Studio Magazin
About Studio Magazin
Studio Magazin is the yardstick publication for recording studio technology in German-speaking countries. It is published monthly and can only be obtained on a subscription basis.
After about half a year of being in the planning stages, the first issue was published in January of 1978. Fritz Fey and Ernst Müller, the two founders of the publishing company, based the contents of their magazine on British and American publications of that era, first and foremost Studio Sound, Recording Engineer/Producer, and dB – The Sound-Engineering Magazine.
Up until 1986, the title as well as the sub-title of the magazine changed several times. During the first years of existence, the magazine was simply called Studio. Only after October of 1984, it was published as Studio Magazin. The sub-titles were altered several times as well: At first, it was called "Zeitschrift für den Studio- und Produktionsbereich" (“magazine for recording studio and production”, issues 1 to 15). It was soon to be re-christened as "Fachzeitschrift für Tonstudio und Musikproduktion" (issues 16 to 76) and then as "Fachzeitschrift für professionelle Audio- und Videotechnik" (“publication for professional audio and video technology”, issues 77 to 95). After a conceptual re-design, the nomenclature still in use today was introduced, namely "Fachzeitschrift für professionelle Audiotechnik".
As far as contents are concerned, the magazine features reviews in combination with testing routines of their own, information on the recording industry, interviews, specialist contributions as well as reports on trade fairs and conventions. Their annual microphone test runs proved to be extremely popular. Some topics featured in the earlier days of the magazine have disappeared in the course of time, among them news from the music scene (News & Namen, “news and names”), video technology, broadcast technology (FM Magazin), as well as reviews of electronic musical instruments.
Since December of 1994, Fritz Fey has been the sole proprietor and CEO of the enterprise. In 2017, he was awarded the honorary medal of the VDT (Verband Deutscher Tonmeister) for his merits in the field of professional recording.