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60s

Hansa Studios started in the early 1960s as a small recording studio in the headquarters of Hansa Music Production in Berlin, founded by brothers Peter and Thomas Meisel.

Through the steady growing number of productions resulting from there, the Meisel brothers decided to found Hansa Tonstudio GmbH and built their own studio to be able to produce independently.

70s

Hansa Studio 1 opened in 1973 in Berlin Halensee, from which countless recordings of renowned national and international artists emerged from then on.

In 1975, the Meisel Brothers also took over the former Sonopress Studio of Ariola-Eurodisk on Köthener Street – also known as Meistersaal – and turned it into the legendary Hansa Studio 2, a music production house with the idea to develop and promote artists, songwriters and producers in a space where work could be done in several studios simultaneously.

80s

The mixing studio was built on the 4th floor. An exact replica of Studio 1 on Nestor Street –which had to be closed in the late 1970s– was built in 1980.

A training studio was built on the 3rd floor, especially for the sound engineer and assistants. Hansa Studio 3 was also built in a former cinema on the ground floor, making a total of 5 studios.

At this time, Hansa Music Production was one of the leading production companies, labels and music publishing companies in Germany. Hits from german stars like Mireille Mathieu, Drafi Deutscher, Marianne Rosenberg, Peter Maffay, Udo Jürgens or Roland Kaiser were produced here like a factory.

The good reputation, equipment, acoustics, and the many national and international successes of the Studio caught the attention of David Bowie when, in the 1970s, moved to Berlin. In Studio 2, Bowie wrote his hit “Heroes” and recorded numerous albums together with Iggy Pop: “Low”, “Heroes”, “Baal”; turning Hansa Studios into one of the leading and most acclaimed international recording studios. Countless acts came the following decades, like Depeche Mode, Boney M, U2, Brian Eno, Nick Cave, David Byrne or Paul Simon.

90s

The changing situation in the music industry led to less infrastructure needed for recordings. Hansa looked into the future, switching its business model to a multicompany music house and, therefore, successfully turning it into what’s –arguably– the most creative music house in Berlin.

Today

Today, with legendary Studio One and Meistersaal beautifully preserved, Hansa Studios stays successfully active; wherein top acts like Coldplay, Parcels, YUNGBLUD, Harry Styles, R.E.M., The Strokes, Cher, Green Day, Pharrell Williams, and many others record their hit songs and iconic albums.