by Native Instruments

Behind the scenes at Atlanta’s legendary recording hub Patchwerk Studios

Watch as take a look inside the legendary music studio.

Perhaps surprisingly to some, Atlanta’s seminal Patchwerk Studios first emerged in sunny southern California. College football star and then NFL prospect Bob Whitfield was looking to help release the initial offerings from his friend, the rapper Ras Kass; when Whitfield was drafted to play defensive offensive tackle for the Atlanta Falcons in 1992, he decided to bring the studio with him to A-Town — and the rest is history.

 

Over the past two decades, Patchwerk Studios has solidified its place at the very center of Atlanta’s hip hop and R&B scene. The list of artists whose legacies began with Patchwerk is extensive, to say the least: OutKast’s 1996 platinum album ATLiens was recorded there, as were the first two albums by a then-unknown rapper called Ludacris. Goodie Mob’s second album Still Standing was recorded at Patchwerk, and the list just keeps on going — it’s also where T.I., Gucci Mane, and Young Jeezy all shaped their early sound, and where many of these artists continue recording today. The list of platinum records now numbers in the hundreds.

The studio has since moved out of the humble rented house where it began, and into a sprawling, 10,000 square-foot building stocked full of the world’s finest engineers and equipment. The new home features two totally isolated recording studios, and some of the best gear money can buy (including a fully-automated Otari Concept One console, as well as the only SSL 9000J mixing console in the entire state of Georgia).

Native Instruments is proud to have been working directly with Patchwerk for more than five years; these collaborations have taken many forms, and have even gone so far as to help the Patchwerk crew put together a private NI studio. Patchwerk is often regarded as a place of legend, a creative epicenter, the walls of which have witnessed some of the most hallowed stories in hip hop history. Check out the video above to hear a couple of them.

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