Classical Recording Studios

[Tristan Hackney]

Hi there fellow slutz!

I work freelance recording classical recordings for a company based in London. It seems to be that there are only a handful of places in London that offer classical recordings in a studio environment.

Pinewood
Air studios
Abbey Road

Are there any more based in London that i'm not aware of?
If not.... why!
I'm sure there is enough demand for film score recording, no?

[jahtao]

Always heard very good things about Angel studios....

A n g e l S t u d i o s - L o n d o n

[klaukholm]

You may want to post in the remote forum.

[Jules]

The ex CTS people? In Watford? "Phoenix"?

[Jules]

OK its in pinewood. Phoenix sound

[minister]

Originally Posted by klaukholm

You may want to post in the remote forum.

And not be so remote in the post forum.

[Recording David]

There's also Henry Wood Hall at London Bridge. It's used by remote guys (i.e. no studio built in).

It's also used as a rehearsal space by the LSO I think, so you'll get a full orchestra in there, and it sounds simply amazing.

[Tristan Hackney]

Well the company i freelance for is a classical location recording company.
Called the Classical Recording Company (CRC). Their professionalism, dedication and experience is boundless. True professionals!

But I was talking about recording studios rather than companies who do remote jobs really.

I would love to see some classical recording companies starting up. At the moment the only studio based facilities, have been around for ages.

[sonare]

Originally Posted by Recording David

There's also Henry Wood Hall at London Bridge. It's used by remote guys (i.e. no studio built in).

It's also used as a rehearsal space by the LSO I think, so you'll get a full orchestra in there, and it sounds simply amazing.

David,

Simply BRILLIANT images on your website- where did you get them?

Rich

[matthewd]

Tristan

I share your frustration - there used to be Whitfield Street and CTS but alas both are gone. The sad truth is that the hourly rate classical recordings in particular can command simply don't tally with the real estate. I remember when CTS was still up and running they used to make far more money on match days by renting out the parking to VIPS than Studio 1 would make on an orchestral session. Back then it was about £230 an hour inc engineer. Bearing in mind the cost of a venue plus a mobile, you can see why it wasn't sustainable and many of these discs of course only sell 2000 copies or so. It would take a brave person indeed to set up a new orchestral studio in or around London, lovely though it would be.

Matt

[Ozpeter]

Churches are used a great deal of course. I "discovered" one that hadn't been used before and did a series of CDs there (non orchestral though) - I discovered later that I'd effectively doubled the income of the Church, even though the payments were not astronomical. Good economics all round compared with running a full time big studio.

[0VU]

If not.... why!

It's called economics.

I'm sure there is enough demand for film score recording, no?

No.


I take it you've not been doing this very long?

[0VU]

Originally Posted by Ozpeter

Churches are used a great deal of course. I "discovered" one that hadn't been used before and did a series of CDs there (non orchestral though) - I discovered later that I'd effectively doubled the income of the Church, even though the payments were not astronomical. Good economics all round compared with running a full time big studio.

I was in a similar position of having found an excellent and very cheap church for recording chamber music. It had a really nice chamber acoustic, airy and spacious but not 'churchy' or reverberant; able to sound intimate without being oppressive or boxy. It was even fairly quiet - unusual in SE England. The session proceeds more than doubled the church's income and the money paid for fixing some leaks, re-wiring and better lighting, secondary glazing on a couple of windows, and even a new heating system, all of which worked well for everyone.

Twelve years after we started using it, when the place was no longer falling down or in danger of burning down due to an electrical fire, and was warm and well lit, they had to find new things on which to spend the cash. When asked if there was anything we would like to see, we suggested that some refurbishment of the choir vestry/kitchen or perhaps a toilet closer than 100yds away would be good. The vicar and choirmaster agreed but were overruled by the Parish Council who had other plans.

The next time we arrived for a session it was to find that every square foot of floor space had been covered in a very luxurious, very thick, very acoustically absorbent, red carpet! We tried for three hours to work around the new lack of an acoustic before giving in and taking the sessions to another venue. We haven't been back since.

