{"id":3293,"date":"2011-10-31T19:32:53","date_gmt":"2011-10-31T19:32:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.polymathperspective.com\/?p=3293"},"modified":"2019-07-08T17:20:40","modified_gmt":"2019-07-08T17:20:40","slug":"hugh-padgham-sofa-sound-studio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/polymathperspective.com\/?p=3293","title":{"rendered":"Hugh Padgham: Sofa Sound Studio"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

Hugh Padgham is one of Britain\u2019s best known and most successful producers, renowned for his work with The Police, Phil Collins, Sting, Genesis and countless others, but it is only recently that he set up his own studio, called Sofa Sound, in a North West London.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Hugh and Stanley at Sofa Sound. Photo by TF<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hugh Padgham seems very much at home at Sofa Sound Studio, arriving to do the interview together with his wife\u2019s dog, Stanley, who is a star in his own right, having been immortalized in the Cath Kidston range of products. Hugh suggests we start the interview sat in the large control room between his beloved SSL G+ 64-channel console and racks of analogue processors. Beyond the SSL\u2019s meter bridge is a window looking on into the live room, which is also home to the Yamaha upright and Wurlitzer electric pianos, a cabinet full of Hugh\u2019s favourite microphones and a couple of acoustic screens on wheels.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would have liked a slightly bigger live room,\u201d he admits, \u201cbut I was very lucky to have inherited the studio already made. I fell on my feet in that respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

To the right, a door leads into is a small control room containing the Pro Tools HD3 Accel rig and Studer A800 MkIII 24-track recorder. On the other side of the studio is the acoustically untreated entrance hall, which is still put to occasional good use.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very ambient,\u201d says Hugh. \u201cIf you put microphones in the corridor and squash them with compressors, you can get a very good drum sound.\u201d The corridor also has several very large windows which let natural light into the building, and through to the live room itself. \u201cIt\u2019s lovely having these big windows, because daylight is uncommon in studios,\u201d he continues. \u201cEveryone who works here loves that side of it and if you are going to spend all day somewhere it may as well be somewhere nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the back, to the right of the stairs and elevator, are the two booths, the first of which is used for vocal recording, the second acting mainly as a storage area and home to the huge EMT 140 plate reverb, roughly the size of a double bed mattress standing on its edge.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One Lucky Owner<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Hugh first arrived at Stanley House, an Edwardian warehouse converted into a state-of-the-art studio complex by the previous owner, it was merely to look at the SSL console that was for sale. A few months later, not only did Hugh own the desk, he also owned Stanley House itself, including its bar and roof terrace! He is now clearly very proud to possess the property, having named the studio Sofa Sound and had it filled with all his favourite equipment, but he saw very little need to own or even run a studio until industry changes forced him to reevaluate his working methods. \u201cIn the old days there were hundreds of studios,\u201d he explains, \u201cso there was no point going to the expense of buying gear when someone else would pay for you to go into a studio that\u2019s better than something you could afford to set up yourself, and I was used to working in the top studios. But by the mid \u201990s the budgets weren\u2019t paying for us to do vocal overdubs in studios costing \u00a31200 a day, so my assistant and I set up a small room in the basement at The Townhouse Studios.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did our main recording work in the large studio, but could overdub using the booth in our room. For mixing we simply used the big studio again. Unfortunately the studio became harder to book because all the others in London were closing down, so I thought \u2018Now\u2019s the time to make the jump\u2019. You can\u2019t always dictate exactly when you are going to want to mix so it was all about finding a studio I could use when I needed to. Having that freedom is massive, really.\u201d
\nHugh\u2019s plan was to rent out a suitable space and turn it into a studio, but first on his list of priorities was to find an analogue console, ideally an SSL, which were beginning to become relatively affordable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe weird thing is that even though there were loads on the market I was struggling to find the console that I wanted,\u201d laughs Hugh. \u201cI didn\u2019t want it to be too old and ropey. I was looking for a new desk, but without moving fader automation. I\u2019ve never liked seeing faders going up and down; it\u2019s completely irrelevant to music as far as I\u2019m concerned. Also, if you are going to have your own studio without a full-time maintenance engineer, you don\u2019t want things that go wrong and they are more likely to go wrong. Secondly, I wanted VU meters rather than bar-graph ones. Bar-graph meters don\u2019t really tell you anything. If you have them set to peak level they just tell you what peak is, whereas I can turn all the monitors down and pretty much tell you what instrument is playing just by looking at the movement of the needles. If you understand how VUs work they are much more informative. Again, bar-graph meters are more likely to go wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually, Hugh found the SSL he wanted, which was installed at Stanley House. The console was in \u201cincredibly good\u201d condition, the only problem being that, being a G+ SSL, it was fitted with the standard G+ EQ rather than the much loved E type. \u201cIt\u2019s a G+ console but I\u2019ve always preferred the E EQ which has bass and treble ends that you can switch from bell to a shelf curves. The G+ EQ couldn\u2019t do that and there are various other subtle differences, so I persuaded the company who sold it to me to swap the EQs. I ended up with the perfect console.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the conversation, Hugh asked the studio owner what he intended to do with the place once he\u2019d sold the desk. It turned out that he was moving out altogether as was his business partner, who had blocked up the control room window to make the live area into a writing room. The control room was used purely for mixing at that point. Interested in renting the studio, Hugh spoke to the studio manager, and before he knew it, the place was his. \u201cIt was brilliant because I was expecting to take the console to another premises and then spend six months putting a studio together, but I inherited a proper studio!
\n\u201cI was a tenant for four or five months before the owner declared he wanted to sell the building. My first thought was \u2018I\u2019m going to have to move everything out\u2019, but I didn\u2019t want to so I ended up buying it all. The people who converted the building into a studio also built loads of programming suites, which I now let out too.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Looking across the control room from the door<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Setup<\/strong><\/p>\n

