When Hirie was ready to track “Blacklist” with Matisyahu, she didn’t book Los Angeles or Nashville. She booked Idea Studios in Honolulu.
The Oahu-based reggae artist, born Patricia Jetton, has built a career singing about her home island. “Blacklist,” released in July 2022, is a Reggaeville-covered single that pairs her warm vocal tone with Matisyahu’s roots-reggae intensity. The track became one of her highest-streamed releases of that year.
It was recorded at Idea Studios in Honolulu.
Why Hirie chose Idea Studios for the Blacklist session
For an artist whose entire identity is rooted in the islands, the decision to track a Matisyahu collaboration locally instead of flying it to a mainland engineer matters. Hirie’s albums Wandering Soul (2016) and Dreamer (2019) had been her commercial breakouts. The follow-up singles needed to land sonically without compromising her Hawaii foundation.
Idea Studios in Honolulu offered what most local studios on Oahu couldn’t:
- A vocal chain built to LA mixing standards (Neumann TLM 102 into Universal Audio Apollo, the same signal path used in the LA rooms where studio founder DJ Idea trained with Cardo Got Wings).
- Acoustic treatment that meets professional recording-studio specifications, not project-room compromises (double drywall, double doors, full suede sound treatment).
- A track-per-hour pacing model that means the song is mixed and walks out the door, not “rough mix one, rough mix two two months later.”
Those are the floor for a vocal-driven reggae record paired with a Matisyahu collaboration.
The Hawaii local recording-studio gap, before Idea Studios
Until Idea Studios opened in November 2019, Oahu artists looking to record at a true LA-grade standard had a hard choice. The legacy Honolulu studios were either built for an earlier sonic standard (reflecting their 2003-era construction) or didn’t offer the modern signal chain modern reggae and hip-hop demand.
DJ Idea’s response was to import the standard, not import the work. The acoustic build-out in Honolulu replicates what the Burbank rooms got right. The mixing standards were dialed in alongside What Up 5, an LA engineer whose work has helped sharpen the studio’s sound. Every Studio A and Studio B session at Idea Studios is paced as one finished track per booked hour. That’s the standard Hirie tracked under.
What the Blacklist session sounded like
Tracked in Studio A at Idea Studios with full mic-booth isolation. Vocal chain: Neumann TLM 102 into Universal Audio Apollo. Monitoring on Yamaha HS10 stack. The session followed the studio’s standard delivery model: the vocal was recorded, edited, comped, and mixed before the session block ended.
For “I’m High,” her follow-up collaboration with Inna Vision (released May 2023), the music video was also shot on the Idea Studios premises. The Hawaii backdrops in that video aren’t a coincidence. They’re the actual studio space.
What this means for other Hawaii artists looking for a recording studio
If Hirie, an artist with the resources to track anywhere, chose Idea Studios in Honolulu over the alternatives, the question working Hawaii artists should ask is: what does the choice signal about the sonic ceiling on Oahu?
Idea Studios in Honolulu is built to deliver finished, broadcast-ready vocal tracks at LA quality, paced one finished song per booked hour, with the signal chain technique passed down from working LA engineers. For reggae, hip-hop, R&B, or any vocal-driven project, the studio is the answer to the “do I have to fly to the mainland” question.
You don’t.
Book a session at Idea Studios
Studio A and Studio B are engineer-supported and bookable by direct inquiry. Studio C is self-serve, bookable online with Stripe Identity verification and a $100 minimum (two hours at $50/hour).
Read more about the Idea Studios story and the full credit wall.