[John Willett]

Originally Posted by 0VU

I was in a similar position of having found an excellent and very cheap church for recording chamber music. It had a really nice chamber acoustic, airy and spacious but not 'churchy' or reverberant; able to sound intimate without being oppressive or boxy. It was even fairly quiet - unusual in SE England. The session proceeds more than doubled the church's income and the money paid for fixing some leaks, re-wiring and better lighting, secondary glazing on a couple of windows, and even a new heating system, all of which worked well for everyone.

Twelve years after we started using it, when the place was no longer falling down or in danger of burning down due to an electrical fire, and was warm and well lit, they had to find new things on which to spend the cash. When asked if there was anything we would like to see, we suggested that some refurbishment of the choir vestry/kitchen or perhaps a toilet closer than 100yds away would be good. The vicar and choirmaster agreed but were overruled by the Parish Council who had other plans.

The next time we arrived for a session it was to find that every square foot of floor space had been covered in a very luxurious, very thick, very acoustically absorbent, red carpet! We tried for three hours to work around the new lack of an acoustic before giving in and taking the sessions to another venue. We haven't been back since.

I know the place - I recorded a very nice clarinet quartet CD there (*before* they had the carpet done) - not been back since they laid the carpet.

I bet they are still wondering why the money has dried up and no-one records there any more.

Very sad, it was a nice place with a very nice pub round the corner that did good food.

[sonare]

Originally Posted by 0VU

We tried for three hours to work around the new lack of an acoustic before giving in and taking the sessions to another venue.

This is fascinating. I would think that three minutes would be about 2 minutes more that you'd need to clap your hands a few times, shake your head in a disbelieving gesture, and leave with slumped shoulders.

Not that church councils change their minds-- but is it simply "not done" in England to send a letter explaining why you now cannot use their beautiful carpet-endowed sanctuary?

This is a little mind-bending, having been in a few dozen English churches. Had someone recently been to America and got the idea to re-create our dreadful non-acoustics? At least here a vestry can't overrule a rector! I am astonished that it can happen there in the C of E.

Rich

[Ozpeter]

Ah, lost venues.... now there's a subject in itself. All Saints Petersham springs instantly to mind - wonderful acoustic, but the most creepy place on the planet if you were packing up on your own late at night, and had to turn off the lights at one end, then walk through the spooky darkness to the door at the other...

It had an intriguing history - the only link I can immediately find is at http://www.southwark.anglican.org/do...ches/PET01.pdf - downstairs Tryggvi Tryggvason had a permanent control room installed, and upstairs Keith somebody had an Olympic desk installed in a side chapel - the desk had been used for the early Stones or Who hits - somebody might help me improve the accuracy of my memories!

When recording failed to cover the costs it was sold for conversion to a house (wow, some house it would have made!) - a tragedy for the loss of the acoustic. Why aren't acoustics protected by law same as other architectural features of old buildings? I made a five minute TV programme in the church that was aired on Thames Television to protest about the closure, but the only outcome of that was a few people in the street saying "hey, I saw you on the telly last night".

The church I 'discovered' - St Philips Norbury - already had a carpet at the altar end - I normally used the other end for recording. When I arrived for one session the carpet had been taken up for some sort of works, and the result was magic - clear focus at the back end but a lovely bloom coming from a distance where the carpet was gone. You can hear samples on Amazon still though the Olympia release is no longer available (but I notice the Regis label recently re-issued it) - see Amazon.com : Music Sampler for Amazon samples.

[Nobilmente]

You could try Tony Wass in Birmingham, he's only just up the road from London - he's at Ninth Wave Audio. He's on the ball.

Mobile or walk-in gear.

Take a look at his website.

Ninth Wave Audio - State of the art equipment from Sadie to Sony to Sennheiser

Mention Geoff suggested - Oh! There goes my anonymity!