Pergerus Stuudio and its master Anto
Pergerus is a creative extreme metal group that was formed in the fall of 2012 by five Tarbatu bands sharing a rehearsal space. On the material side, Pergerus is still united by the management of a common space and technical equipment, on the creational side, the connection can be found in a certain similar attitude to underground ethics and aesthetics (although each musician and band is of course independent in their choices). In 2019, Pergerus took on a new face when guitarist Anto Raig set up a separate recording space, which he named Pergerus Stuudio. Anto has been commanding the studio through good and bad times for seven years now, as well as sound engineers concerts and occasionally takes the stage himself. We sat in Pirogov Park one summer afternoon, where neither of us had been for a while, and talked about all his activities in more detail.
Beginnings
Anto entered the dark music circles of Tarbatu in 2008 in a reborn lineup of the metal band Tapper and became an important contributor to the band’s music and sound. From there, his reach soon expanded to several other metal bands – Anto also plays or has played in the collectives Form, Mortferus, and Ulguränd. However, his creative interests extend beyond over-distorted guitar noise to much broader soundscapes. In recent years, he has mainly dedicated himself to the rock band Vikat, whose selection of songs includes both covers of well-known hit songs and increasingly their own compositions.
Anto first came into serious contact with studio work during the recording of Tapper’s debut album “Vereklanni kolmas tulemine” (released in 2013) at Tartu Ö-studio. At that time, he did not get beyond playing instruments, as he went to serve in the navy instead while the album was being mixed and mastered. However, his interest in recording began to grow soon after that, especially while studying mechatronics at a vocational school. “That’s when my mind started to wander about the nature of sound. Recording equipment also became more accessible at that time. If you keep working at it, it’s not all that difficult – you just need to learn the basics, and then you can start experimenting with the thing.”
Mechatronics gave Anto valuable basic knowledge about the physical world of sound, but he has been largely self-taught when it comes to recording. However, one doesn’t have to invent everything themselves. For example, the American website Nail The Mix runs courses for a couple of dozen euros a month, where they share useful tips for mixing and send multitracks for homework, with which one can practice. With this, several Tarbathian musicians have learned useful skills about sound recording, Anto among them.
The real focus on building a studio came after being laid off from his old job, when he had to start thinking about what to do next in life. “Before the coronavirus, it was easier to get support from the Unemployment Insurance Fund to start my own business. I got the approval of the other members of Pergerus for naming the studio,” Anto explains the background of his actions. “The original plan was to be a bigger support for the group and help with the recording work, but since it seems that everyone has been more interested in making their own sound, that direction largely stalled. Lately, I haven’t been very closely involved with the underground music scene, so I’ve even had thoughts of giving the name back to the Pergerus group and creating a new platform for myself. At some point the economic profitability of the activity also starts to play its part. Sometimes you’re faced with a choice: would it be possible to earn something with what you do or not.”
Currently Anto’s main source of income is sound engineering concerts, while in the studio he spends most of his free time. He considers metal and rock to be his favorite genres as a sound engineer, although he doesn’t set any major limitations for himself. “When you get the sound right, it really feels good; that’s where the work pays off. Usually, three bands are thrown at you during the evening and you have an hour to get something from each one. Often, being the first band is the most unfortunate, especially if they happen to have a bit more complex soundscape.”
Moving
Pergerus Stuudio initially operated in the premises of the Kammivabrik on Teguri Street in Tarbatu, but due to the sharp increase in rent prices, Anto decided to relocate his business to another place – to an industrial building at Aardla 25b, where it can still be found today. Of course, moving the studio was not an easy task. Dismantling the space and rebuilding it in a new location took a lot of time and effort.
“I still think about how I did it,” Anto recalls. “I slept very little and at night, when the kids were sleeping at home, I would go to move the studio. I practically moved everything by myself. I even took the gypsum board walls with me, found the screws with magnets. I left nothing behind.
After that, there were several months of construction again, which was a very exciting project in itself. Then I could do some things different compared to the first time. I already had so much more experience. For example, in the first place I used metal frames for the gypsum boards, but now I knew that I wanted to use the second floor, so to speak, in the new place as a warehouse or something like that. That’s why this time I used wood for the frame and the difference is big, the wall now vibrates much less. At first, the large gypsum wall was like a big drum – the metal frame was stiffer and gave the sounds more vibration.”
A wide variety of projects have been recorded at Pergerus Studio over the years. In addition to metal, rock, and punk, rappers and podcasters have also found their way here. At some period, Anto offered bands and artists the opportunity to record their live performance so that they could get an idea of what they actually sound like. Probably the most famous recorder so far is the thrash metal band Tankist, who recorded the choir vocal parts for their album “Forced Equal” in Pergerus Stuudio (released in 2023). Anto is also always interested in new soundscapes: “It would be exciting to try recording and mixing music with, for example, a violin or a saxophone to find out how they would sound.”
Vikat
Although, as already mentioned, Anto is not very closely involved with underground metal these days, he is still actively playing music. Over the years, his main creative outlet has become the punk rock band Vikat (Scythe in Estonian). Initially, they mainly made covers and humorous arrangements, which were great for parties, but gradually they were replaced by their own original material in deeper tones. “Vikat’s music is a mix of different styles – a bit of punk and a bit of metal, but in the end it’s still a rock-like thing,” Anto describes his band. “At times it’s nice to just create a party atmosphere. Learning to read people is an important skill – to understand what song might suit the crowd next.”
Vikat has had years with gigs taking place every month, now it’s a somewhat calmer time. One reason for this is the personal lives of the band members, which occasionally require attention, too, but according to Anto, quite a few very good young musicians have appeared who play the evergreen hits expected at parties more than Vikat does right now.
As a last thing, I ask if Anto has any other creative projects in the works besides Vikat.
“You know, I still write music, even if not everything goes to Vikat,” Anto admits. “There is a lot of stuff that has been left waiting, which I probably won’t do with Vikat. Maybe these songs should be released somehow, get out of the system, so to speak.” He has used newer technical tools to create music. “Recently, I’ve been feeding my ideas to the Suno program. I just don’t always have time to sit in the studio and play all the instrumental parts separately. Suno instantly creates a possible version of how the song could sound. Some of the results are really interesting. However, when Vikat and I have tried to play the arrangement created by the A.I., the result has been much thinner, so even if the song seems cool at first, it still falls out of the game. And it’s also hard to sing along to the high intervals of the notes in songs created by the A.I., unless you’re Freddie Mercury.”
If you are interested in getting your musical ideas recorded, be sure to take a closer look at Pergerusstuudio.ee.
