Home taping... and what could be more homely than the sight of Roger Chatterton sucking pensively on his pipe, Jimmy the cat upon his knee, both bathed by the amber glow of the roaring log fire? But Roger is not staring idly into the embers, he is contemplating the 16-8-2 Allen & Heath mixing desk in front of him, wondering where he is going to allocate the next overdub on his shiny new Tascam 38 eight-track reel-to-reel tape machine.

At first sight, this small but comfortable terraced house in a Cambridge backstreet seems perfectly ordinary; perhaps there is more recording equipment scattered around than you might otherwise expect to find in such a location, but it certainly does not look like a recording studio.

Kite Studio's secret lies in its cellar. This small well soundproofed hole-in-the-ground is connected to Roger's desk via a short length of multicore, and a long history of interest in recording music.

"I work for one of the colleges in Cambridge, where I've designed and set up a two-track studio. But the authorities wouldn't let me use it for bands. Everytime I recorded anything musical, anything other than talk-overs, I got told off. So I thought 'bugger this. I'll get my own studio together.' I was fortunate enough to have the cellar. I suppose I had that in the back of my mind when I bought the house, that I might eventually use it..."

Until November of last year, Kite was only equipped with facilities for recording on four-track. The stalwart old Teac 3340 was matched up to a custom-built 16-4 channel desk, which also served for the frequent PA work Roger does.

"As the desk was designed for live work, I used to have problems with monitoring levels. It just wasn't flexible enough. The 3340 is a very basic, robust machine — rock solid, which shows the eight-track up as a bit plasticy. I used to have trouble with overdubbing, as the frequency response between the heads wasn't even, and you'd have to keep compensating with the Eq on record, and then re-compensating on playback. It took time, and you had to keep making allowances, explaining to the bands why this bit didn't sound like it did because you were doing this, or that..."

It was partly these limitations, combined with frustration, that drove Roger to move onto eight-track.

"I felt I'd gone as far as I could with four-track; I'd run out of creative ideas for getting more out of the system, so it was either 'give up', or go eight-track."

You might think that in the days of the £250 portastudio, set-ups like Kite aren't really necessary. But over the years, Roger has accumulated a range of outboard gear that it would take most portastudio owners a small fortune to buy, let alone learn how to use. Apart from the new desk and tape machine, there is a Revox A77 to master onto at 15ips; two cassette decks, including a three-head Sony, for copies; a TC Electronics ("I think they're Danish") Parametric Eq, ("it's stereo, four-band, much more specific than a graphic, and very quiet"); two Pye TVT Stereo Compressors, ("old but reliable"), a Drawmer stereo compressor, which Roger claims is amazing:—

"Even Trevor Horn admits to using those; they're not very expensive for studio standard, and you just don't seem to be able to overdrive them."

Effects include a Bel ADT ("from before digital was ever heard of — does its job though,"), and the much-loved Roland RE201 Space Echo ("much warmer sounding than a digital unit — half of them sound like they're kept in the fridge...").

Monitoring is via a Quad amp, and Tannoy Devon speakers ("the old dual concentrics, not the two — or three-way jobs — I think the Devons sound better"). Downstairs, an assortment of microphones, mainly Electro-Voice, do the job. As with Roger's effects rack, these have to double-up for stage use.

"You have to have good mikes. A lot of people spend money on fancy effects; but if you haven't got a good mike at the beginning, that's just a waste of time."

Aren't there problems involved in doing both studio work and PA hire?

"Apart from having to wire the rack for easy removal, none. It's a big help in lots of ways. It's very useful to hear what the bands really sound like — which I think is important for avoiding any preconceived notions you might have about their music. It's good for business too; I meet people, and bands often come into the studio after I've done PA for them, or vice versa, providing they like the tape."

The advent of the four-track cassette has meant that fewer synth/drum machine duos are found in Kite Studio. But while it is feasible to demo your group on a portastudio, the niceties of miking up drum kits are usually beyond the scope of most home recording artistes. Which is where Roger comes in. With his soundproofed cellar, he can cope with all but the loudest of noise merchants. Does he ever get any complaints?

