Cut with precision. Built to move. Made to last.
A recording studio and teaching space in Anna Nagar, Chennai, named after stonework that has outlasted five centuries of earthquakes.
An engineering marvel that shouldn’t have survived.
High in the Peruvian Andes, the Inca built Machu Picchu without mortar, iron tools or a written blueprint. Their method, ashlar masonry, cut stone blocks so precisely that each one locked into its neighbours. Not even a knife blade slips between them.
But precision wasn’t the real achievement. The Andes are earthquake country, and rigid walls crack. Ashlar walls were built to move: when the ground shakes, the stones shift and sway, then settle back into place. In 1950 an earthquake levelled colonial buildings across Cusco and revealed the Inca walls beneath them, standing exactly as they were built five centuries earlier.
Why that’s the story of a good mix
A mix isn’t finished when it sounds good in the studio. It’s finished when it survives the real world: a club system pushing the low end, a phone speaker with none, earbuds, car stereos, streaming loudness. A well-built mix flexes without failing, because every vocal, drum, bass line and space was fitted with precision, one decision at a time.
And of good teaching
Ashlar masons passed their technique on to apprentices, generation after generation. Ashlar Audio does the same: a working studio where technique, standards and craft get passed on, so what you build here keeps standing long after you’ve moved on to the next project.
Cut with precision.
Every part of a mix is fitted so nothing fights for space, the way no blade slips between ashlar stones.
Built to move.
Records that hold up on club rigs, car stereos, earbuds and phone speakers, then settle back into shape.
Made to last.
Craft passed on, the way masons trained apprentices, through the Core Audio Programme.
Logus Sethia
Logus Sethia is the founder of Ashlar Audio, a studio and training space in Anna Nagar, Chennai. He grew up playing music, performing in school bands and winning interschool cultural events, and went on to earn a Diploma in Sound Engineering with distinction, taking part in many recordings and live shows along the way.
He began his studio career as an assistant engineer at Firdaus Studio, where he worked on recording, mixing and mastering projects, including an AR Rahman birthday tribute. He has also been part of the live engineering team for Mohini Dey and Chandresh Kudwa, and is the sound engineer for the band Not So Regional. Alongside this, he works as a freelance mixing and scoring engineer for short films.
Fluent in Logic Pro, Pro Tools and Ableton, and an expert on console operation, Logus now teaches the Core Audio Programme, a hands-on course in music and audio production for beginners and curious listeners alike.
You don’t need experience, only curiosity and a good pair of ears.
