What can you not do in college? With passion, one can apparently shorten the list by a great deal. This autumn, two KAIST students with their colleagues have opened the Baekyang401 Studio under their names in Eoeun-dong in high quality and low price range. Best part is, everything from blueprints and funding to hanging the signboard were done autonomously. The KAIST Herald interviewed its founders, Seokhyun Suh and Chanwook Kim, to learn more.

[Suh] I am Seokhyun Suh, majoring in the Department of Computer Science, and I am in the class of 2012.

[Kim] I am Chanwook Kim from the Department of Industrial Design and I am also in the class of 2012.

[Suh] We used to be part of a four-man band back in high school at Korea Science Academy of KAIST (KSA). All four of us were roommates and our room was number 401 in the Baekyang dormitory, and that is where the studio gets its name from. The four of us signed the contract for the site in the further parts of Eoeun-dong in May 2012 and started the actual construction in June. However, we had little time to spare during the semester, so much of the work was done during the breaks. Although it took around a year and a half, considering only the construction periods, it took around seven to eight months.

[Kim] It felt like making a special clubroom just for us. Within KAIST, there are no studio rooms, so it is hard to find a place to practice as a band, even more so if the band is not an official club in KAIST. Also, the older members of official club bands may sometimes feel that they may be intruding in on the jam sessions of the newer members and end up without a place to go to practice. Summed up, there are not enough places to practice, so we decided to make one ourselves.

[Kim] All the funds came out of our pockets; the 20,000,000 Korean Won bill split by four, five people. We have only been open for two weeks at this point. So we have not had that many bands use our studio. MUSE, an official club band in KAIST, used it briefly before its concert and the Industrial Design Department band intend on becoming regulars. Hopefully, there will be more customers, allowing us to fill in the cost.

[Suh] I have wanted a studio to myself for quite a long time. Obviously, playing instruments in places like apartments where most people live is a no-go. So I always wanted to have a place to play at ease with my high school friends. Is that not the dream of any guy who plays in a band - to have their own studio?

[Suh] I actually started preparing in high school by studying studio constructions for about a year. First and foremost, we had to clear out the original interior furnishings and get a blueprint. The hardest part of the construction was making it soundproof. We actually got a place underground so the sound would not leak outside and cause havoc. There are two more walls apart from the structural concrete walls. The outer wall is made of wood and was already there when we got the place and we decided to keep it; the inner wall is composed of soundproof plaster. After the walls are in place, the rest is a matter of pulling in electricity and furnishing the place.

[Kim] Before building the studio, we actually visited and used most of the studios in Daejeon thinking, ‘we are going to build one at least better than this place.’ The studio actually provides much better service than other studios, which also are more expensive. Studios usually allot smaller space to their users compared to us and have worse gear. Our guitar amp is the JCM 800 model, let alone the 1,000,000 Korean Won bass amp. The most innovative feature of Baekyang401 Studio is that it has two drum sets, one being electric and the other acoustic. So it would be possible for two drummers to jam together, unlike other studios. Finally, although it is not up to professional standards, recording is available so the bands could easily record their music or sessions in a reasonable quality for a low price.