Malaysian music producer and wife design cosy, functional dream studio

Husband-and- wife duo Khairafik and Dilly worked hard to create their very own music studio that is uniquely theirs. Photos: The Star/Yap Chee Hong

When it comes to creating popular musical anthems, Khairafik Khairudin of the.koncept.lab comes to mind. Over the last three decades, the Kuala Lumpur-born music producer, who is popularly known as Rafik, has produced and worked with Malaysian stars such as Anuar Zain, Adeep Nahar, Altimet, Mimify and Ayda Jebat just to name a few.

He’s also composed a number of film scores such as 2022’s Eva – Take Me As I Am and Bisikan.

To see where the real magic happens, Rafik and his wife, Dilly, a voiceover talent and former radio DJ, recently opened the doors of their newly renovated music studio.

Nestled in the front part of his family home in Damansara, Petaling Jaya, the studio is enhanced with furniture and fixtures that Rafik built himself.

With this new studio, it was a chance for the couple to create their very own dream studio.

“A studio that is uniquely ours,” shares Dilly.Dilly now has her own office space at the new studio.

Says Rafik, “We wanted to have an expansion to the existing studio that we had and it was better to have separate spaces for everything – for work and lounging. It was time for a change.”

The 12ft x 27ft (3.65m x 8.22m) music studio boasts a separate lounge area, a small gallery featuring some of Rafik’s Transformers and Star Wars collection, a control room and a vocal room-cum-office.

Attention to detail

What’s striking about the studio is the cosy yet functional atmosphere, which touts a keen attention to detail. Each area has been measured and calculated by Rafik to ensure the best use of space that allows guests to enjoy its features.

Take the main area, for example, where a comfy sofa greets guests as they enter through the main door. A one-way window gives those inside a clear view of the outside and another glass partition separates Dilly’s office area with the main lounge.

A practical coffee corner with a floating high table below the one-way window lets guests enjoy a cup of coffee during meetings.The main control area where Khairafik creates music magic.

“We were getting more work especially after we got married (in 2019). And he was always saying what if we had this or did that so I said why don’t we just do it,” says Dilly.

“We wanted a certain look for the studio where everything is thought through even down to the trash bin. Every piece has to look like it was part of the aesthetics. We like the industrial look but we wanted something that felt warm and cosy.

“As a voiceover talent it took a bit of time getting used to working with him. Because of the fact that when I go to other studios to record, they usually have a studio booth that I go to in a separate room which is soundproof. It’s not as intimate as this. So I’ve come to appreciate doing my VO work without having any barriers.

“When we discussed expanding the studio I asked for my own office, a space to call my own. In the previous studio I didn’t have one. So if I brought my laptop there wouldn’t be a comfortable place to do work.

“But now I have my own office space where I can do most of my work comfortably – my very own lady lair!” says Dilly.

The studio creates an intimate setting for Dilly to record her voiceovers.

Making it functional

During a block party near their home, the couple met Simon Grote of Grote Builders who eventually became their studio builder. The wall demolition, structural walls, and ceilings were done within a couple of weeks after Hari Raya this year.

“Once that was done, it took us three months to set up the studio,” says Dilly.

“The finishing touches were pretty much DIY. We used whatever we had from the previous studio and the rest of it we shopped around from Shopee, Mr DIY, Ace Hardware and Ikea.”

Due to space and costs constraints, they opted for drywall insulated with rockwool.

“This was a more practical method and was easier to build. Rockwool is a mineral fibre often used for sound proofing. In fact some of the acoustic panels in the studio also have rockwool,” says Rafik, who hand-built the acoustic panels among others.A cosy coffee corner for guests to relax or for meetings with Rafik and Dilly.

Having worked with other studios and even helped build some throughout his career, Rafik had insights into what was needed to create a professional music studio.

“I may be marked by others for saying this but equipment doesn’t matter. What matters is your skill and how you set it up,” says Rafik.

“You can have similar results with a RM10,000 studio as someone who builds a RM100,000 studio. It depends on how you do it. You can have a mid-tier microphone, audio interface and computer workstation which allows you to have the same results as other big studios.

“To me, acoustics is much more important than sound proofing. It’s two different things that not many people know about. The foam you see here is not soundproof, but they are acoustic treatment to avoid too much echo and to have some dry environment to record your vocals. The walls are supposed to be soundproof,” he adds.

The toughest part of creating the studio? According to Dilly, it’s the wooden panel in the control area.

“It’s an aesthetic feature of the space of course. It has a wow factor so when you come in, it’s the first thing you see. And also since it’s made from wood, it acts as an acoustic treatment as well,” she says. This wooden panel in the control area adds a wow factor to the studio and acts as a rear wall diffuser as well.

“It also acts as a rear wall diffuser, when the speakers from the front of the control room emits sound it will be travelling to the back of the wall and the back of the wall is one of the most important aspects of any recording studio where you need absorption and some diffusion to have a more natural sounding environment for the audio engineer, which is me,” adds Rafik.

“When I’m in the centre of the control room, I’m just listening to the speakers and not to the room.The design of the studio is practical for us and is just nice for everything with how the acoustic works.

"It is a really good environment to record vocals and music in as this is a fully functional professional studio. The basics are the same regardless of how big or small the space is. The only difference is that the location is at a home,” adds Rafik.