Recording Studios

RECORDING STUDIOS

Glasgow Edinburgh Aberdeen Dundee

Glasgow

Argyle Studios See Rehearsal rooms.
Blue Cloud Productions 25 Clyde Business Centre, 31 Clyde Street, Clydebank. G81 1PF. Tel. 0141 951 1100, bluecloudrecording@xln.co.uk. The best deals are single and album packages, providing everything you need from ProTools 24-track digital recording to design and duplication of the finished CD. This starts at £500 for a single and £850 for an album, both including loo copies of the finished article. No-frills recording and mastering with ProTools costs £20/hour. Separate CD duplication is available for larger runs. Sweaty drummers will appreciate the showers.
Blue Production 24 Gairbraid Avenue, Maryhill, Glasgow, 0141946 3366, www.blueproductions.com, info@blueproductions.co.uk. A well-kept secret, offering up to 128-track digital recording with Cubase running on G3 and G4 Macs, and 16-track analogue to 2 inch tape. There’s an impressive array of processors and effects including samplers, and also a range of keyboards. If you ‘re unsigned, recording and mastering cost £18/hour, £175 for a full 10-hour day, or £150/day if you book for three days or more. There’s also a single production package, which includes a consultation, session musicians (if required) and mastering your song to DAT and CD, all for £500. Rates for signed bands start from £25/hour for recording and mastering. An impressive range of vintage instruments and equipment is available for hire, starting from £10/day for effects pedals.
Carlton Studios See Rehearsal rooms.
Cava Sound Workshops 30 Bentinck Street, Glasgow, 0141334 5099, www.cavastudios.co.uk, HClark4422@aol.com. Part of Glasgow’s musical heritage, Cava has recorded bands for over 25 years to nationwide acclaim. Space isn’t a problem in this renovated church: studio one of three can comfortably accommodate a 50-piece orchestra. There’s comprehensive analogue and digital recording facilities, a full range of outboard gear and amps, a Bösendorfer imperial grand piano, other keyboards, and ample lounges with PlayStations and T Vs. Prices are usually worked out individually, but special deals are available for unsigned bands. A mobile 48-track analogue/digital studio can also be hired if you plan to get the TV rights to T in the Park before the networks, and there’s a CD duplication service offering small runs.
Chem19 Unit 5a, Peacock Cross Trading Estate, 32 Burubank Rd, Hamilton, 01698286882, www.chem19studios.co.uk, mail@chem19studios.co.uk. The nineteenth ‘release’ by Scotland’s premier independent label Chemikal Underground, in case the name stumped you. You’re likely to see any of the label’s signings in recording: starting at £20/hour for 24-track analogue onto 2 in tape and DAT mastering, or rehearsing, in one of two rooms equipped with Carlsboro, Marshall and Peavey amps, Pearl kit and PA, for £22/3 hours, down to £15 from noon to 6pm on weekdays.
Chow Productions Unit 7, Clyde Business Centre, 31 Clyde Street, Clydebank, 0141 952 3111. Operates on an individual basis with each client, and caters mostly for professionals; consequently, no backline is provided. There’s enough floorspace for 40 musicians, meaning a lot of choirs and big bands are recorded here, alongside voice-overs and adverts. Chow also offers graphic design, duplication and shrink-wrapping. A new studio is being built.
Core Studios See Rehearsal rooms.
GoGoStudios www.gogostudios.com info@gogostudios.com provide a quality service for professionals & the creative on a budget. Located between Great Western Rd and Byres road in the west-end of Glasgow. You can get a quote on the website tailored to your specific needs. As well as a recording studio GoGoStudios Multimedia offer a wide range of other services for musicians. Check em out!
Encore Music 45 Herbertshire Street, Denny, 01324881881. Based in two spacious rooms of a detached house, Encore primarily records for songwriters who want to see their work fleshed out with accompaniments and backing tracks. Recording is done on a Mac running Cubase. A 10-hour day costs £200,8 hours costs £160 all-inclusive. Duplication runs of up to 400 copies, start from £1.10/CD with a basic sleeve.
The Foundry Unit 1b, Glasgow Media Park, 24 Craigmont Street, Glasgow, 0141 403 1556. Features ADAT digital tape recorders, Cubase VST hard disk recording, and a wide range of outboard effects and processors. £15/hour for 24-track digital recording, £20/hour for mastering. Shares all the amenities the Practice Pad has to offer (see Rehearsal rooms).
Gravity Studios 54 Washington Street, Glasgow, 0141 2045394. Located in, but independent from Berkeley 2 (see Rehearsal rooms), Gravity offers 24-track digital recording mastered to any digital format for £240 plus VAT for a 10-hour day. Recent artists include Mull Historical Society, AC Acoustics and Eugene Kelly.
Homegrown Productions Todhill Farm, Larbert Nr Falkirk, www.homegrown-productions.co.uk, info@homegrown-productions.co.uk. Record your folk or rock in the country in this converted farmhouse just off the M876, 30 minutes from Glasgow. Homegrown offers analogue or ProTools digital recording and provides a full backline with Ampeg and Marshall amps and a range of keyboards and effects. There’s CD duplication available for small or large runs, mastering services, a cover design facility and a handy basic web site design service which can print your details and MP3 songs onto the net under your own domain name. If you like it country-style, the studio can also arrange affordable local accommodation.
Lemon Groove Records 10 Clydeholm Road, Whiteinch, Glasgow, 01415765154. Dance specialists Lemon Groove have taken over the former Celestial Sounds studio primarily for their own interests, but they also hire it out when the room’s free. 24-track recording costs £20/hour all inclusive and is blocked in eight hour days.
Loch Lomond Studios See Rehearsal rooms.
Park Lane Studio 974 Pollokshaws Road, Glasgow, 0141 636 1218, www.parklanestudio.com. A well equipped professional studio, with 24 track analogue recording to 2 inch tape. Most artists recording here are signed or will have management backing, as a recent client list including Westlife, Sophie-Ellis Bextor and the Fugees might suggest. Recording costs are calculated on an individual basis, but the studio operates a daily rate to get the job done with minimum pressure. There’s a lounge with Sky TV and PlayStation, a pool room, showers and a kitchen.
Paul’s Halls See Rehearsal rooms.
Petersburn Centre Vansdorf Way, Airdrie, 01236760315. Run as a commercial venture by North Lanarkshire Council, whose subsidies mean that non-weekend rates are very reasonable: £12.30/hour for 36-track hard disk recording with tons of outboard equipment including compressors and samplers. The live room - featuring valve amps and a Gretsch kit - can be hired for rehearsals for £2.70/hour. On Sat prices rise to £ 17 .20/hour for recording and £7.60/hour for rehearsals. The centre also offers video editing and a full production service for backing tracks, and its own voluntary Beatroot label is up and running with the aim of putting local bands on stage, radio and TV.
Random Rhythms Music Workshop See Rehearsal rooms.
Red Eye Studios See Rehearsal rooms.
Ripe Productions 5 Muir Park Avenue, Renfrew, 0141561 7188, www.ripeproductions.co.uk, john@ripeproductions.co.uk. Ripe caters primarily for the professional pop and dance markets, and also does a variety of remixing and film and TV work. Recording is mainly PC-based with a range of samplers and keyboards for use, costing around £150/day all inclusive.
River Clyde Studios, Unit 4, Bridge Court, 12 Cook St, Glasgow, 07732787548. Affordable recording / rehearsal studios based close to Glasgow city centre and serviced by plenty of public transport. Located in a secure complex providing plenty of parking monitored by CCTV. Go to www.riverclydestudios.tk for a full location map and information on our services.

