PAN Studio's website and social media are more about listening than reading. But of course, this is only natural, since PAN Studio is a versatile recording studio. One of its special features is its location, nestled in the heart of a Brussels coworking space, Pepibru, which specialises in hosting companies operating in the audiovisual, communications and events sectors.
P for Philippe (Ledent), composer and sound director; A for Arnaud (Blanpain), composer and sound director; N for Natacha (Manco), audiovisual producer. But also PAN, like the god of music, like the prefix that indicates "everything", like the childish interjection in French, or like the onomatopoeia, Bang!, used to demonstrate a blow. These three letters summarise the essence of this recording studio founded in 2021 by some of the profession's true pros. But PAN's story is much longer and more complex than it seems. Its roots lie in the buzz of the advertising world in the 80s and 90s, and in the upheavals of the industry over the past decade, which no doubt explains how it has managed to constantly expand its areas of expertise.
At the heart of the advertising world
At PAN Studio's premises in the heart of the Pepibru coworking space, in the dim recording booth lined with its pink soundproofing insulation, now well known in the business for both its original look and technical quality, Natacha Manco talks frankly about the company's history and future prospects.
"Philippe and I have always worked together in the advertising industry, he in the studio as a sound engineer and composer, and I in visuals before I joined him in the studio," she explains. "Over time, advertising agencies that used to use the services of independent studios started to merge, becoming rarer and setting up their own in-house structures." At the time that Belgium's advertising market was experiencing this shift, Natacha and Philippe were approaching fifty. "Who was going to hire us? At our age, nobody!" says Natacha. "The only people who could trust us were ourselves. So, we hired ourselves. We could have taken over the company where we had started working together, and we gave it a lot of thought. But in the end, circumstances led us to opt for a new project under a new name – smaller, more modest, more in tune with the new, trendy generation of social networking and coworking enthusiasts. We were aware that it was essential we renew ourselves, think differently. Until then, Arnaud had been working on his own, and on a broader range of projects: documentaries, sometimes advertising, sometimes cinema. That's when he decided to join us."
The benefits of coworking
With the COVID epidemic crippling the economy, Natacha set about finding suitable premises for PAN Studio, and quite naturally turned to Brussels' many coworking spaces. She was charmed by Pepibru, which offered a number of practical advantages at an affordable price: "Here, the space available to us can be adjusted according to our needs and how we grow," she explains. "There was no question of a nine-year commercial lease, like with more traditional rentals. What's more, Pepibru is very close to the Gare du Midi, making it easy to reach Paris on the Eurostar; it’s close to the motorway for easy access from Flanders, and has parking facilities with plenty of space for our customers. And last but not least, the brightness of the premises was very appealing. When you work in the studio, you're often in basements, in cellars, in the dark. You feel isolated and I didn't want to work like that anymore."
Following your heart
As well as offering a range of services that can be found in many coworking spaces, Pepibru had another major advantage for Natacha: "Straight away, I enjoyed having many other audiovisual start-ups around, too," she notes. "It's an environment where friendliness really means something, where everyone understands each other. Even on my very first visit to the premises, I bumped into people I knew, and when we moved in, a lot of the companies around noticed us – us and our pink faux fur-lined recording studio – as we passed in the corridor. We've worked together, had some great discussions, helped each other out on some projects, and we're even still working with some partners who were here at Pepibru when we arrived and who have since moved elsewhere."
Another advantage that Natacha enjoys in coworking spaces is the mix of generations. "This level of the building is dedicated to start-ups. So, we mix with a lot of young people throughout the day or at events organised on site. Ideal for keeping up with the times!"
Diversification
Because it's just that – keeping up with the times, with the trends, and even getting ahead of them – that is the biggest challenge for the PAN Studio team. "We're going to have to reinvent ourselves much more often than before," says Natacha. "We only started producing podcasts two or three years ago, and it turns out that we're really good at it, that we've already built up a positive reputation in this field. This is no doubt due to the fact that we come from the advertising industry, with its jingles, composed music and highly polished studio work. When we started podcasting, we went from being sound producers to composers, sound engineers, journalists and directors. It's really interesting, very varied and we're still surprised by some of the projects. We had to ride the podcast wave, and we did, but I think we're going to have to add a new service, a new string to our bow. We've just started producing audiobooks, another rapidly growing niche. I get the impression that podcasts have led some customers to audiobooks and vice versa. But if everything we're learning becomes obsolete, we'll learn something else, including AI."
One of the other lessons learned during this breaking-in period was the attitude they took towards prospects: "We had to change it up, because it's difficult, when you're switching from salaried employment to entrepreneurship, not to feel like you're asking for a handout when you approach customers", Natacha observes. "When you're self-employed, you're not making an application. You're offering a service. We're not asking for a job, we are offering to help. It's not the same thing. It's a very different approach."
Into the future
Today, PAN Studio does not enable its three creators to make a full living from the business. All three profiles are still necessary, however, to guarantee customers the service they expect. Natacha is realistic, yet moderately optimistic about the company's future. But there may be a number of avenues that they haven't yet sufficiently explored, such as the French market or the entrepreneurial support available in Brussels. In any case, their story isn't over yet.