Established in 2009, Alive HQ Recording Studio is a project studio based in Staffordshire, West Midlands which aims to provide big studio sounds at small studio prices. Housed within the offices of its parent company Alive Network, the studio serves as a development hub for the agency’s roster of leading function bands but is also available to hire to the wider music community, complete with in-house engineer, Tom Bishop.
Studio Manager David Bevan told us, “The studio is ideal for bands and producers in search of quality and vibe, but on a budget. A recent revamp has increased the size of our live room to 9m x 4.5m giving it a nice, lively sound but with the option of bespoke 6ft gobos to deaden the space if necessary. Drums sound punchy, tight and focused in this room and we can also use several amp isolation boxes located just off our control room, together with the gobos, to divide the room comfortably; meaning a 5-6 piece band can track together face to face without any amp spill getting into the drum mics. Plus, we’ve now introduced LED mood lighting and video linked screens throughout the studio, so clients can adapt the lighting to suit the mood of their session and maintain eye contact between the control room, live room and overdub booth. With our 56 channel Soundcraft analogue mixing desk recording to Pro Tools 9 or Logic via a huge array of boutique pre amps and outboard, Alive HQ offers something very special for the savvy spender!”
Alive HQ’s spec and gear list is certainly a step above standard project studio fare. The control room is 17sqm and fully air conditioned. It has been acoustically designed and treated to provide an accurate listening environment and boasts pre-amps from Neve, Heritage Audio, API, Classic API, Avalon, Universal Audio, Drawmer and TL Audio. Control room monitoring is handled by a pair of Dynaudio BM15As, with artist headphone monitoring provided by the 16 channel Furman HRM-16 system. Choice outboard includes a Manley Vari Mu, Universal Audio 1176 and LA-610, Empirical Labs Distressor, Focusrite Red 3, Slate Pro Audio Dragon, Heritage Audio 1073/500s, API 512cs, Neve 8803s and eight custom racked SSL E Series EQs amongst many others. A full gear list can be found here.
Dave continued, “Our in-house engineer, Tom Bishop is an accomplished musician (bass player, drummer and guitarist) in his own right, and he excels at bringing the best out in both young and experienced bands. Alive HQ would make the perfect pre-production, song-writing or demo studio for young bands with professional representation or label support, or for independent artists looking to take their music to the next level.”
With its central England location, Alive HQ is easy to access from just about anywhere. Only one hour from Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham or a two hour train journey from London, with plentiful and inexpensive accommodation nearby, it should be a serious consideration for any band looking to up the stakes from local studio to pro studio on their next project. To contact Alive HQ or find out more about them visit their listing here.
