Lito's Place

Lito's Place is a recording studio in Swieqi that describes itself as having a modern mind with a vintage soul. It was formerly Wave Recording Studio, first established in 1990, so it has a long record on the island. The base is close to St Julian's, the coastal town with a busy seafront, plenty of restaurants and shops and lively nightlife, which gives visiting musicians an easy place to stay and unwind between sessions.

The clientele spans classical, jazz, pop and contemporary artists, as well as companies. The studio is listed with the island's recording studios in Malta.

Music production, mixing and mastering

Production, mixing and mastering are the main studio services. The rooms are equipped with a mixture of analogue and digital equipment, with substantial investment along the signal chain. Microphones come from makers such as Neumann, Sennheiser, DPA and Sontronics, and the studio uses SSL and Avalon preamps with high-end converters.

Engineers are experienced in microphone placement for jazz ensembles, string quartets and live bands. The studio also gives access to session players and to a community of arrangers, producers and songwriters. These are arranged project by project, so send a detailed description of what you want and the studio will match you with suitable people.

Mastering is offered at an affordable price, with ISRC codes and metadata included. If your release needs sequencing, the studio provides industry-standard DDP files or can post the final CD.

Podcasts, voice-overs and audio post-production

For television and film work, the studio runs the latest Pro Tools technology and can handle full HD material for ADR (re-recording dialogue) and voice-overs. Its microphones include Neumann U87s, a Sontronics ARIA tube microphone, the Sennheiser MKH 40 and the Shure SM7B often used for podcasting, backed by analogue channel strips and preamps.

Companies that are setting up on the island and need voice-overs for training or marketing can read our UK guide to relocating to Malta and the Malta tax guide for UK nationals alongside.

Transfers, duplication and Dolby Atmos

Lito's Place also bridges old and new formats. Its transfer service covers cassette, vinyl, reel to reel, DAT, MiniDisc and CD, and the engineers can restore old recordings to a cleaner standard. This is useful for families with archive tapes or for musicians who want to digitise earlier releases.

CD duplication is available, with in-house cover design so you can leave with a finished product. The studio also has a Dolby Atmos music suite using a calibrated 7.1.4 EVE Audio monitoring system for immersive three-dimensional mixes, although the services page marks the Atmos service as coming soon, so ask about availability.

Clients and community

The studio calls its clients partners, from solo artists to forward-thinking companies, and the work is built around quality and innovation rather than volume. Classical, jazz, pop and contemporary musicians all use the rooms, which is unusual for a single studio and reflects the range of microphones and engineers on hand.

Many people who record in Malta are also exploring a move or a business base here. Our overview of financial services in Malta and our digital nomad guide offer starting points, and the harbour towns across the water are covered in our Three Cities guide for anyone with an afternoon free.

Visiting artists and getting started

Lito's Place offers package deals for foreign artists that include accommodation in premium hotels in Malta. For help choosing an area, see our guide to where to stay in Malta and the hotels in Sliema and St Julian's, and for travel see our flights to Malta guide. Between sessions, our Valletta guide and things to do in Malta pages are good for days off.

Prices are not published. Use the VisitMalta.co.uk enquiry form on this page, describe the project and your dates, and we will pass your message to the studio.