​Berlin’s Dubplates & Mastering forced to relocate after 26 years

Berlin’s Dublates & Mastering studio is being forced to relocate after learning that its current building has been sold to a German investment group.

Announcing the news on Instagram on Thursday (December 8) the cutting and audio mastering studio said: “Ok, it happened. The building our studio has been in for the past 25 years has been sold.”

D&M added that its contract now ends in October next year, meaning the studio will now need to relocate and find a new home in Berlin.

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“The new owner terminated our lease after October 2023 and we are looking for a new place,” they said. “If you hear about anything, let us know!”

Dubplates & Mastering has been a permanent resident of Berlin’s Paul-Lincke-Ufer next to Kottbusser Tor station since 1996. According to mastering engineer Kassian Troyer, the building has been sold by a Danish real estate company to a German investment group.

Speaking to Resident Advisor, Troyer said: “Gentrification has been quite severe in Berlin for a number of years now and particularly in our part of town, so in a way we were rather lucky that we could stay that long.”

He added that “the new owners apparently follow a common pattern” in which they buy a whole building block and “split it up into smaller entities and sell those on to make a profit”.

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“Therefore, they terminated the leases of all tenants at the first possible instance,” he told RA. “Since the whole building was sold from one private entity to another, there isn't much one can do about it.”

Also in the same building is the Berlin record store Hard Wax, which will also likely be forced to move by October 2023. "It's sad since the place has a lot of history,” Troyer said.

“Rebuilding this set-up with all the acoustics and moving all of the equipment etc. will require a lot of work and a lot of money.”

Troyer added that the studio will continue operating as usual for now while keeping a “positive perspective”, as they begin the search for a new home.

[Via Resident Advisor]

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Editorial Assistant, follow her on Twitter