"Occasionally — I have one neighbour who complains, but they're very good really. I do have to impose a curfew, but by the time it gets late, you're onto overdubs anyway, which is no problem."

Soundproofing is a problem that bothers most home studios from time to time, and although Kite is lucky enough to have a cellar, there are certain basic guidelines to follow which can help keep noise levels down wherever you are.

"Make sure the band is no louder than it needs to be, that you are room is irregularly shaped, avoid parallel surfaces whenever possible, try not to let the building transmit sound through its structure (bass cabinets on cushions), anything to prevent sound reflections, waves building up. Downstairs, the ceiling is all irregular, I've supported the floor joists on pieces of cork to absorb vibrations, put in as much rockwool behind double plaster board... Proper soundproofing is very expensive, but if you just do a little reading in reference books and magazines, it's quite easy to see what you have to do. And doing it for yourself has the advantage that you can put in a bit, try it out, then change it however you think fit."

Although Kite Studio's cellar is extremely small, Roger tries to work as live as possible.

"I try to discourage bands from wanting lots of overdubs. Less so now I have the eight-track, but on the 3340, continual overdubbing meant bouncing, which meant degenerations in sound quality. Not to mention that inexperienced musicians just aren't used to playing parts over and over — drummers get tired, voices go, and the whole exercise stops being productive. The tiredness shows on the tape.

"Beforehand, I like to have the band over for a chat to discuss exactly what they want. At this level, you're often working with musicians who've no experience of recording, so you can save a lot of time if they know what to expect — like, if they've never used headphone monitoring before, you have to take this into account. You work out how many songs they want to do, how much time they can afford... all the things you can do beforehand."

Roger commenced his recording career with the Revox A77. But a certain user-friendliness on the part of the sound-on-sound facilities (he couldn't get the hang of it) meant that Roger's skills were limited to live mixing onto tape. Obviously PA work was a help in developing this ability, which also meant that groups got a deadly accurate idea of what they sounded like.

"The most you could do was record the rhythm tracks, bounce them onto a cassette (via the desk) putting the vocals on at the same time, then put it back on the Revox. If you were careful, you didn't lose that much quality, particularly if you used a graphic to keep the top frequencies up a bit."

The Teac 3340 brought a much-needed degree of sophistication which, conversely, made recording a simpler process.

"I used two methods most: drums in stereo, guitars on one channel, bass on another, mix this down onto the Revox, then back to the Teac, leaving two tracks spare for voices. Or else I tried to record everything more or less live over two tracks, then use the other two for vocals or overdubs. One trick I learnt for the first method is to mix down to the Revox, then physically take that tape and put it onto the Teac. It saves a degree of degeneration."

Obviously this is only possible if both machines use ¼" tape. The Tascam 38 uses ½", but with an extra four tracks to play with, such devious ploys are less important.

"To have eight tracks is an absolute luxury. But if the band is good and together, I still prefer to do things as live as possible, as it gives a better feel. Of course, it does depend on what they want, and how much money they have."

The Time Factor: as always, this depends on money. But not unpleasantly so, it turns out.

"We work out how much they can afford — say it's only £50... I'd rather run overtime, and finish off something good which everybody is happy with, than just stop the clock and say 'that's your lot."

Four-track sessions at Kite Studios used to cost £5 per hour. But even with all the extras — which amount to another £2,000 of stuff at least — eight-track prices are still only £7 per hour. And the tea is free. Although the studio isn't brimming over with equipment, there are amps to borrow, and a Roland PF15 piano. Roger can hire in, but as most of the studio's income is ploughed back into recording gear, he hasn't found it worthwhile to provide full back line.

Kite is a popular demo studio amongst Cambridge bands, and several recordings have been released on the local Peeved tape label, notably The Detective, and Perfect Vision. Roger's engineering abilities (which extend beyond simple demos to educational recordings, voice-over editing for tourist firms and all sorts of other strange tasks) are well-respected in the area. And at £7 per hour, the service he offers represents a viable alternative for anyone who doesn't have the opportunity, expertise, or cash to record with their own portastudio. It may seem an old-fashioned alternative, but it works.

Kite Studios can be contacted at (Contact Details).