborators include producers and mixing engineers such as Roberto Laghi - Jacob Hansen - Jay Ruston - Joe Barresi - Adam "Nolly" Getgood - Jens Bogren - Tue Madsen - Buster Odeholm - Chris Edrich - Forrester Savell - Jonas Quant - Ryan Kelly - Steve Lagudi - Tobias Lindell

Top Floor Studios

In the heart of central Gothenburg lies Stora Teatern ("The Big Theatre") built in the 1850s. It is one of the city’s trademark buildings, and the home of Top Floor Studios. When working here, the city is just outside the door. We have two spacious guest apartments in the same building, holding up to 8 people in total, as well as a bigger more luxurious apartment available close by. For those preferring hotels, there are more than 40 of them available within walking distance.

The studio design includes floating floors, double doors, high ceilings, natural daylight, and a smart climate system that ensures a perfect work environment. Defined by a controlled yet lively sound, the live room is designed for recording a variety of music styles and instruments. Discrete wall mounted input channels together with dedicated guitar amp/cab connections and ethernet outputs makes this room suitable for all styles of recording. The comfortable control room is designed from ground up for both recording and mixing, and features a fully equipped SSL 6000G console, along with state of the art outboards and speakers.

Upstairs from the regular studio lies the theatre stage, with 40 microphone channels straight down to the control room, transforming it into Gothenburg's biggest studio connected recording room. Highly suitable for grand piano, choirs, brass or strings.

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Gallery

 
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Videos

 
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Testimonials

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  • “I have mixed several albums recorded at Top Floor by Jakob Herrmann, and he’s a real pro. Everything delivered is top-notch and flawless, which is of utmost importance for a great mix these days.”

  • “Jakob is plain amazing, tweaking and digging out exactly the good stuff in a mix, that is so hard to achieve. It almost hurts, the true know-how he possesses. Splendid!”

  • “Just an amazing place to record. Jakob’s knowledge of drum engineering, tuning and recording is immense, so there’s no need for samples. This studio is one of the most productive musical environments I have ever worked in. Can’t wait to come back!”

  • “I had a great time working on this project, and I will say the tracks were easy to work with all around. I’d love to work with you guys again in the future.”

  • “Without a doubt one of the best studio experiences I’ve ever had! First of all, you’re in heaven here as a drummer. The location is also amazing, in the center of Gothenburg.”

  • “Professionalism wrapped in awesomeness. I will be back!”

  • “I wanted to record drums without editing and without using samples. Jakob was a great asset for making the drums sound as good as possible. When we sent the raw files to the mix engineer, he replied “Jakob is a genius when it comes to capture drums”, and he was right. Jakob also knows how to make you releax but at the same time push you to get the best possible result, and I could not be more happy with the final product.”

  • “I’ve recorded several projects at Top Floor Studios over the years, and it’s become my go-to studio for tracking in Europe. Jakob has gotten, by far, the best sounding drums I’ve ever recorded. Amazing space and wonderful gear, Top Floor is my home away from home!”

  • “I have recorded with many producers and in countless studios, but working with Jakob Herrmann will always stand out as one of the best experiences. It’s a joy to work with him as he is a drummer himself and “gets” things other producers simply can’t understand.”

  • “Jakob is mainly known for being a fantastic drum producer, but his skills actually encompass the whole production process. We worked together on an album session for several weeks, and were impressed by his attitude not only towards the engineering and production, but also his approach to the songs themselves, which he helped craft into something totally unique - exactly what we were looking for.”

  • “Recording guitars at Top Floor studios was easily the best guitar tracking experience so far. As a very precise musician himself, Jakob understands the importance of cutting edge equipment and zero latency - and most importantly a great sound - as few others.”

  • “The collection of different snare drums is a dream for any drummer, and the recording room sounds great!”

  • “This studio is the place to go if you want the sound of your dreams. Jakob Herrmann knows what he is doing, and the fact that the studio is located in the heart of Gothenburg gives the whole recording experience that extra edge! I’m truly happy that we decided to work with Jakob and Top Floor on our latest albums, and I recommend all bands to check it out for themselves!”

  • “One of the most creative, effective and vigorous producers I’ve ever hired. And a great guy to hang out with.”

  • “Jakob and Top Floor Studios created awesome tones, making my mixing easy.”

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Gear

CONTROL ROOM

Mixing console
SSL 6000G - 48 channels with "Black" model EQ
DAW
Logic, Pro Tools, Cubase - all on a fully maxed out Mac computer.
For the benefit of the customer and guest engineers, we´re not bound to a specific program.
Recording is virtually latency-free, even during large sessions, due to lightning fast AD/DA converters.
Speakers
Two flush mounted Genelec 1038B in front. Two elevating Focal SM9 in front.
Two Genelec 8030 in the back. One wall inserted Genelec 7070 subwoofer.
Additional Dynaudio and Genelec speakers.
Other
KHE 8x4 guitar amp switch including fx loop. Dynamount robotic microphone mounts.