Riverside Recording Studios Unit 7, Lowermill Road, Lowermill Estate, Clarkston, Glasgow, 0141644 5572, info@riv2.fsnet.co.uk. Travis, Teenage Fanclub and Alex Chilton have chosen Riverside in the past, yet its two studios remain distinctly affordable: studio one costs £150/day all inclusive for a 16-track recording to 2 inch tape, whereas studio two offers 24 or 48-track recording to CD or DAT for £300/day. Both have a full range of ontboard equipment with many vintage effects and processors. Two rehearsal rooms with full backline including Fender, Marshall and Peavey amps and Premier kit can be hired for £21/3 hours or £18 on weekdays.

Seven A 7a Clarkston Road, Glasgow, 0141 6375403, sevenahq@hotmail.com. Formerly situated beneath Merchant City Music (see Music shops), this professional recording studio has now moved southside. Owned by Steven X of Bis, it’s mainly a facility for his own band, but can be hired out if you’re serious about what you do, as Mogwai and Arab Strap did at the old place. Seven A is geared towards Glasgow’s dance community, with digital recording, a ton of outboard gear, and access to Bis’ enormous stash of analogue and digital synths. Prices are arranged individually, and clients are usually invited for a look around before work starts proper.

Small Town Audio Unit 7, Cambuslea Road Industrial Estate, Ayr, 01292619365,07881740822. 24-track digital recording is available here for £ 16/hour, and a fully equipped rehearsal room can be yours for £24/3 hours. There’s a CD duplication service, free tea and coffee, and an extensive range of PA systems for hire: a 20k PA system costs £1500/day, and smaller vocal rigs for pub-style gigs are available for £200/day. Open seven days, noon-midnight.

