IGUANA STUDIOS PRESIDENT VIC BRANCO WITH SOME SPECIAL MEMENTOS
through Vivian Barclay and Anne-Marie Smith.
It became the who’s who of R&B and hip-hop
in Toronto – people like Kardinal Offishall, Jully
Black, Saukrates, Solitair, and Glenn Lewis. So, by
the late ‘90s, we were doing all this under-the-ra-
dar hip-hop, like a ton of it, along with all the
other music. Then that kind of died off in the
early 2000s and it became, again, really diverse.”
Branco credits Lobodycz with bringing
hip-hop artists back to Iguana. “He’s a rock- and
metal-looking guy, but he knew hip-hop, so I
was getting a barrage of phone calls and was
like, ‘Do we want to see what’s out there?’ and
before we knew it, our business shifted to
almost 50/50 over the last three years with hip-
hop and then everything else.”
Obviously, a lot of hip-hop is now made in-
the-box. Branco even jokes that when record-
ing hip-hop artists, “we don’t need 77 of the
other channels.” But because Iguana’s control
room is 500 sq. ft., it’s very conducive to the
hip-hop recording environment where there
can be a lot of people involved behind the
glass. The room has also hosted songwriting
camps with hip-hop producers where there
are multiple artists working at once. “I’ve just
been trying to adapt to what music has been
giving me over the years. Having the bigger
room hasn’t hurt me; it’s just about finding the
right usage for it with what’s out there in to-
day’s ever-changing production world.”
In terms of attracting hip-hop artists in
recent years, Lobodycz adds, “I grew up loving
music and so I know music inside and out,
whether it’s punk or hip-hop, and the hip-hop
guys appreciate that I know and listen to the
music. It’s not that I am a guy who just knows
how to operate the console.” Also, he says,
it’s about explaining that a knowledgeable
engineer combined with world-class tools
will bring their project far beyond anything
achieved with just a laptop and speakers. “We
have a poster in the front with pictures of guys
like Dr. Dre, Eminem, Jay Z, and really every-
body from the ‘90s to now standing in front
of all of our actual equipment, so I explain to
the guys, ‘This is the real deal – we’re not using
toys or computer plug-ins. These are the actual
things that people seek out and want to get
when they say they’ve ‘made it.’”
For companies of any type, the quarter-centu-
ry mark is a significant milestone. But the last
25 years have been especially hard for record-
ing studios. A lot of classic rooms have closed,
and many others have come and gone in that
time. We all know the reasons – the prevalence
of high-end home recording gear and soft-
ware, shrinking recording budgets, skyrocket-
ing rents in major cities, etc. But Branco doesn’t
begrudge any of it; he simply keeps his head
down and focuses on making Iguana Studios
the best it can be, in terms of both technology
and, especially, atmosphere, and then lets the
results speak for themselves.
“The secret to my success is to not worry
about what other people are doing. It’s to just
get up every day and do what I do with the
people who are here and just try to make it
work and keep getting better at it,” he says,
adding that life got a lot less stressful when he
figured that out. “We embrace technology; I am
not the studio owner who sits here and be-
grudges the home studio and the home studio
producer. I haven’t been about that in forever. I
embrace what they are doing at home and we
can consult with them and say, ‘OK, where do
we fit in and can we help you make this better?’
If we can, great, and if we can’t, then we just
move on to the next project.”
He reiterates that the addition of the
Atomic Instrument power supply and THD’s
Tangerine automation interface “were a god-
send” that has allowed them to keep operating
a classic-style recording studio while also
adapting their workflow for any type of client.
Looking to the future, Branco and Lobodycz
are discussing launching a workshop program
for aspiring engineers and producers – those
who may not have the time and/or money to
attend an audio school but want to boost their
knowledge and skills on a large-format console.
It would be a natural extension of the education
they are often giving young clients anyway
while they’re recording at Iguana.
Mainly, though, Iguana Studios will con-
tinue to do what it’s always done best: make
world-class records in a creative and welcoming
environment.
Michael Raine is the Senior Editor of
Professional Sound.
Over the Years
Some producers & engineers who’ve worked at Iguana Studios:
David Ogilvie (Nine Inch Nails, Tool, Lindy, Bowie)
Daxz (Drake, Travis Scott, The Weeknd)
Eric Ratz (Arkells, Big Wreck, Billy Talent)
Fraser T. Smith (Adele, Sam Smith, Britney Spears, James Morrison)
Gavin Brown (Billy Talent, Three Days Grace, Metric,
The Tragically Hip)
Joe Chiccarelli (Alanis Morissette, Morrissey, Dwight Yoakam)
Jon Drew (Arkells, Tokyo Police Club, Fucked Up)
Lester Mendez (Santana, Nelly Furtado, Seal)
Matt Squire (Demi Lovato, One Direction, Panic! At the Disco)
Neil King (The Smiths, Alanis Morissette, Tuuli, Green Day)
Rich Chycki (Rush, Aerosmith, Dream Theater, Pyramid Theorem)
Ulrich Wild (Pantera, The Kordz, Snoop Dogg, Incubus)
WondaGurl (Jay Z, Drake, Kanye West)
PROFESSIONAL SOUND 37