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Studio Of The Month

The Lodge

Article from International Musician & Recording World, June 1986

Jim Betteridge gets pastoral down at The Lodge


Rural Hi-Tech


It is Spring again and the countryside of England is ablaze of snowdrops, daffodils, crocuses and polyanthus. Once again there are the long country walks, the picnics by the river and the simple joy of feeling the sun on your skin.

Okay, being realistic about it, there may be the occasional April/May/June shower or two to contend with, but even so the thought of striding passionately through sun blessed meadows of bluebells and cowslips rejoicing in the rebirth of nature's glory, like some latter day St Francis of Assisi figure, has a definite appeal for me. What madness to spend the Summer amid the smoke and grime of London.

With this in mind, if you or your record company are about to spend a load of cash on recording an album or even a few tracks, why not take the opportunity to get a little genuine country air in your lungs? Not many of us can afford the likes of The Manor or Jacobs, but there is a viable alternative: The Lodge. Less than an hour-and-a-half up the M11 from London is Claret Hall Farm, home of said Lodge recording studio. It has a Cadac 36:24 console with VCA subgrouping and four-band sweep/parametric eq, a Studer A800 24-track, Sony F1 digital mastering, JBL 4350/Super Reds/Davids/Auratones monitoring a reasonable selection of mikes (AKG, Neumann and Shure) and countless acres of unspoilt countryside on which to rest your senses.

The studio was designed by and for The Enid who rent the farm house and the barn from a local farmer. The studio itself was built from the ground upwards in 1981, within the pleasantly dilapidated wooden shell of the barn, and thus enjoys the structural and acoustic advantages of modern building techniques without altering the rustic appearance of the whole. The interior design is as much in consideration of general mood and ambience as anything else, and in the two-and-a-half years that Andy Black has been studio manager, a spectrum analyser hasn't darkened the doorstep. The acoustic treatment for both the control room and the studio area consists of rough uneven plaster work providing high frequency diffusion, wooden boards laid against battens placed directly on the brick walls presumably acting as low frequency absorption and thick mats of Norfolk reed dampening mid frequencies. Most finished surfaces are a light beige/creme, the wood is all untreated and light in colour and the lighting, though mostly from spot lights, is pleasantly diffused. The overall feel is very easy and relaxing and even a little magical.

The recording area covers about 750 sq ft and can be divided into three sections along its length, each one becoming increasingly live, the final one having a stone floor and hard walls. The control room is a spacious 260 sq ft and standard auxiliary equipment includes Lexicon PCM60 and PCM70, Ursa Major Space Station, Yamaha Rev7 and R1000, Deltalab Acoustic computer, Ecoplate (stereo plate), three Cadac compressors, two Drawmer compressors, two MXR compressors, four Drawmer gates, six Rebis gates, a Roland SDE3000 programmable DDL, a pitch shifter and three DDLs from MXR. A Lexicon 224XL and an Ursa Major 626 Stargate are available at £65 and £20 per session, respectively.

A C3 Yamaha grand, a Yamaha PF15, an E-mu Drumulator, a MiniMoog and assorted Burman guitar amplification are supplied as standard, and by arrangement a Roland GR707/G700 guitar synth and a whole range of Yamaha instruments, including a KX88, TX816, QX1 and RX11, can be made available.

A 12 hour day will cost £192, an eight hour day £160 and a 24 hour day with unlimited use, £350. Rates include free accommodation for eight people with self catering facilities or in-house catering at extra cost. Obviously special deals can be done for longer periods. If you're looking for production help a 'production package' including the able assistance of Robert John Godfrey and Stephen Stewart (The Enid) plus all the facilities listed above will cost you £500 a day. Where are you going for your Summer Holidays?

The Lodge, (Contact Details)


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Publisher: International Musician & Recording World - Cover Publications Ltd, Northern & Shell Ltd.

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International Musician - Jun 1986

Recording World

Feature by Jim Betteridge

Previous article in this issue:

> Ramsa Compact Sound Monitors...

Next article in this issue:

> News


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