Crooks Hall Studio

(7 ratings)

Way Bank Lane, Boyton End,
Suffolk, CO10 8TD

Contact Name: John Metcalfe

Tel: +44 (0)7805 381578

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Crooks Hall Studio

About
Crooks Hall Studio is a rural residential recording studio. We have spacious live and control rooms with vaulted ceilings and plenty of natural light. Both rooms have been acoustically treated to provide a fantastic sound with design by Bryan Pape from GIK Acoustics. The control room is based around our Allen & Heath GS-R24M console into Pro Tools 10 with a great selection of microphones including Neumann and more. The live room is large enough to record a full band with the option for variable acoustics with movable screens. Accommodation is available for up to 6 with complimentary use …
Ratings & Reviews	Post a Review Fields with * are required. Rating * Subject * Name * Email * Review * Recording Experience Name: The Outlaws Date: Wed 21st January 2015 Review: This recording was for us! We've recorded demos in other studios but we wanted a keepsake for the 10th anniversary of The Outlaws. We looked around and Crookshall came up on the radar for three reasons; 1. We could stay over 2. The building looked like it had character (sound) 3. The reviews were good. We were not disappointed! Excellent accomodation, very relaxed atmosphere and John was uterly brilliant in nuturing a fantastic product from a bunch of know all, egotistic musicians (aren't we all?). Seriously, we were able to get our work done without the engineer giving opinion and suggesting things we didn't want. Instead he listened, we asked......... and it was done! SUPERB!! Alphadeus EP Recording Name: George Edwards Date: Sun 2nd November 2014 Review: My band and I were seriously impressed with the results we got from just one day at Crooks Hall studios working with John! The location of the studio is great it's inspiring being in the middle of nowhere with fields and trees in the distance. From the moment we arrived we worked to an organised yet relaxed time schedule with John who clearly knew exactly what he was doing with every aspect of recording from using mics, pro tools and getting the right sounds from the instruments. John was also patient with us getting the sound we wanted and overall provided a great, productive and fun experience recording a three track EP on a pretty short timescale! Excellent studio! Name: Johnny Cahillane Date: Fri 29th August 2014 Review: John at Crooks Hall is by far the calmest producer we have worked with. He listens to what his bands want, and the time we have spent with him has been amazingly productive - at times we have approached recording in a haphazard fashion and yet somehow John has found order and logic. It is rare to find a producer who doesn't let his own agenda and ego get in the way of a recording - but John never lets anything get in the way of the song. That selflessness is his greatest asset. He is the easiest producer to work with as well as being the most reliable. He addresses the myriad of complications and details that are inherent in production work in the most pragmatic fashion and we have appreciated his efforts enormously. John also ended up playing the drums on our record and the results of both his playing and production are huge. Really satisfying experience Name: John Grayland Date: Wed 11th June 2014 Review: spent four days recording five tracks at Crooks Hall, a very pleasant experience. It's a bit of a drive to get there but the setting is peaceful, rural and well away from any distractions. The two rooms, recording and control, are lovely and sound really good. John is super quick on the old software and very good at getting a drum sound. He listens to you and really tries to get the sound you want. The accommodation is very reasonable and comfortable. All in all a great experience at a great price. we were very happy with the results, which I hope you might listen to at http://yeahyeahnoh.bandcamp.com/. Great Studio! Name: Kieran Davis Music Date: Thu 24th April 2014 Review: Where to start? First off I'd like to say if you're looking for a professional, end-to-end recording solution this is your studio! I started recording my EP (and will be finishing) at Crooks Hall; it's such an amazing experience and you end up with a great sounding and professional track(s). John is always offering creative ideas to boost the track and this is what you need to produce a great piece of music! Also has a great atmosphere in the studio and the monitoring is top class, really sounds great and is really high fidelity which is what you need to create a professional sounding song. Really recommend producing your next track here! Thankyou John! Perfect recording weekend away Name: Jenny and the Plants Date: Thu 24th April 2014 Review: We left london early Saturday morning and for only over an hour in the car we arrived at the lovely Crooks Hall. We were there for 2 full days of recording and we managed to record everything we wanted and to a very good quality. John is professional, reliable and definetely patient! He knows his way round the studio very well so the process is always efficient and non stressful! In such an idyllic location Crooks Hall offers not only a great value for money recording experience but also a feel of a good mini break away from the strives and stresses of normal day life! Highly recommend it Great mid budget tracking room Name: Jonathan Date: Sun 17th June 2012 Review: I used Crooks Hall recently engineering a track for a young up and coming pop rock band and was extremely impressed and pleased. The studio is bright, modern and warm, with natural sunlight which is a massive bonus. The large control room meant that the band spent much of the session inside giving the track a much more collaborative and creative feel as everyone was around to give ideas and input into the session. The live room is a decent size and drums sound great in there. Its very lively however can be nicely controlled, with planty of baffles which we used to build a smaller vocal booth. Another plus point of the studio is it's simplicity, although I can see some people being put off if they want to use lots of outboard when tracking (although I'm sure this is something that will be added in time.) I bought along my own ProTools rig and was good to go after installing some drivers for the console and plugging in a firewire cable. The desk is easy to use, headphone mixes are simple to build and everything is very easy and straightforward to patch in. With extremely well priced accommodation offered on site, alongside facilities normally only offered by extremely high end studios such as a tennis court and swimming pool, alongside a well designed studio, mid sized budget projects couldn't do much better than coming here. I look forward to coming back with more projects in the future!

