It was with great interest that I ventured to Glasgow's West End to visit Cava. Several months previously I had seen the beginning of extensive renovations to the studio which at that time involved the building being stripped back to its foundations. Before I go any further, I'll give you a brief history of the studio.

There is quite a contrast between today's list of equipment and the two Revox A77s that Cava started with 10 years ago. This little set up was housed in a small basement in Glasgow; I'm sure you could imagine that expansion was soon inevitable and this necessitated a move to larger premises and expansion to 8-track, then 16-track and finally 24-track. It was at this address that a young up and coming band called Simple Minds made full use of the studio's facilities. Very soon after this, yet another move was made to the present address which is a large disused church.

Today the studio occupies what was once the crypt and various other rooms like the toilets and vestry etc. However, the main part of the church with the pews and all that sort of business is dormant waiting for some future project, (I've heard strictly unofficial rumours of video studios or orchestral recording facilities). There is certainly room for plenty of expansion. That's enough of the history, now for the studio itself.

A lot of money has been spent on the studio control room which has involved everything, right down to structural alterations. Dave Hawkins of Eastlake was called in to see what he could do and he has done a lot. The control room acoustics are not too dry and certainly not what you could call live either — very workable. It's around 7m square with a 3m high ceiling so there's plenty of room for everyone. Off to the left is a peculiar shaped instrument isolation room and to the right is a vocal isolation room. Both of these are extremely dead. Also on the right of the control room is the tape machine room, so there's no annoying clicks and gaduncks as the machines are put through their paces. This leaves the control room for what it was designed for — getting a good sound.

Obviously contributing to a good sound is good gear, and there's not a shortage of that here. When I say good I mean good and not 'flavour of the month' type good. The desk is an MJI J600 series 28/24 which runs into an MCI 24-track tape machine. Mastering is done on Sony F-1 digital or on Otari ½" two-track. In-house monitoring is by way of a pair of Roger Quested 3/way active speakers which are driven by a Hill DX 300 for bass; a Yamaha PM2002 for mid and a Yamaha PM1002 for top end, so they're not exactly short of a watt or two. There's also a pair of Yamaha NS-10s which are becoming more popular. Outboard equipment comprises of AMS 15-80 delay with 6s delay and harmonising cards, Klark-Teknik DX780 digital reverb and Eventide 949 harmoniser. Other items include Drawmer dual comp/limiters, dbx units, Yamaha effects, etc.

The studio owns a few instruments but can get a hold of just about anything if it's needed. There's a kitchen and a TV room for studio users and accommodation can be arranged. When I was in John Martyn was having his new album moved down and it sounded very good. This studio, especially with its Eastlake room and Quested monitors is well worth a look at even for London bands since it has 24-track rates from £30 per hour.

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