Southwest Arts & Music Project See Rehearsal rooms.
Storm Studio Crossbow House, Stoneymeadow Road, Blantyre, Glasgow, 01698710630, www.stormstudio.co.uk, reception@stormstudio.co.uk. Storm offers 32-track digital recording with outboard equipment, PC programs, and two live rooms with amps and a kit. DJ-ing facilities are also available. An introduction the day before recording is the norm; prices are calculated individually, but a rough indication is about £250/day all inclusive, with the option of fully-packaged CD duplication. There’s also a £250 digital four-track demo deal, which include ten hours of studio time with an engineer and five copies of a fully packaged CD. Storm has moved into video production, and can record promotional clips using either a multiple-point shoot or digital still motion. This is transferred onto CD as an MPEG, and can be converted to DVD; basic packages weigh in between £500 and £750.

STEALTH Recording Studio Strathclyde Business Centre, 120 Carstairs Street, Glasgow G40 4JD, 0141 554 9244, 07910 725 716. www.stealthrecordingstudio.com STEALTH offers digital recording, editing, mixing and mastering in Glasgow. We also provide CD duplication and graphic design services. Please visit the website to hear high quality MP3 samples and find out more about the studio.

Glasgow Edinburgh Aberdeen Dundee

Edinburgh

6T4K Recording Studios 24 track analogue studio with drum/vocal booth and large live room. PC based digital edited packages. Cubase VST and Saw32 used, mixing desks used MCI JH600 series and TASCam M-3700 automated, Kurzweil K2500 keyboard and Akai 30001 sampler. All musical styles covered. Clients include Blackanized, Badgewearer, Finitribe, Finley Quaye, The Rizillos and Irvine Welsh. Address: 34a-36a Broughton Street, Edinburgh EH1 3SB, Tel:+44 (0)131 558 7007 Email: studio6t4k@aol.com
Contact: Scott McNeill, Jack, Sean Watt
The Beat Factory 01324610 741, scott@beatfactory.co.uk, www.beatfactory.co.uk. No-nonsense studio and mobile recording based in Falkirk. Geared towards recording bands on a smaller budget, there’s a 16-track digital recording setup and mastering facilities No hourly rate as such, but a typical charge might be around £100 for a three-track demo.
Big Byte Sound Solutions 51 Circus Lane, Edinburgh, 0131 226 3180, info@bigbytesound.co.uk, www.bigbytesound.co.uk. A professional and pretty swanky looking bespoke built, 72-track, digital studio facility with a lot of dance friendly software and hardware. Its team of freelance engineers and programmers is headed by ex-Cava Studios man Dugald Brough, who has worked with the likes of Idlewild. Rates for bands and dance projects are around £25/hour including VAT.
Castlesound Studios The Old School, Pencaitland, East Lothian, 0131 6661024, info@castlesound.co.uk www.castlesound.co.uk Analogue and digital recording facility with a 72-channel Neve mixing desk and full ProTools system. If it’s space and daylight you’re after, this is the place, with large and windowed recording areas and control room. Sound editing, mastering and location recording services also available.

Chamber Recording Studios 120A West Granton Road, Edinburgh, 0131551 6632, mail@chamberstudio.co.uk, www.chamberstudio.co.uk. Home to quality independent label Human Condition Records, this 24-track analogue and digital setup caters for bands of many flavours. The large live room is excellent for full band recording, while a wide collection of gear (including some great guitars and amps) is available to use for free. The rate is £22/hour, and the list of previous clients is a Who’s Who of Scottish indie, including Mogwai, Snow Patrol and Annie Christian.

Conrad Productions 56 Comiston Road, Edinburgh, 08707424226, info@conradproductions.co.uk, www.conradproductions.co.uk. A general music production facility that offers everything from artist management to song arrangement, audio restoration, composition and, of course, recording. Thirty-two tracks of digital studio are on offer, as well as the usual mastering service. Clients come from all sorts of backgrounds, from folk to rock to jazz.
Finiflex 1 Queen Charlotte Street, Edinburgh, 01315536717, info@finiflex.com, www.finiflex.com Established in 1989 for the creation of electronic music, Finiflex is a forward thinking studio with a dizzying array of hardware and software for all your dance music needs. Digital recording, top quality sequencing, sampling and effects are all available, as well as expert help from folk who really know their stuff.

Golden Acrid Unit 1 Albion Business Centre, 78 Albion Road, Edinburgh, 01316596673. In the shadow of Hibernians' Easter Road stadium, this 64-track ProTools studio has played host to Helicopter Girl, the Nectarine No 9 and the Bathers. A collection of vintage gear includes Hammond and Rhodes keyboards, while recording software tutoring is also available. Recording costs from £25/hour plus VAT, while there are also three well-equipped rehearsal rooms, which cost £8-£10/hour.

