Highbury Studio

A friend of mine who is in a band asked me if I knew of any good studios where he could record a couple of tracks. When I first moved to Birmingham, I met a guy whilst I was out DJing at a club in the city centre and he use to always rave about this studio.
Although we had an interest in music production and were both using Logic to create tracks on a mac, he wanted to create something fresh whilst retaining the classic analogue sound.
As Highbury Studio still retains some of its original recording equipment, we were able to create a sound that you just can’t get using new equipment these days.
Just looking at all of the analogue equipment is a treat in itself especially for those with a passion for music.
If you’re serious about music, you should really get yourself down there. They don’t make them like this anymore!

Birmingham isn’t quite London, is it? But we do have our musical landmarks, you know. Whilst thousands of people flock to Abbey Road in London to scrawl on the walls and have their photo taken on the zebra crossing, I wonder how many tourists have made the pilgrimage to Highbury Road, B14. Probably not that many, to be honest, but this place does have a fondly felt place in the history of Brum music. It was here that UB40 recorded their first LP, and also where The Lilac Time recorded, as well as a host of others. The good news is that it is largely unchanged from those days 30-​odd years ago and still retains all the lovely, warm analogue equipment, and as such it’s something of a museum piece in these days of digital recording (although the studio has moved with the times recently and does now offer a digital alternative these days)
I’ve released several tracks on my label that have been recorded here, and another band I’m working with are due to go in shortly to remix some songs through that lovely analogue desk I mentioned. Everything I’ve heard that’s come out of this place has that real warm sound that you can just… feel.
Even if you aren’t a musician you should consider a stroll up from the High Street to take a look. If you are a musician, you could do worse than record here.

As soon as you step into this recording studio, seeing the wooden cladding, grass blinds and vintage equipment and décor, you feel like you have time-​travelled back to California in the 1980s.
This is some studio. Little has changed in it since the 1980s. It’s been running as an analogue studio for 32 years now, making it Birmingham’s oldest running recording studio. If you want a warm analogue sound and to have a recording experience that isn’t based around clicking cutting, pasting and to do it all without a computer, then this is your place. If you’d prefer to use the acoustics of the room but use digital recording then the engineers can set that up at the flick of a switch.
But you’d want to use the analogue, wouldn’t you? I recorded two tracks here for my latest album and there’s nothing like standing playing live and watching the tape pass over the heads capturing a moment in time. Altogether, this is an inspiring, relaxing, and wholesome place to record.