In setting up Sofa Sound, Hugh wanted to create a facility that combined all the good things he\u2019d experienced in the other studios. Aside from the SSL console, this included having a collection of the best microphone, speakers, and outboard equipment. \u201cAt first I just had a few bits and pieces that were my favorite bits of gear, but once I\u2019d bought the desk I thought I may as well have a 24-track, and then an analogue 2-track! So I have a Studer A800 MkIII 24-track, kept in impeccable condition, and a completely reconditioned Ampex ATR100 analogue half-inch two track, which is usually thought of as the best sounding analogue two-track ever made. That\u2019s partly down to the heads, but mostly the electronics. You can get different heads but I think these are the Japanese Saki heads.\u201d<\/p>\n

Initially the studio was intended just for Hugh\u2019s own projects, but he was soon approached by the management company Miloco, who were looking to add top-class West London studios to their roster in response to the closure of Eden, Townhouse and Olympic studios. \u201cThe deal I\u2019ve set up with Miloco is great because, if I\u2019m not working in the studio, they put people in here rather than have it left empty. They\u2019re good at promoting and looking after private studios, although up until August this year I\u2019ve been in here all the time working on three projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t work elsewhere very much anymore. I no longer want to be in a hotel for three months \u2013 I\u2019ve got a family. When I was in my mid 20s to mid 30s it was very exciting to go to LA and New York and work in these famous studios, but it doesn\u2019t appeal now that I don\u2019t have the necessity to go. If I want to record a band in America I can track there and then get them to overdub and mix here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now that Sofa Sound is used by other producers, Hugh maintains a very highly specified Pro Tools HD3 system, using Digidesign soundcards and software, Apogee AD\/DA16x converters and Big Ben clock. \u201cPersonally, I don\u2019t use Pro Tools very much,\u201d admits Hugh, \u201cbut I keep the latest set of plug-ins because when I rent out the studio, a lot of young engineers and producers don\u2019t know any of this outboard stuff, so you have to keep everybody happy! Now it\u2019s a lot of old stuff, a lot of new stuff and everything in between.\u201d<\/p>\n

