‘Only a madman would build a new recording studio in the current economic climate … welcome to the asylum’
Hidden behind a non-descript facade in North London lies Snap Studios, a unique recording studio offering the very best of today’s technology coupled with a rare selection of vintage equipment and instruments. Snap was designed and built by internationally renowned audio suppliers Funky Junk, who applied their years of experience in designing, building and equipping studios around the world to construct what they claim is a facility with ‘virtually zero noise floor and ultimate sound reproduction’ thanks to a sophisticated Westwick balanced mains system and the hand-wound Vovox cabling utilised for tie-lines throughout the building.
Snap’s spacious control room boasts ‘one of the best sounding analogue consoles ever made’, a custom 1972 refurbished Neve fitted with Flying Faders automation. With 2″ analogue 16 and 24-track tape machines running side by side with a Pro Tools HD3 system and four Prism ADA-8 convertors, clients can choose the best recording medium for their particular needs. The outboard racks bristle with the very best processors ever made including Fairchild 670 and original Teletronix LA2A compressors, EMT plate and Lexicon digital reverbs and much, much more.
Key to the ‘stunning sound’, however, is the spacious live room with a collection of classic instruments including a Bosendorfer grand piano, Hammond C3 and Leslie 122, Pearl vibes, Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric pianos and vintage backline by Fender and Ampeg. There is even a selection of classic analogue synths and guitars nestling in the store room!
To do justice to the room and instruments, Snap boasts more than eighty microphones including a Telefunken Elam 251, AKG C12 and C12A, Neumann (Telefunken) U47 and KM56 tubes plus others by Schoeps, Milab, AKG, Neumann, Ficord, Royer, Coles and more.
For those with more modest requirements (or budgets) there is a second studio available for bookings, centred around an automated SSL AWS900+ console and Pro Tools HD3 rig. Snap also has covered private parking for three cars, dedicated on-street parking for another two or three and plenty of short term metered space nearby, comfortable lounges and a spacious kitchen. For a brochure or more information contact Snap via their website here. (July 2010)
