Recording Studio
Gareth Henderson has been a recording studio producer – initially privately and then as a profession – for over 30 years.
He has worked with a huge range of artists, both famous and otherwise, and has taken huge pride in crafting the best results possible for them all – whatever their level.
Names you may recognise include Birdy (Skinny Love), Yazz ( who sang dance anthem “The Only Way Is Up”), Mark Hill / Artful Dodger (writer and producer of most of Craig David’s hits), Corinne Bailey Rae, Alesha Dixon (BGT) and songwriters who have written for Lewis Capaldi and Zayn Malik.
Corporate Clients have included The BBC One show, Sky Sports, Channel 4 and BBC Two.
The Studio is currently based around Logic Pro X (always updated) on a 24 Core Mac Studio M2 Ultra with 64GB RAM and two super-fast 4TB NVME Drives (one for clients projects and one for library).
Software is extensive – Native Instruments Komplete Ultimate, Waves, Slate Digital, Plug-In Alliance, Spectrasonics, IK Multimedia, Arturia, Melodyne, Vocalign, RePitch, Eventide, Serum to name some of the best known.
We have a range of Microphones but our main vocal chain is a Neumann TLM103 into a Focusrite Liquid Channel.
Main Audio interface is an RME Fireface 800. Monitoring is a pair of ADAM A77X
Services
“I have worked with Gareth since I won the Open-Mic competition when I was twelve. He recorded my first ever professional demos and helped me to get the very best, not only out of the recording process but also from my voice.
He is someone who makes you feel completely at home in the studio. He is probably one of the best Logic engineers in the country, meaning that he will always find a way to make the best of your ideas. I’m sure that you will love working with him as much as I do!”
Birdy
Singer/ songwriters
We have an excellent track record with singer / songwriters and our studio has a fantastic range of software and hardware tools that are perfect for developing songs from bare ideas, all the way through to fully fleshed out, finished productions. It’s also a massive bonus to many singers that they are being produced by a fellow vocalist and vocal teacher, as Gareth can help get the best from their voice and suggest harmonies and improvements to vocal melodies etc.
Please take a look at our dedicated “Songwriting / Production Tuition” page if this whole process is new to you and you feel there still lots for you to learn.
It’s also a massive bonus to many singers that they are being produced by a fellow vocalist and vocal teacher, as Gareth can help get the best from their voice and suggest harmonies and improvements to vocal melodies etc.
Some singers come to us to record their first ever song, and may well need help with writing them, which is something we are very happy to do. An initial idea and a willingness to try is often all that is needed to kick the process off.
For more experienced songwriters, it’s often great to have a seasoned ear to reflect on the songs and to offer alternatives to stretch and grow their capabilities. We can help with everything from lyrics, melodies, chord choices, harmonies, arrangements, instrument choices and of course things like mixing and mastering, all as part of the session.
Vocal over Backing Tracks
(vocal demos or showreels etc)
We are aware that some studios don’t like to record vocalists singing over backing tracks. They feel it’s not a “proper” studio session.
We like to view things differently. Without the pressure to get the music recorded first, we concentrate exceptionally hard to make sure the finished vocal sounds the very best the singer can deliver. That can mean helping the vocalist sing the song the best way they can or by doing an exceptional job of the vocal edits and mixing etc. We know Singing in a way few studio engineers ever will. We know what is the singer’s responsibility and we know when they have done everything they can and it’s time for the engineer to take over the process. We also know how a singer – especially a nervous one – needs to be guided in order to deliver a confident vocal.
Full Bands
Although the VocalTech Studio only has a single recording booth, we can still record bands!
The booth is certainly snug for a drum kit but it will fit and the result is a very tight drum sound that can then be effected to be as small or a big as possible. The rest of the band play in the large control room, with guide vocals going down with the initial band performance and being replaced with a final vocal once the music is complete. We have everything we need to capture the sound but more importantly we have the experience to help taylor the performance, arrangement and production of the song before the recording even begins.
Mixing/ Mastering Audio Recorded Elsewhere
The advent of home recording has meant that many musicians and singers do try to do as much as they can themselves but often they are frustrated by the final results because they simply don’t have either the huge range of high quality software tools, outstanding monitor speakers, well balanced acoustics or just experienced ears needed to get that great mix. If this is where you find yourself – get in touch. We can take your project from you in a variety of formats and return it as a final iTunes/Spotify etc ready version.
Maybe you have got as far as final mix you are happy with but it lacks the “punch”, clarity and volume of the tracks you aspire to sound like. You may have even bought one of the “mastering” plug ins that you saw on the internet but it’s either sounding squashed or distorted or just tiring to listen to.
Mastering is more than a Software plug-in. Sure, we use plug-ins to master – usually about 4 to 6 different ones that each cost significantly more than our main recording software! Each plug-in has it’s own small part in crafting and shaping the final master, but it’s the monitoring, the room and the engineer’s ears and experience that truly add to a great mastering job.
prices
Half Day studio sessions (4 Hours) are $400.
Individual hours are charged at the same rate as vocal lessons – $110 per hour.