Preamps / Outboards

Tube/Solid-state
UA LA-610 Putnam Edition, UA 6176 (x2), Vintage Series (x2), Joemeek VC1Q, Vintagedesign M87D Neve-style, SSL 6000G (x32)
Compressors
UA LA2A, UA 1176 (x2), TFProP38 (stereo), Klark Teknik SQ1 (x8), SSL 6000 (x32 mono, x8 stereo)
Reverb/Delay/EQ
Klark Teknik DN360 (x5), Roland SDE3000, TC Electronics M2000, Yamaha SPX90, Lexicon PCM81, V-Verb 2496, BBE Maximizer, SSL 6000G (x32 mono, x8 stereo)

Microphones

Dynamic
Shure SM57 (x10), Beta57 (x5), Beta52 (x2), Beta56 (x2), SM7B, Sennheiser 421 (x2), e902, e904 (x4), e906
Condenser
Neumann U87 (x2), TLM103, Roswell RM-8 (2), Colares, Milab DC96C (x2), VM44 (x6), BDM-01, Rode Classic MK1 (x2), NT5 (x5), NT2 MK1 (x2), K2, AKG C451B (x3), C214 (x4), SE300B
Other
GAP Ribbon (x4), Shotgun mics, Shure Beta91 (x3), Sennheiser e901 (x2), Yamaha Subkick (x2)

Backline

Kits
5 kits from Pearl Masterworks, DS Custom Drums, Ludwig 70s Vistalite, etc.
Snare drums
30+ snares from DW, DS Drums, Ludwig, Pearl, Yamaha, Premier, Tama, Beat Head, Mapex, Spunky, etc.
Cymbals
40+ high-end cymbals from Sabian and Zildjian
Amps
MLC, 5150, Engl, Mesa Boogie, Vox, Fender, Marshall, Orange, EBS, etc.
Cabs
Suhr, Hiwatt, EBS, Mahler Engineering granite cab with 6 interchangeable speakers

More

Pedals
Delays, reverbs, fuzzboxes, distortion, wah-wah, noise gates, compressors, etc.
Keyboards
M-Audio midi controller and piano style keyboards. Yamaha acoustic grand piano on the stage
Third-party plugins
Softube, Soundtoys, McDSP, Metric Halo, Neural DSP, Waves, iZotope, FabFilter, Accusonus, Antares, Sonible, Bogren Digital, Plugin Alliance, Positive Grid, Soundradix, Stillwell, Toontrack, Valhalla, Wavesfactory, Celemony, Native Instruments, Sonnox, XLN Audio, Slate Digital, etc.
Monitoring
Ethernet-based Aviom A16 Personal Monitoring System (x8)
Headphones
Audeze LCD-X (x2), Sennheiser 280 (x6), AKG K240 (x3), Total Isolation (x2), Metrophones (x2), Vic Firth headphones (x2), Bose, etc.

 

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Plugins produced at Top Floor Studios by Jakob Herrmann

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DUALITY I
For dark, warm and organic-sounding hard rock and metal
Our custom made Pearl Masterworks in birch, maple and carbon fibre, along with Sabian cymbals. This kit features big sizes and thin drumheads, and have an old-school sound full of overtones that sounds amazing in the room mics.

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METAL SONGWRITER
A pack for EzMix 3 designed to cover every stage of a metal production
Whether you’re looking to beef up your general mixing toolkit or need a complete solution to take your music from rough idea to razor-sharp, refined master, this pack with its wide range of tones and tools has you covered every step of the way.

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DUALITY II
For bright, metallic and progressive hard rock and metal
Featuring our hand built DS Drums from Italy, made to our exact specifications. It is the smaller, punchier and more modern kit with thicker heads and overall a more controlled and ”self-compressed” yet very full and natural sound.

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THE HEAVIEST CAB IN THE WORLD
A collection of impulse responses made with the Mahler Engineering 2x12
Featuring the world’s only speaker cab made out of granite, available only at Top Floor Studios. With 50 raw captures as well as 10 custom tailored combination and presets, these IR’s feature several speakers and a wide range of sounds.

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BIG STAGE
Arguably the most unique and iconic setting in Toontrack EZX history
A massive mid-1800s theater auditorium, featuring four contrasting kits as well as a plethora of ambience microphones positioned around the room. Ideal for anything from thunderous rock and metal to modern ambient pop, soul and more

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PROGRESSIVE PRODIGY
Modern progressive drumming captured in a virtual instrument
Built around Evergrey/Temic drummer Simen Sandnes’ personal kit. From mix-ready presets to complete control of every detail, it adapts to your workflow so you can create without compromise, designed to support your creative process.

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