IPL 16a York Place, Edinburgh, 0131 5568619, gavin@iplproductions.com. Mac-based 32-track digital system with full automation and ProTools caters mainly for singers, with plans to expand to full band recording this year. Prices start at £20/hour, with mastering facilities as well as an in-house writing and production team.
Kakjam 3 Baillie Fyfes Close, 107 High Street, Edinburgh, 01315569599, keith@kakjam.com, www.kakjam.com. Run by Keith Mitchell who has worked with Deacon Blue and the Cocteau Twins during twenty years as an engineer and producer. A mobile 32-track digital recording system is on offer, as well as a full mixing and mastering suite. Rates are negotiable, but typically around £10-£20/hour, and all flavours of musicians and songwriters are encouraged to get in touch.
Liberty Hill Studios 18d Liberton Brae, Edinburgh, 0131 621 7066. 32 track, fully automated digital recording and editing with a ProTools option. Rehearsal rooms are also available, and you should phone for current prices. Off Beat Scotland 107 High Street, Edinburgh, 0131 5564882, info@oftbeat.co.uk, www.oftbeat.co.uk.
The Lighthouse http://www.lighthousestudios.org/ New Recording & rehearsal Studios in Edinburgh for musicians & music-makers. Excellent rooms & location. Easy access and free secure parking. We have a great space for traditional and classical musicians 14m x 14m with a view to the sea. Eqpt hire & tuition available. August special, £6.50 per hour.Book 2 sessions get one free. If any bands require a large stage setting we can provide that. Our Largest space is 310m2 with a height of 10m. 3-phase power. Electric roller door 10mx6m, production office & tool room for set building. The complex also includes a Pro Tools Digital Studio with live Room. Also If you require a video, talk to us. We produce them. Tel: 0131 551 5788. Mobile 07931 331 489 lighthousefilm2002@yahoo.co.uk

Off Beat offers a wide range of services including composition, session musicians and arrangement for solo artists as well as production and mastering. Artists tend to be more folk and world music based. It runs its own label, Off Beat Records. Prices vary with recording project.

Pier House Studios la Granton Square, Edinburgh, 0131 5523549. Established twenty years ago, Pier House houses a 48-track digital recording setup with a lot of software products to provide archive recording restoration and mastering work as well as the usual recording services. Recording costs £25/hour plus VAT, and the studio deals with acoustic folk to heavy metal.

Q-Ten Studios Q10 Queensway Industrial Estate, Flemington Road, Glenrothes, 01592 611327. 24-track digital recording facilities on offer, as well as decent sized rehearsal rooms which come well equipped with a backline of amps and drum kits Prices vary.

Redeye Studio 16 Nelson Street, Edinburgh, 07956881827. Facilities include a Neve mixing desk, 24-bit digital recording and gear such as a baby grand piano and a Fender Rhodes keyboard. Rates depend on the project, and it caters for solo singer songwriters as well as bands.

The Sound Cafe 3 Walstone Steading, near Penicuik, 01968674913, soundcafe@btinternet.com This favourite among jazz artists is situated at the base of the Pentland hills. Good live room with plenty of space contains a healthy amount of useable gear, including a baby grand piano and plenty of guitars and amps. The studio can offer 40-track digital recording, as well as outside recording facilities.

Split Level 3 East Mains, Ingliston, Edinburgh, 0131 3335024. Primarily provides a demo service for guitar based bands. Digital and analogue recording both on offer, at the knock down price of £ J 5/hour. Rehearsal facilities are also on offer, one room (with a further room planned) with a full back line costing £8/hour. There’s also a pop and dance production suite next door.

Sub Station Studio 252 High Street, Cowdenbeath, 01383515716, substation@madasafish.com, www.substation.net High quality 32-track sound recording costs around £20/hour here, while there are also a multitude of production facilities and rehearsal rooms for hire at £6/hour. The Sub Station is a favourite indie haunt in Fife. The Zephyrs, Laeto and I Am Scientist have all recorded here. It also serves as an agent for Vitaminic and as such can offer the opportunity to distribute your music on the internet.

Glasgow Edinburgh Aberdeen Dundee

Aberdeen

Captain Tom Music 11-15 Ann Street, Aberdeen, 01224647500, captaintommusic@aol.com. Established in recent years to provide rehearsal and recording facilities for the large number of bands and artists in the Aberdeen area, Captain Tom’s offer 24-track digital recording at their studio in the heart of the granite city. Tom ‘s also boasts four rehearsal rooms with prices at £12/hour to rehearse and £ 17 /hour to record.

Dundee

Riptide Music 40 Blinshall Street, Dundee, Angus, 01382220234. Riptide Music is concerned with both recording and rehearsal in Dundee. It offers 64 track digital recording and incorporate a booking agency onto its operation, which is entirely comprised of bands producing their own material. Recording is £25/hour and rehearsal is £8.50/hour.