pretty black and white. If they don’t get along
with the staff, they don’t care how good it
sounds; they’re just not coming back.”
With that attitude, it’s no surprise that
when Lobodycz came to Iguana as an intern
about five years ago, the relationship between
him and Branco began with a conversation
about music, not technology and skills. He was
studying audio engineering in Toronto at the
time and someone at the school suggested he
contact Branco.
“I started talking with Vic on the phone
and we hit it off talking about bands and
about Steve Vai and a couple different guitar
players. We had the same interests in music
and so he told me to come up to the studio
and check it out,” Lobodycz recalls.
When he pulled up outside the studio,
he admits he wasn’t sure what to make of it.
“There is no sign or anything; there is just foam
on the wall. I look at the studio and kind of
go, ‘What the fuck is this?’ So, Vic opens the
door and lets me in and the first thing I see
are platinum records on the wall of some of
my favourite bands that I grew up listening
to – Alexisonfire, Sum 41, Arkells, and just all
kinds of stuff. I was just totally into it and when
I saw the desk, my jaw dropped. I just couldn’t
believe it because that is the pinnacle of what
you want to be working on as a new engineer.”
Now as head engineer, one of the great
things Lobodycz has brought back to Iguana
is hip-hop. Branco concedes that if you look at
him and Lobodycz, you’d be forgiven for think-
ing they’re just rock guys. They certainly love
IGUANA’S OUTBOARD OPTIONS
THD LABS TANGERINE AUTOMATION INTERFACE FOR ANALOG SSL CONSOLES
an SSL and the knowledge behind it. Getting it
set up was a challenge, but I worked it out and
we started integrating it into what we do with
our mixes and it’s been a big improvement.
The sound quality on the desk is absolutely
phenomenal, but the control used to be archa-
ic until this box came around. Now I can write
everything in Pro Tools and bring up a mix that
we did months or years ago and you can play
it back and it’s the exact same mix that you left.
It’s been awesome for clients because you can
have a guy come in and say, ‘I want to make a
couple of changes.’ It’s something that used to
be pretty difficult and now it’s a simple process.”
These modifications have meant that
Iguana can keep the legendary console in use
18 years after it came north of the border and
that is of great relief to Branco. It’s his pride
and joy and it would be tragic to let it go. He
still gets a kick out of people’s disbelief when
they realize such a unique and prized piece of
36 PROFESSIONAL SOUND
music history is sitting in a
nondescript building in an
unglamorous area north
of Toronto. “It’s definitely
got an amazing energy for
me, personally, whenever
I look at it. I pinch myself
and am not really sure how
and why and when all this
kind of came to be and why
it’s here.”
Technology aside, Branco says a key to the
studio’s success has always been its people.
“It’s not about finding the best engineer, in
my opinion; I think I can say that with a lot
of weight because, for 25 years, I’ve tried to
find people,” Branco emphasizes. “Sonics can
be subjective, but the studio experience and
wanting to come back and work with the
same people, that is not subjective. That is
rock and roll and have deep roots in it, but Lo-
bodycz has immersed himself in many genres
and Branco points out that Iguana actually has
a lot of history in Toronto’s hip-hop scene.
“When we started here, it was obviously
rock. We were rock guys and had ties to the
rock community, but by the late ‘90s, I ended
up picking up a lot of work from Warner/
Chappell and they were developing a number
of artists signed to their publishing company