Tom-Tom Studio introduction
The story of Tom-Tom began in 1985 with the construction of a rehearsal space for bands. Péter Dorozsmai has built the house with the rehearsal room on a hillside, with the earth providing sound isolation from one side while the other side of the building got natural sunlight. The room in the beginning was used by his rock bands Korál and East to have their own creative space.
In those days recording sound in the studio was but daydreaming.
However, within a couple of years the first step was made: a control room was constructed in addition to the rehearsal room which featured the first means of capturing sound, a 4-track tape recorder.
It only took a couple of months for the new pride of the studio to arrive: an 8-track reel-to-reel tape recorder marked the beginnings of the professional recording facility Tom-Tom Studio.
In Hungary in the 1980’s the state controlled economy – and music industry – could not provide for the needs of the growing number of musical groups, so a lot of progressive-rock, alternative and pop bands started recording at Péter Dorozsmai’s new facility. He has always kept Tom-Tom studio up to date with the newest developments in sound recording technology, and his innovative approach to music production made him a head engineer and music producer revered by the musicians that he worked with.
“The musicians took quite a liking to our studio… we suddenly had so much work that we needed to expand our staff, so we got our excellent sound engineer colleagues. And then we grew our original recording space out too, so we were in luck when the neighboring estate was up for sale: we built a new studio there.” (Péter Dorozsmai)
The new facility opened in 1996, offering a larger and customizable recording space, more rooms for mixing and mastering, as well as a kitchen and lounge for the clients and an office for the independent label Tom-Tom Records.
The studio has released music since 1989 and later the label Tom-Tom Records was founded with the mission to make it possible for all the talents to get their music heard – while providing the studio facilities for the artist to produce their music without making any compromises. The head of the label is Péter Dorozsmai, with a small staff responsible for marketing and promotion.
In the 2000s the international film industry arrived in Hungary. It was an important milestone in the history of Tom-Tom studio that the BBC decided to move the entire sound production of its series Robin Hood to Hungary and they were seeking a facility that could meet their standards and house post-production. The strict requirements of the BBC concerning technical specifications and staff were not met by any privately owned studio in the country at that time except for us, and Tom-Tom Studios won the commission.
The collaboration with the BBC was a resounding success, so much so that several other movie and TV sound post productions started to be hosted by Tom-Tom. Our international – and domestic – clientele for recording orchestral scores, recording ADR and voice-over is growing ever since.
Since the late 80’s studio technology developed unbelievably fast and the music industry in general has witnessed dramatic changes. The challenges facing a sound studio keep changing with the times and Tom-Tom Studio has always bravely expanded their range of services when needed. Our sound engineers also are involved in doing live sound – we have worked with numerous theater shows, musicals, big concerts, doing FOH mixing as well as recording the shows and providing post-production for domestic and international productions likewise. A score of these shows that we were involved in was broadcast on TV and were released commercially.
We have also gained a foothold in the production of music shows on TV. From its start and during many seasons we have provided sound for the talent show Megasztár, recording the backing tracks with the finest of musicians, and mixing the broadcast sound, as well as being involved in the creative process as musical supervisors of the show. We have worked in the sound department of many other shows since. We regularly record and mix concerts and musical shows that are aired all over the world.
Our expertise encompasses the widest range of musical genres, be it academic classical music, jazz, pop, rock, world music. It is an honour and a joyful experience to us when we can be present at the birth of contemporary music pieces.