About

Crooks Hall Studio is a rural residential recording studio. We have spacious live and control rooms with vaulted ceilings and plenty of natural light. Both rooms have been acoustically treated to provide a fantastic sound with design by Bryan Pape from GIK Acoustics. The control room is based around our Allen & Heath GS-R24M console into Pro Tools 10 with a great selection of microphones including Neumann and more. The live room is large enough to record a full band with the option for variable acoustics with movable screens.

Accommodation is available for up to 6 with complimentary use …

Ratings & Reviews

Post a Review
Fields with * are required.
Rating *
Subject *

Name *

Email *

Review *
Recording Experience
Name: The Outlaws

Date: Wed 21st January 2015

Review:
This recording was for us! We've recorded demos in other studios but we wanted a keepsake for the 10th anniversary of The Outlaws. We looked around and Crookshall came up on the radar for three reasons; 1. We could stay over 2. The building looked like it had character (sound) 3. The reviews were good. We were not disappointed! Excellent accomodation, very relaxed atmosphere and John was uterly brilliant in nuturing a fantastic product from a bunch of know all, egotistic musicians (aren't we all?). Seriously, we were able to get our work done without the engineer giving opinion and suggesting things we didn't want. Instead he listened, we asked......... and it was done! SUPERB!!
Alphadeus EP Recording
Name: George Edwards

Date: Sun 2nd November 2014

Review:
My band and I were seriously impressed with the results we got from just one day at Crooks Hall studios working with John! The location of the studio is great it's inspiring being in the middle of nowhere with fields and trees in the distance. From the moment we arrived we worked to an organised yet relaxed time schedule with John who clearly knew exactly what he was doing with every aspect of recording from using mics, pro tools and getting the right sounds from the instruments. John was also patient with us getting the sound we wanted and overall provided a great, productive and fun experience recording a three track EP on a pretty short timescale!
Excellent studio!
Name: Johnny Cahillane

Date: Fri 29th August 2014

Review:
John at Crooks Hall is by far the calmest producer we have worked with. He listens to what his bands want, and the time we have spent with him has been amazingly productive - at times we have approached recording in a haphazard fashion and yet somehow John has found order and logic. It is rare to find a producer who doesn't let his own agenda and ego get in the way of a recording - but John never lets anything get in the way of the song. That selflessness is his greatest asset. He is the easiest producer to work with as well as being the most reliable. He addresses the myriad of complications and details that are inherent in production work in the most pragmatic fashion and we have appreciated his efforts enormously. John also ended up playing the drums on our record and the results of both his playing and production are huge.
Really satisfying experience
Name: John Grayland

Date: Wed 11th June 2014

Review:
spent four days recording five tracks at Crooks Hall, a very pleasant experience. It's a bit of a drive to get there but the setting is peaceful, rural and well away from any distractions. The two rooms, recording and control, are lovely and sound really good. John is super quick on the old software and very good at getting a drum sound. He listens to you and really tries to get the sound you want. The accommodation is very reasonable and comfortable. All in all a great experience at a great price. we were very happy with the results, which I hope you might listen to at http://yeahyeahnoh.bandcamp.com/.
Great Studio!
Name: Kieran Davis Music

Date: Thu 24th April 2014

Review:
Where to start? First off I'd like to say if you're looking for a professional, end-to-end recording solution this is your studio! I started recording my EP (and will be finishing) at Crooks Hall; it's such an amazing experience and you end up with a great sounding and professional track(s). John is always offering creative ideas to boost the track and this is what you need to produce a great piece of music! Also has a great atmosphere in the studio and the monitoring is top class, really sounds great and is really high fidelity which is what you need to create a professional sounding song. Really recommend producing your next track here! Thankyou John!
Perfect recording weekend away
Name: Jenny and the Plants

Date: Thu 24th April 2014

Review:
We left london early Saturday morning and for only over an hour in the car we arrived at the lovely Crooks Hall. We were there for 2 full days of recording and we managed to record everything we wanted and to a very good quality. John is professional, reliable and definetely patient! He knows his way round the studio very well so the process is always efficient and non stressful! In such an idyllic location Crooks Hall offers not only a great value for money recording experience but also a feel of a good mini break away from the strives and stresses of normal day life! Highly recommend it
Great mid budget tracking room
Name: Jonathan

Date: Sun 17th June 2012

Review:
I used Crooks Hall recently engineering a track for a young up and coming pop rock band and was extremely impressed and pleased. The studio is bright, modern and warm, with natural sunlight which is a massive bonus. The large control room meant that the band spent much of the session inside giving the track a much more collaborative and creative feel as everyone was around to give ideas and input into the session. The live room is a decent size and drums sound great in there. Its very lively however can be nicely controlled, with planty of baffles which we used to build a smaller vocal booth. Another plus point of the studio is it's simplicity, although I can see some people being put off if they want to use lots of outboard when tracking (although I'm sure this is something that will be added in time.) I bought along my own ProTools rig and was good to go after installing some drivers for the console and plugging in a firewire cable. The desk is easy to use, headphone mixes are simple to build and everything is very easy and straightforward to patch in. With extremely well priced accommodation offered on site, alongside facilities normally only offered by extremely high end studios such as a tennis court and swimming pool, alongside a well designed studio, mid sized budget projects couldn't do much better than coming here. I look forward to coming back with more projects in the future!