Germany - The Weissenhaus Private Nature Luxury Resort in Germany has launched Big Barn Studios, a creative musical retreat housed in a thatched barn at the centre of the picturesque 185-acre site. The residential recording studio’s control room features a Solid State Logic AWS 948 δelta SuperAnalogue console and has been outfitted to handle Dolby Atmos projects.
The entire project is the brainchild of Jan Henric Buettner, a German entrepreneur with a background in telecommunications and the internet. 20 years ago, he purchased a dilapidated historic estate and village in the north of Germany, overlooking the Baltic Sea, and turned it into a privately operated luxury resort, which opened in 2014. Several years ago, after seeing Bohemian Rhapsody, the biopic about rock band Queen, Buettner was inspired to construct a recording studio in an unused area of the resort’s historic barn.
“Queen produced Bohemian Rhapsody in a British barn,” says Buettner, referring to Ridge Farm Studio in England. “When I was a child, my hero was Freddie Mercury, and I had a band; I was the singer. I thought, ‘Let's build a music studio’.”
Designed to accommodate everything from songwriting sessions to multitrack recording and mixing projects, the studio features a large, high-ceilinged live room and a comfortable lounge area. The equipment list features high-end outboard equipment and signal processing with both stereo and immersive monitoring systems. A wide range of high-quality microphones are available for tracking and overdubbing.
Swen Meyer, one of three sound engineers on the Big Barn studio team, explains that the AWS console was selected for its versatility and ability to handle whatever projects come through the facility, not to mention the brand name recognition. “We need a great sounding, flexible and reliable desk for recording and mixing,” he says. “For our situation, we need a ‘solid’ state-of-the-art desk. You can't do wrong with SSL.” The SSL AWS 948 was supplied by Digital Audio Service in Hamburg.
“I know SSL from the 90s and the 2000s; I worked on the E, G, and J Series many times,” he continues. “Here, with this hybrid solution that we are providing for our customers, SSL fits perfectly in the studio. I like the sound, the headroom, the punch, the crystal-clear highs, and the analogue ‘SSL mojo’. You can drive the mic pres hard, and I like being able to toggle between the G and the E series EQs, as well as its superbly integrated DAW control. The AWS’s stereo or dual mono channels offer a great deal of flexibility when mixing. Their Width control means you can precisely place sounds while making them sit in the stereo field."
In addition to the live room, which is outfitted with a grand piano and a drum kit, clients also have access to the large event space on the ground floor of the barn. “If there is a concert taking place downstairs, we can deploy a stage box and send it to the desk upstairs,” Meyer says.
Amenities at Weissenhaus, which include a 400-year-old castle housing a two-star Michelin restaurant and thermal baths, as well as gardens, forest and nearly two miles of beach, are intended to offer guests privacy, relaxation and inspiration.
Big Barn is also equipped to present streaming events of all kinds. In February 2025, the facility hosted the first leg of the global Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, which is being co-organised with Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen and sponsored by Buettner.
