UK Residential Recording Studio and Professional Live Recording and Rehearsal

Monnow Valley Residential Recording Studio,
Rockfield Road,
Monmouth, NP25 5QE
Tel: (+44) 01600 712761
Email us

Why Choose Monnow Valley Studio for Residential Recording?

1. Pedigree

Formerly part of the first residential recording studios in the world, Monnow Valley Studio has been chosen by many famous bands, producers, and artists over the last four decades. Recent clients include The Pigeon Detectives, The View and The Enemy.

2. Location

The studio is set amongst 400 acres of green rolling hillside located two miles outside of Monmouth, Wales, which is a lovely picturesque market town with several pubs, three supermarkets, etc. It has great access with the rest of the UK as Monmouth is right on the England-Wales border and is about a two-and-a-half hour drive from London.

The nearest international airports (Bristol and Cardiff) are within 45 minutes drive from the studio. Abergavenny train station is only 10 miles away. A map of the location is on our contact page.

3. Equipment

Of course, Monnow Valley Studio has the some of the best recording equipment available including many producer's preferred gear such as Pro Tools and SSL 4064G+.

At 1200 sq ft, the live room is one of the biggest of any residential recording studios in the UK and has variable acoustics which makes it easier to achieve the optimal sound a producer is looking for. It has been described as the best drum room in the world by producers and drummers alike.

4. Leisure Facilities

When the bands are not recording, there are plenty of leisure facilities to enjoy in and around the studio. Our games room has pool and table tennis tables and a dartboard. The band can relax in the lounge with its sumptuous leather sofas, widescreen TV, SKY TV complete with all movie and sports channels, and surf the internet with the studio PC. The entire facility has wireless business broadband internet access for bands to use their laptops also.

Monnow Valley Studio offers fantastic coarse fishing with its own mile of private fishing rights on the beautiful river Monnow. Depending on the season, chub, grayling and salmon can be caught here.

There are many scenic walks around the countryside, which can also be used for jogs and mountain biking if the band are feeling more energetic!

Golfers have several superb courses to play: The Rolls of Monmouth is four-minutes drive from the studio; Monmouth Golf Club, "arguably the prettiest golf course in Wales", is within five miles; and seven miles away are the two Forest of Dean courses and driving range. Favourable rates for all the courses can be attained through the Studio.

Should the band wish to venture into Monmouth, there are several lively pubs with many a tale to be told of previous rock bands visiting the pubs over the last four decades.

5. Food

At Monnow Valley Studio, all food is home-cooked and prepared in-house, so it can provide all types of catering to suit a band's individual palates. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are provided as well as snacks and coffee. A self-catering option is also available should the band wish to prepare their own food, which can be purchased from any of Monmouth's three supermarkets, grocers, butchers and shops.

6. 24-Hour Staff

In the studio, we have our engineer, Tom Manning. Tom has been part of the Monnow Valley team for almost a year and knows the equipment inside out. He replaces Jim Anderson who now works out of The Motor Museum with Mike Crossey. Tom came to us from LIPA and has an extensive musical knowledge. He has recently produced tracks for Switch Blade, Kick Box Riot, and The Autopilots.

Tom has assisted and/or engineered for many top producers such as:

Jim Lowe (Stereophonics, Glen Matlock, The Charlatans)
Bob Marlette (Toni Iommi, Rob Halford, Tracy Chapman)
Mike Crossey (Arctic Monkeys, Razorlight, The Enemy)
Ian Caple (Tindersticks, Simple Minds, My Bloody Valentine)
Richard Jackson (The Automatic, Future Of The Left)
Dan Turner (Bullet For My Valentine, Cradle Of Filth)

 

Working hours are flexible so if the band wants to work from 9 to 5 or 3pm to 7am... Monnow Valley Studio can accommodate your requirements. Since taking over in 2006, the studio has never had to stop a recording session due to technical problems as any problems have been able to be fixed immediately. The equipment is regularly maintained and serviced by Richard Griffiths, an SSL specialist previously of Olympic Studios in London.


