Striking It Rich at Estudios El Dorado

Quito, Ecuador (August 14, 2024)—Estudios El Dorado, a multi-room, multi-purpose production facility in Quito, Ecuador offers an all-analog workflow focused on the “British sound.”

“The concept in the control room was to offer a 100% British sound in Quito,” says producer and co-founder Willan Farinango, who studied classical guitar, composition and arranging while living in France for 20 years. “That’s the main characteristic that differentiates us from other studios here in Ecuador—or anywhere in Latin America, I would say.”

“This is a multi-studio because it is three in one,” says co-founder and CEO Jorge Luis Serrano, formerly the Cultural Attaché at the Embassy of Ecuador in France. The pair believe that the custom-designed and constructed studio complex is one of only a handful of facilities in South America to offer such a variety of audio and visual services under a single roof. “It is unique in Ecuador,” he adds.

A Solid State Logic Origin 32-channel analog mixing console is installed in Studio A’s 450-square-foot control room in a piece of custom studio furniture that incorporates a wing on either side of the console to house a collection of outboard analog processors. There is also multi-bay credenza behind the console operators packed with more outboard gear.

The control room acoustic design features a reflection-free zone at the engineer’s listening position. British-made ATC SCN110ASL Pro midfield reference monitors are soffit-mounted in the front wall. There is an adjacent 625-sq.-ft. live room with variable acoustics and a 12-foot ceiling, and a collection of very high-quality microphones. The spacious tracking space features a Yamaha G5 grand piano. “This is the only Disklavier in Ecuador, maybe in South America,” Serrano says.

At the End of the Trail, a Day in the Studio

Studio B, a 235 sq. ft., all-analog mastering suite, is equipped with a variety of British-made processing devices. A third space, Studio C, measuring 430-sq.-ft., is outfitted as a set for photo and video shoots and audiovisual productions of all kinds and offers LED lighting and 4K cameras.

Since El Dorado opened Serrano and Farinango have seen a variety of artists working across a range of music genres pass through their facility. Serrano reports, “We have worked with every kind of artist—classical, jazz, folk, popular music and what we call chicha in Ecuador,” cumbia-based electronic music that is also popular throughout large parts of Latin America.

“We have musicians from cities outside Quito that are coming to record with us,” Farinango says. “Ecuador is about the size of the U.K., so one of our goals was also to attract people from outside Ecuador to record with us. We are getting good responses and attracting interest from musicians all over Latin America. We hope that we will soon have musicians from the U.S. and Europe work with us here too.”