Real Surreal Studio is a professional mixing, mastering, and recording studio in Berlin. Its three engineers, Lizzie Davis, Bridget Ferrill, and Salka Valsdóttir, bring a variety of technical experience, in studio-based work as well as a range of other specialties, from theater to live sound to multichannel formatting. They are all also producers and musicians in their own right. In addition to performing the standard work of a sound studio, Real Surreal aims to facilitate a creative technical space that is welcoming to a wide range of people, and to support other women and nonbinary people in professional audio.
About Our Space:
We have an assortment of vintage equipment for tracking, ranging from Rhodes organs and Moog synthesizers to Musicman amps and a collection of classic microphones. For mixing and mastering, we have a selection of outboard gear we use in tandem with a digital system.
About Us:
Bridget Ferrill is a live and studio engineer with experience working in studios and venues such as Greenhouse Studios in Reykjavik, Machines with Magnets in Providence RI, and internationally with Boiler Room. Her specialties include engineering electroacoustic music and designing handmade electronics. Recent projects include engineering electronics for saxophonist Bendik Giske’s live show, designing the Anglerfish drone synth for Common Ground, and creating multimedia installations with Áslaug Magnúsdóttir.

Salka Valsdóttir is best known in some circles for her work in Daughters of Reykjavik and CYBER but in recent years she has begun to shine as a sound engineer working primarily in theatre and the studio. Between her two bands, she has released over 10 projects, all of which she‘s had a strong hand in producing and engineering. She has worked as a live engineer in the City Theater in Iceland as well as the Berliner Volksbühne. Recent projects include recording, producing, mixing, and mastering Special K‘s last record Lunatic Thirst, mastering for berlin-based artist Juno Francis, and was a co-sound designer for The Oddessy at Volksbühne. She is an expert engineer and producer for electronic music, specifically hip-hop and pop.

Lizzie Davis specalizes in unusual engineering situations. She has been active as a freelance sound engineer and technical director for radio, live music and audiovisual installations for the better part of the last decade. Her experience with highly detailed editing and recovery of archival audio, mixing for multichannel systems, and preference for nontraditional recording techniques result in her being fairly open to more experimental projects. Recent highlights include engineering and mastering Marc Matter and Stefan Römer’s Deconceptual Voicings project, mixing and coproduction with Christoph de Babalon on the record Suds - Sick Universe Demands Sharing, and assisting with the Seanaps Festival Radio Lab in Leipzig.

Photos by Kasia Zacharko