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 AEON, red high gloss finish, fabric dome tweeter
APS monitors at the London Sound Laboratory! So, what exactly is The London Sound Lab? Quite simply, it is a room housing a rare and splendid collection of the wacky, the weird and the wonderful – vintage recording gear and analogue synths ready, waiting and willing to translate creative ideas into reality.
The name gives away the vibe. As opposed to most modern studios where a ticking clock determines the session and banks of computers strain the eyes, The London Sound Lab houses machines, processors, synth modules and devices that stretch the imagination and open new creative doors. There is a unique space for musicians, engineers and producers to push the boundaries of their art, confident that their ideas will be captured with ultimate fidelity using a combination of the state of current and former arts.
So what makes this room so special?
Recording starts at the source. The LSL control room is comfortable and compact with tie lines linking to a spacious live area, easily sufficient to routine and track a ten-piece band, chamber orchestra or jazz ensemble. To help, the live area houses an upright piano, Hammond C3 and Leslie, Wurlitzer piano and a clutch of vintage Ampeg (Portaflex) Marshall and Fender bass and guitar combos. Needless to say, the mic cupboard bristles with the best dynamics, ribbons and condensers available, including a stonking Telefunken Elam 251 – the ultimate vocal mic (just back from a year on loan with Coldplay, where it captured the vocals on their new album effortlessly).
The control room sports a combination of timeless classics – half a dozen Pultec and Lang eqs, a rack of Neve, Quad Eight, Urei, Audio Design, Belcamon, Disa and Valley compressors, EMT 240, AKG ADR68k, Publison IM90, Eventide 2016, AMS, Lexicon and other reverbs and delays – in addition to some ultra rare and groovy devices. Numbered amongst these are a four channel Echoplex tape delay, Master Room and Orban spring reverbs, Decca mastering equaliser, Fairman custom buss compressor, Bluebird Cyclosonics panner and phaser, Gelf, Moog and Delta Lab phasey-flangey boxes, Mutron Bi Phase, Allotrope mic pre/eq and…oh the list goes on and on and on.
Hooked up to this electronic bouquet are a Neotek Essence desk and classic Neve 12 channel sidecar (with 33114 and 33118 discrete mic pre/3 band eq – the ultimate front end for drums, electric guitar and bass and general tracking). These feed a choice of Protools DH3, Nuendo (with Prism Orpheus) or 2 inch 16 track analogue. Needless to say, a pristine Ampex ATR100 half inch sits in the corner for mastering purposes. Monitoring? Name your poison…NS10’s, APS Aeon, Proac Studio 100; whateveryouwantwe’llbring. Oh, and fancy banging down a quick guitar track or two? You’ll find a neat selection of axes around the place including old 1960’s Epiphone (Gibson) six and twelve string acoustics, Roger Giffin Strat, Fender hockey string electric 12 and pre CBS Mustang six string, all specially selected as prime recording instruments. There’s even an electric mandolin lurking in the corner.
It's unlikely that there is a better sounding selection of outboard and guitars resident in any other affordable UK studio. However, there is definitely no other collection of such esoteric sound sources in London.
In addition to the Hammond. Wurly, Piano, guitars, amps and Ludwig or Sonor recording kits, the London Sound Lab boasts an ultra rare selection of sound modules and keyboards including original Studio Electronics rack conversions – Midi Moog, Prophirack (Prophet 5 in a rack), Obierack (Obie Four Voice racked), Voyetra 8, OBMX rack, MKS80 with programmer, Solina strings, Arp Odyssey and more. In short, the room houses a strength of sound from beginning to end, from mics and instruments through midi to outboard to media to master.
The London Sound Laboratory has been designed as a space to make uncompromising records and push the boundaries of creativity, whether that be in terms of writing, programming, tracking or mixing and is the culmination of years of careful collecting.
We are proud to be the part of this breathtaking collection.
To view the brochure for the London Sound Lab, click here
Reverbs and effects
AMS Digital Delay (Model dmx15~80 S) 6.5 + 12 sec
Delta Lab Delay Unit (Model DL-4)
Yamaha Digital Delay (Model D1500)
Dynacord Echocord Super Tape echo/delay
Echoplex 4 Channel Tape Echo
Eventide Harmonizer + Keyboard (Model H 910)
Drawmer Multitracker (Model D.M.T 1080)
Gelf Auto Phasing Unit (Model GP14)
Songbird Cyclosonic (Model FS-1)
Songbird Tri Stereo Chorus Splitter (Model TSC 1380S)
Schaller Rotor Sound
Moog 12 Stage Phaser
DBX 118 classic Boom Box Sub Harmonic Synth
MU-TRON BI-PHASE
AKG Digital Reverb Unit/remote (Model ADR 68K)
Publison Infernal Machine 90 with remote
EMT 240 plate reverb
Master Room Spring Reverb*
Orban Spring Reverberation (Model 111B)
Eventide Original 2016 Princeton reverb
Equalisers
Pultec EQP1A-3 Tube Program Equalizer x2
Pultec MEQ-5 Tube Mid-Range Equalizer
Pultec EQH-2 full range tube eq
Pultec HLF-3 hi q eq
LANG PEQ-2 Program Equalizer x2
Decca Mastering EQ
Altec Vintage Graphic Equalizer
Allotrope early 1970’s mic pre/eq x 2
Compressors/Expanders/Limiters
Urei Black faced 1176LN x 2
Neve 4 x 2262 vintage discrete compressors (33609 type)
Belcaman Tube Compressor/limiter (Model C-102)
Quad Eight Dual Compressor
Fairman Custom SSL stylee Buss Compressor
Disa Tube Vari Mu Limiting Amplifiers x 2
Valley People Inc. Dyna-mite compressors x 2
Valley 315 dual deesser
Audio Design F760 stereo/dual compressor
Audio Design Vocal Stresser
Custom French 1960’s tube LA2A style limiter
Custom French 1960’s tube Fairchild style limiter
Eventide Omnipressor comp
Recording Media
Protools HD3 rig
Logic 8 DAW
Logic Pro DAW
Otari MX80 2 inch 16 track tape
Ampex ATR102 half inch mastering machine
Dolby 363 SR/A
Marantz CDR-1 CD recorder/player
Synths
Oberheim SE Obierack (four voice in rack)
Oberheim OB-MX
Voyetra Eight Synth
Studio Electronics Prophirack (Prophet 5 in rack) Synth
Prophet VS Rack Synth module
Studio Electronics MidiMini
Roland MKS80/PG80 programmer
Arp Odyssey
ARP Solina strings
Roland SH09
Nord Rack
Virus B
Yamaha CS10
MISC
Roland Rhythm Composer (Model TR-808)
Roland Midi Display (Model A-110)
Hammond C3 with Leslie 122
Bill Dunn Guitar preamp for Leslie cab
Wurlizer EP100 electric piano
Fender Rhodes piano Mk1
Monitors
APS AEON
YAMAHA NS10
PROAC STUDIO 100 |