As far as studio ergonomics are concerned, most of the big decisions had been made when the facilities were built, years before Hugh bought the place, so the changes he has made have been minor ones. \u201cI\u2019ve done subtle work on the acoustics in the control room but it was very well built. I put in more analogue microphone cables between the front and back of the room so that when people bring their own keyboards or more outboard gear, they can set it up on a desk, plug it in and it comes up on the patch bay.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Hugh’s reconditioned Ampex ATR100 analogue half-inch two-track<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Analogue and Digital<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although Hugh\u2019s preference is for analogue recording, his Pro Tools system does have an important role to play in his working methods, and nowadays he definitely prefers to edit audio in the DAW. \u201cIf I am recording a band I always work in analogue through the console, recording the backing guitar, bass and drums tracks onto 24-track, then recording that into Pro Tools and overdubbing digitally. If I have plenty of time, I sometimes record the overdubs onto tape as well and synchronize the machine with Pro Tools.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the old days, the budget for 2-inch tape would be more than the budget for most modern albums, because tape is very expensive, but the great thing about transferring the mix into Pro Tools is that you don\u2019t wear the tape out by rubbing it over the heads the whole time, so you can use it again and again. I have 20 reels of tape that I gradually work through and, relatively speaking, it has a long shelf life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conversely, Hugh has found that analogue processing and recording is beneficial to the digital mixing process, because it means he doesn\u2019t have to rely on using lots of processor-hungry plug-ins later on. This enables him to record at very high resolutions. \u201cI can do that because I don\u2019t use up DSP on plug-ins, whereas some people use masses of plug-ins and are forced to record at 44.1 or 48KHz. I always recode a minimum of double that now. I think a lot of modern music sounds dreadful because it is completely created in the box, and probably at low resolution. I find that when you listen to an individual track recorded at 44.1KHz it can sound fine compared to what\u2019s coming out of the console, but it is when you mix everything together that it doesn\u2019t sound right.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll push the tape level more or less depending on what the music requires, but I don\u2019t have Dolby because that\u2019s another thing to go wrong and most of the time tape noise isn\u2019t a problem for rock bands.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Padgham\u2019s Choice<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite having a fine collection of gear enabling him to recreate pretty much any sound he wants, there are a few products Hugh rates above all others for their all-round usefulness in the studio. This includes his flightcase of vintage Neve 1064 and 1081 preamp\/EQs, two UREI 1176s, plus Shure SM57 and Neumann U87 microphones. \u201cThat equipment list covers everything as far as I\u2019m concerned, one way or another,\u201d he reveals. \u201cIf I could only have a few bits of gear, those would be them. The Neve EQ has a class-A preamp in it that sounds so nice and the EQ in it is very smooth and musical. They are a classic design, and nine, or even ten, things out of ten sound good recorded with them. All the Police albums I did were through those when they had the console in Montserrat. I have a rack of 10, now and it\u2019s very rare that I record something that doesn\u2019t go through them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do have some remakes, like the UA 2-610 mic preamps from the consoles of the early 1960s, which are a very faithful redesign and sound great too; and the Teletronix LA-2A and Retro Instruments Sta-level compressor. The Manley Variable-MU is not a copy but I use that quite a lot. My Empirical Labs Distressors are also very good, although a much more modern. They can supposedly emulate the sound of other compressors like the 1176. I\u2019m not sure whether they substitute the real thing but they are very good in their own right and I use them for lots of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI could go on forever buying gear but I\u2019ve filled the racks and have most of what I like! But what\u2019s very important is to keep it all working because there is nothing worse than going to studios where half the stuff is broken down. Being a private studio I don\u2019t have a full-time maintenance engineer but I use two ex-Townhouse and CBS engineers, who are on call at any time and know all this analogue gear \u2013 I don\u2019t think too many people really know how to set a tape machine up. A 24-track machine has lots of mechanical parts to be serviced and tensions to be set with springs. They are an unbelievable piece of engineering when you look at them. In some ways, for me, the gear in the studio is a bit like having a model train set! It\u2019s a hobby as much as anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Racks!<\/p><\/div>\n

