Genelec helps MUBA bring state-of-the-art recording to Tallinn

8.4.2026

Estonia’s leading music and ballet college unveils two world‑class, Genelec‑equipped studios for future audio professionals.

THE BACKGROUND

Located in the heart of Estonia’s capital city, the Tallinn College of Music and Ballet – known popularly as MUBA – is the most cutting-edge music and ballet school in Europe today. Uniting three historic and prestigious institutions: Tallinn Music High School, Tallinn Ballet School, and Tallinn Georg Ots Music School, MUBA prides itself on producing highly independent, passionate, creative graduates. And helping to drive that creativity are the two rooms that make up MUBA’s Sound Recording Studio facility, both of which are powered by Genelec monitoring solutions.

THE CHALLENGE

Spread across an impressive 26,000 square metre campus, MUBA includes 4 music halls, 2 auditoriums, 6 ballet studios and a plethora of classrooms and practice rooms – allowing its 700 music and ballet students to collaborate extensively during lessons and joint creative projects, overseen by a 300-strong teaching staff. Equipped and installed by local Genelec partner msonic Baltic, the state-of-the-art Sound Recording Studio provides MUBA’s musicians and sound engineering students with a truly world class facility, where they can hone their skills and gain invaluable studio experience to equip them for their future careers.

With The Ones, you can always rely on getting the optimal sound from your setup.

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THE SOLUTION

“Control Room 1 houses our Rupert Neve Designs 5088 console and takes the user back to the ‘age of analogue consoles’ for recording and mixing,” explains Andres Olema, MUBA’s Sound Studio Manager. “It serves as our main control room for recording from our studio room, allowing our first course Sound Engineering students to do their mixing assignments fully analogue with the Neve and outboard gear for the first half of the year,” he adds. The space is equipped with a pair of Genelec 8341A coaxial nearfield models to complement the room’s main monitors which Olema says, “gives us the nearfield accuracy that you definitely need when working long hours with the console.”

Jürgen Urbanik, Marketing & Business Development Manager at msonic Baltic, is equally enthusiastic about the room: “For an educational institution shaping the next generation of audio professionals, dependable monitoring is not just a technical choice but a long-term investment in quality listening and critical decision making. The combination of world class analogue recording through the 5088 console, and highly accurate Genelec monitoring, creates an exceptional ecosystem that reflects real world professional studio standards.”

In contrast, Control Room 2 is set up in a 5.1 configuration, deploying five 8351B coaxial models complemented with a 7370A subwoofer. “This space functions more as our ‘working in the box’ room, together with the possibility to get acquainted with 5.1 surround mixing,” comments Olema.

Elsewhere in the campus, Genelec 8000 series monitors are deployed in various production and classroom spaces, while a pair of floating 4430A Smart IP PoE loudspeakers are used to provide talkback for recording performances where the musicians aren’t using headphones. “Smart IP’s ease of use through Dante integration and Power-over-Ethernet provides a really quick and easy way to set up talkback from Control Room 1 all over the facility – whether that’s our studio room, our three halls upstairs, or any other room that has access to our studio’s Dante network,” says Olema.

GLM software really helped us to calibrate and refine the monitoring systems in both rooms.

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Explaining the choice of three-way models from The Ones series for both Studio 1 and 2, Olema points out a connection with Genelec that pre-dates the creation of MUBA in 2022. “The origins of our department here at MUBA stretch right back to the Georg Ots Music School, which always had Genelec two-way monitors in its small studios. So, The Ones family offered us a familiar and trusted sound with even more precision. With The Ones, you can always rely on getting the optimal sound from your setup.”

Sitting right at the heart of Genelec’s studio monitoring range, The Ones’ unique point source coaxial design has made them an industry standard for demanding professionals seeking a truthful and uncoloured sonic reference. With flawless imaging, extended frequency response and controlled directivity, The Ones offer fatigue-free listening even on long sessions – allowing users to produce reliable mixes that translate consistently to other rooms and systems.

Furthermore, as part of Genelec’s Smart Active Monitoring family, The Ones’ internal DSP and tight integration with GLM loudspeaker manager software allows them to be completely tailored to the acoustics of any room. “GLM software really helped us to calibrate and refine the monitoring systems in both rooms, which is especially important with the 5.1 surround system that we have in Control Room 2. With GLM it’s really easy to calibrate the setup and get as much precision as possible out of The Ones,” adds Olema. Urbanik agrees. “The integration of The Ones with GLM ensures that students and educators can work with a precise and consistent sonic reference, regardless of room or application,” he explains.

As with any ambitious technical project, the creation of MUBA’s Sound Recording Studio wasn’t without its challenges, as Olema points out.

“One major challenge that we had was the overall stylistic planning of the school. The architects, acousticians, and other non-music technology people involved had decided that they didn’t want to build a classic-looking conventional studio. They wanted to do something different. So, for example, metal bars were used to cover the walls of the control rooms and main studio room, and metal grates were used in the walls of the separation boxes. When we tested the acoustics after the work with the walls was completed, it was clear that a lot of improvements were needed to get the metal elements under control. However, after a bit of work, the architects and acousticians came up with solutions to these problems – and we got the acoustic properties of the rooms to be as they should!”

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THE CONCLUSION

With the Sound Recording Studio now in daily use by MUBA’s students, Olema is in no doubt at all that the project has been a resounding success. “We certainly achieved what we hoped for. Of course, some adjustments and improvements were needed to make everything run smoothly, but all-in-all we’re very happy. We feel that in addition to just being a really nice studio, it’s also very versatile as a whole – which is much needed in a school setting such as ours.”

“We’re proud to have supported MUBA in creating a truly future-proof monitoring environment where accuracy, reliability and musical truth are at the core of the learning experience,” concludes Urbanik. “It’s especially rewarding to see how actively the facility is being used across disciplines, from sound engineering to rhythm musicians and ensemble recordings. This level of daily engagement confirms that MUBA now has a reference grade studio environment that will inspire creativity, support high level teaching and serve students for decades to come.”