Fieldgate Studio

General information

Fieldgate Studio is situated in a large detached private house in Penarth not far from the sea-front, in a quiet area with plenty of parking. Penarth is an attractive Victorian town three miles south of Cardiff with easy links to the M4 and Cardiff International Airport.

Starting life as private studio for composers Ben Heneghan and Ian Lawson, Fieldgate Studio has recently expanded and is now also available for bookings with house engineer Andrew Lawson.

The concept of the studio is a development of the one-room music production facility, where recording engineer and musician are often the same person. In our expanded version, we have situated the recording equipment in the centre of the room, creating two spaces for musicians either side. Putting the engineer among the players has obvious benefits for quick and easy communication. However, producers and clients still need a space where they can comfortably listen to the ongoing session in isolation. Hence the ‘listening’ room, from which proceedings can be monitored. Furthermore, once the microphones and main console have been set up the engineer is able to control events from either room. Alternatively, the listening room can be used as an additional isolated recording space - with video links to the main room.

The main air-conditioned studio has an area of almost 500 square feet and houses a brand new 7’6 Fazioli concert grand piano. Other instruments include a Fender Rhodes, Hammond Organ, and drum kits by DW, Gretsch, Yamaha, and Ludwig. The main computer, an 12-core Mac Pro, is located in the store/machine room, which has been constructed between the main room and listening room to provide additional sound isolation.

The air-conditioned listening room opens on to a spacious and private garden providing an attractive setting to relax in. There are many nearby bars and restaurants both along the seafront and in the town centre.

EQUIPMENT

Recorders

Logic X, Protools 11, DP8
Antelope Orion 32
RME Madi FX PCIe Card
12-Core Mac Pro

Monitoring

ATC SCM100a
ATC SCM25a Pro
ATC SCM35 (Listening Room)
Dangerous Monitor ST Controller

Microphones

Tube Condenser

1x Neumann u47 (original vintage)
2x Neumann u67 (original vintage)
2x Flea 49
1x Gefell UM900
2x Lawson L47 MkII
2x Lawson L251

FET Condenser

2x Micro Gefell UM221
2x Schoeps CMC-64
2x Lawson FET47
1x Blue Kiwi
2x Beyer Dynamic MC740
1x Soundfield SPS422
3x Earthworks TC25

Ribbon

1x Royer SF12 Stereo
2x Coles 4038

Dynamic

4x Shure SM57
1x Shure SM7b
1x AKG D112
1x Beyer Dynamic M201
2x Shure Beta 56

Mic Pres

Forssell SMP 2A
Neve 1073 DPA
Grace M801
D.W. Fearn VT2
Chandler TG2
API 3124+
2x Universal Audio LA-610

Outboard/Plugins

Charter Oak SCL-1 Compressor
Tube-Tech CLA-1b
Lexicon PCM90 Reverb
SSL Duende
Waves Horizon Bundle
Universal Audio UAD-2 Quad Neve

Misc.

50 Meter Multichannel Audio Snake
16 Pre Mic Amplification Splitters
6x Beyer Dynamic DT-100
3x Beyer Dynamic DT-150
2x Beyer Dynamic DT-770
2x Sennheiser HD-650
6x Hearback personal headphone mixers
Ghost, GIK, and custom-made Acoustic Panels
UPS with battery backup - (4 hours of post-apocalypse recording!)

Instruments

Fazioli F228 - 7’6” Concert Grand Piano
Fender Rhodes Stage 73 MkI
Hammond M101
Roland GX700
DW Maple Collectors 22-12-13-16
Gretsch USA Custom Jazz Kit 18-10-14
Canopus Zelkova Hollow Log Snare 14/6.5
Brady Sheoak Block Snare 14/5.5
Craviotto Limited Maple Snare 14/6.5
Gretsch USA Custom Snare 14/5.5
Ludwig 'The Chief' Titanium (shell by Ronn Dunnett) 14/6.5
DW Acoustic EQ Snare 14/6
Selection of Zildjian Cymbals
Fender USA Stratocaster
Cort A5 5-String Bass
Orange TC-15