Railroad Tracks is a music studio for audio production and audio post-production based in Buir, west of Cologne. The studio is located in the decommissioned station of Buir and offers every service necessary for a good sound, such as recording, composition, sound design, mixing, mastering and DMM vinyl cutting.
Before founding the studio, owner John Cremer worked at the EMI studios Maarweg as a mastering and DMM dubbing technician. In the spring of 1999, Electrola’s british parent company (EMI in London) announced to carry out some restructuring measures worldwide. This resulted in the outsourcing of in-house warehousing and distribution in Cologne, as well as the stopping of the studio services.
John Cremer was planning the transition into self-employment for the areas DMM dubbing and mastering, offering Electrola the necessary studio services. After several weeks of planning and costing the course has been set. A suitable building was found quickly, a beautiful old train station in Buir (Kerpen), already taken into operation while being refurbished. Step by step Railroad Tracks overcame all the hurdles and obstacles, and after several months of comparing with the competitors on the market, a framework service contract between EMI and the now established “Railroad Tracks GmbH” was closed.
Therefore, EMI Cologne was Railroad Track’s main customer for about 14 years, until in 2013, EMI finally imploded.
The company’s orientation shifted towards high-quality digital productions operated by new, much younger staff members. Also the emerging vinyl renaissance changed the focus of work at Railroad Tracks. In conclusion today’s most important customers are mainly small labels and agencies.
We are colleagues and friends, any one of us has different specialities and responsibilities and contributes as a part to what is known as Railroad-Tracks. Here, we would like to introduce everyone to you.
The experience of the producers is as important as the technical requirements.