Studio News

29th June 2009 - We have upgraded our digital recording system. The control room now boasts an 8-Core Mac Pro running Pro Tools 8.0

24th June 2009 - John Goodmanson has returned to Monnow Valley to mix the new album for Los Campesinos. He also managed to find time to produce a track for their label-mates Sky Larkin

15th June 2009 - Fight The Empire have new tracks recorded at Monnow Valley with producer Jim Lowe available on their MySpace page

23rd May 2009 - Slaves To Gravity have been in the studio recording tracks ahead of their album session with US producer Bob Marlette

8th May 2009 - We have new microphones: A pair of Royer R-121 ribbon mics (with sequential serial numbers) and a Shure SM7B

3rd May 2009 - Congratulations to The Enemy who entered the UK album chart at Number 2 with their album, Music For The People recorded at Monnow Valley in December 2008

1st May 2009 - Check out Switch Blade's MySpace page for photographs and a video of the making of their album, Beautifully Executed, recorded in March '09

23rd March 2009 - Broken Records add a video diary of their session at Monnow Valley to YouTube

13th March 2009 - Monnow Valley Studio features in the April edition of Q magazine with The Enemy. Click here to see it!

13th March 2009 - Studio manager, Jo Hunt, will be attending SXSW next week. If you'd like to meet up over a Lone Star or a game of billiards, please email enquiries@monnowvalleystudio.com or call +44 (0) 7770 988 503

6th March 2009 - Future Of The Left have completed recording of their latest album with producer Richard Jackson for 4AD

31st January 2009 - Broken Records have just finished their debut album for Beggars Banquet with producer Ian Caple

8th January 2009 - Producer Bob Marlette takes a break from America to work with his new rock discovery, Heaven's Basement

22nd December 2008 - The Enemy have completed a 5 week session recording their new album, and loved the studio so much they have left us a signed guitar.

15th November 2008 - BAND CREATES A MASTERPIECE IN NEW ALBUM News of the World interview The View about the making of the new album, Which Bitch, recorded at Monnow Valley this summer

6th November 2008 - Following a final mixing session with Jim Anderson, Dan Dunne & The Reels have mastered their debut album with John Davis at Metropolis. The band are available to sign and looking for management

31st October 2008 - Monmouth Festival Battle of the Band winners, The Anti-Podes, come in to record two songs

news archive...


History of Monnow Valley Residential Recording Studio

Monnow Valley Studio was originally the rehearsal facility of the world's first residential recording studio, Rockfield Studios, started by brothers Charles and Kingsley Ward. When they went their separate ways in the 1980s, Charles took over Monnow Valley and turned it into an independent recording studio.

In 2006, Monnow Valley Studio was taken over by Jo and James Hunt and has undergone substantial reinvestment including an acoustically engineered control room, new recording equipment, redecoration and improved leisure facilities for the clients.

Over the decades, many of the musical world's biggest artists have used Monnow Valley for writing, rehearsing, or recording, including Led Zeppelin, Queen, Oasis, Stereophonics, Black Sabbath, and many more. The recent book, Rock Legends At Rockfield by Jeff Collins, documents the history of bands staying at both Rockfield and Monnow Valley Studio.


Benefits of Residential Recording

There are many advantages of choosing a residential recording studio over a non-residential studio. Cost is a major factor:

  • It usually works out far less expensive to record at a residential studio than for a band (and sometimes producer, engineer, etc.) to stay at a hotel nearby to the studio
  • There are no travel expenses or wasted travelling time getting to and from the studio and hotel each day
  • A residential studio can accommodate a band's meal requirements and the cost is usually included in the price of hiring out the residence
  • A residential recording studio can provide a more homely, relaxed and private atmosphere than staying in a city hotel
  • Many residential recording studios are set in rural surroundings, which allows the band to concentrate on their music, writing and recording without the distractions of a big city on their doorstep.

 

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