A recording studio of a special kind: Christian Krüger put a lot of effort into stopping time in Wolfersdorf

Created: 08/14/2022, 07:00

By: Andreas Beschorner

Time has stood still here: Christian Krüger's "time capsule", as he calls his recording studio, consists exclusively of original mixers, tape recorders and microphones from the period between the 1930s and 1950s.

© Beschorner

In a basement in Wolfersdorf, music lovers are taken back to the time when great musicians like Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash recorded their first records.

Wolfersdorf

– He himself speaks of a “time capsule”.

And indeed: Anyone who descends into the basement of Christian Krüger's house in Wolfersdorf feels like a time traveller.

One that was transported to the 1950s, to the times when Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison recorded their first records.

What is there in Christian Krüger's recording studio is the result of a passion for collecting and buying that has lasted for more than ten years.

Such rarities are only available in the USA, where Krüger has built up many good contacts over the years.

If something is found in cellars or barns, if radio stations or recording studios are closed, then Krüger is there.

And so he gradually fulfilled his dream: not a vintage recording studio with some old original components, but a studio that is like the famous Sun Studio in Memphis - the legendary cradle of rock'n'roll from Sam Phillips.

And 100 percent original.

Christian Krüger - the man who revives the sound of the good old times of Rock'n'Roll.

© private

Admittedly, if you order such devices that are already 80 years old or more under your belt, "you're always buying a pig in a poke," says Krüger.

His experience after ten years: "At first nothing works at all." But he has a "great technician" who gets the devices running again with a lot of love, patience and expertise.

Everything analogue, everything honest

It's really not an easy business, after all, the circuit diagrams supplied are often not worth much because the previous users converted and "resoldered" the systems to suit their own needs.

But in the end it all pays off.

What is there in Wolfersdorf is completely authentic.

Of course, the devices with their thick black switches and buttons from Moonshine Records are not only there to look good and to arouse the longing for times when things were purely analog - "honest", as Krüger calls it.

No, the iron witnesses from the early days of rock'n'roll are primarily there to make music real and authentic again.

Away from “fumbling around”, as Krüger calls the post-processing of recordings that is common these days with Spotify mass-produced goods, in which everything is digitally edited together on a laptop until it is perfect, too perfect and too clean for Krüger.

Each piece is played through in one go

At Moonshine Records things are different: when bands and musicians - the palette ranges from swing to jazz and rockabilly to, of course, rock'n'roll and even classical music - are in Christian Krüger's recording studio, the piece is played through in one go, everything goes on one tape.

"Here, the music remains 100 percent human," says Krüger, small mistakes are human and make the recording a special listening experience.

This, as he knows after so many years, is “a wonderful experience” for most musicians too.

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Many are a bit skeptical at first, but when they hear the result of their work, there is often a smile and a smile on their faces.

And then the bands want everything, just don't want anything to be improved or edited after the recording has been digitized.

And: "I love the Hall," says Krüger.

The reverb that is so unmistakable for the recordings from the Sun studios and the 1950s and 60s in general.

It all started with Johnny Cash

Christian Krüger has had a passion for music from times long past and for the then modern recording technology since his youth.

At that time he was listening to his father's records by Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra and Co., and he himself played in a rock'n'roll band.

The joy of music, the liveliness in these recordings - that has not let go of the now 49-year-old.

Original autographs by Roy Orbison, for example

And so he set up his recording studio in 2015 - first in Bogenhausen, then in Feldafing and since June 2021, in Wolfersdorf, where he and the musicians experience a feel-good atmosphere.

Krüger knows that his "time capsule", in which even some of the lamps are original US style from the 50s and where original autographs by Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis & Co. hang on the walls, "an absolute mega niche". is.

More and more musicians share his dream

But it is the fulfillment of his dream - a dream that more and more musicians are sharing.

For Krüger, this also expresses the longing for a little deceleration in a world that is turning ever faster.

And that with "Elvis" by Baz Luhrmann, a biography of "King" is coming to the cinemas (with Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker) and thus the "good old times of R'n'R". monument, fits perfectly into the picture.

You can find more current news from the district of Freising at Merkur.de/Freising.