Mining for Metal Sounds at Kohlekeller Studios

Seeheim-Jugenheim, Germany (March 11, 2025)—After working on a vintage Harrison analog console a few years ago, Kristian “Kohle” Kohlmannslehner has added the brand’s new 500 series modules to his Kohlekeller Studios.

​A 20-year veteran of the music business, Kohle was familiar with the Harrison brand but hadn’t worked with the equipment until about six years ago, when he produced a project on a 4832c console at The End Studios in Lund, Sweden, with engineer Ulf Blomberg. “It sounded great; I remember falling in love with the EQ. It sounded so musical and was so intuitive. One thing that I love about the Harrison is the simplicity and how easy it is to achieve the sound you want.”

Harrison’s high-performance 32Cpre+ microphone preamplifier, MR3eq 3-band parametric equalizer and Comp compressor are now regularly in use at Kohle’s Frankfurt-based facility. “What I like about 500 gear is that I can move those units around between my three control rooms,” says Kohle, whose credits include rock, metal and hardcore projects with the likes of Powerwolf, Crematory, Aborted, Hämatom and Electric Callboy. “If a colleague needs a mic pre module, they can just pull it out of my rack and put it into their rack. That’s cool for the modern workflow. So every week, you will find the Harrison modules in different control rooms in the studio, depending on who needs them.”

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Kohle has worked in the genre of metal for many years and knows what works and what doesn’t. “What defines metal is drum tone and guitar tone,” he says. “The sheer power of drums in metal is so important—and drums are where you need to do the most tweaking and the most processing. A metal kick drum doesn’t sound like a kick drum in a room; you really need to push the highs, push the lows, scoop the mids and just go crazy.

“This is where analog gear shines, because you really need to dig into the sound. The modules are musical and easy to use—perfect for an artist or producer trying to find their sound. You can’t really overuse them, and that’s the strength of a good analog design.”

​Kohle has an academy, Kohle Audio Kult, where he teaches audio engineering and production, and recently filmed a video featuring the Harrison MR3eq module: “The EQ works so well, especially for tracking. I’ve mostly used the EQs for tracking drums and guitars, but also for tracking vocals.”