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More racks…<\/p><\/div>\n

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B<\/strong>raving the Climate<\/strong><\/p>\n

At a time when many of London\u2019s top studios are closing, Hugh\u2019s purchase of Stanley House seems a brave move. Nevertheless, he insists that it is a good idea, and the only realistic way a studio can survive today. \u201cIt\u2019s good to own your own bricks and mortar. If you look around the, the only London recording studios that are surviving, whether they\u2019re private or commercial, like RAK, Abbey Road and Angel, own their own bricks and mortar. Of course, if you ever feel like packing it in you can sell the building.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem studios face is that the people who run them have to pay extortionate rents and ever since it became possible to record something in your bedroom, record companies haven\u2019t wanted to pay for artists to come into proper studios. That is completely and utterly biting the hand that feeds them. I think they are pretty much the prime destroyer of studios so I don\u2019t really work for labels any more; I have such antagonism towards them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe art of recording is gradually being lost and no one talks about whether a record sounds good anymore. I don\u2019t see how you can record a rock band in your bedroom. I\u2019m working with several artists at the moment and none of them want to sign to a record label because they know the deal is going to be rotten.\u201d
\n\u201cThere is a London band that I am developing called Lo-Star. Hopefully you\u2019ll hear about them soon. They don\u2019t want to be signed, but I have done a business deal with them and sponsored the making of their album. Producers used to make money from record royalties, but the sales of records are so depressed that you can\u2019t any longer. It\u2019s like a loss leader, and if the producer doesn\u2019t have some ownership in the music copyright then they are not going to make a living. I am not going to spend six months making a record in the hope of getting a royalty later down the line, so I have a deal with the band and if it takes off then I\u2019ll benefit and the studio will get paid. I think that is the way a lot of people are working these days. The old days of assuming a great band will automatically sell are long gone.<\/p>\n

\u201cSecondly I did an album with a friend of mine called Dominic Miller, who\u2019s Sting\u2019s guitar player, and thirdly I\u2019ve just done an album for Extreme Music which you could describe as a library music company who place your music into movies or commercials. It\u2019s a way of exploiting music now that the old model no longer works. I\u2019m just about to start doing my second album for them. It\u2019s been great fun because I have more musical freedom.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is really quite healthy at the moment because there are a million ways of doing your music and things change all the time. This time last year no one had heard of Twitter, for example, but now it is a household word. I would imagine record labels will ultimately just become music distributors and promoters. We\u2019ll have to see!\u201d TF<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"\"

Hugh’s vintage Neve 1064 and 1081 preamp\/EQs<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Studio Gear list:<\/strong><\/p>\n

CONSOLE<\/strong>
\nSSL G+ Series fully automated 64 channel console (+ 4 stereo)<\/p>\n

MULTITRACK\/HARD DISK RECORDING<\/strong>
\nProtools HD3 Accel with 32 inputs and 48 outputs
\nStuder A800 MkIII 24-track 2-inch<\/p>\n

MONITORING<\/strong>
\nQuested HQ410 3-way monitors
\nKRK V6
\nKRK Expose 8
\nYamaha NS10M
\nAR 18LS \/Auratones
\nSony Mini speakers
\nAmplifiers: Quested\/Bryston<\/p>\n

MASTERING<\/strong>
\nAmpex ATR102 1\/2-inch
\nPanasonic SV3800 DAT Player
\nTascam DA60 MkII Timecode DAT
\nHHB CD Recorder<\/p>\n

DYNAMICS<\/strong>
\nSSL XL Logic Channel Strip
\nTeletronix LA-2A
\nUrei 1176LN (x2)
\nDBX 160 (x2)
\nDBX 160A (x2)
\nEmpirical Labs Distressors (x2)
\nAH Mini Limiter (x2)
\nSPL De-esser
\nSPL Transient Designer (4-channel version)
\nDrawmer DS201 Noise Gates (x2)<\/p>\n

EQUALISATION\/MIC PRE\u2019S<\/strong>
\nMassenberg (GML) 8200
\nTubetech PE-1C (x2)
\nNeve 1064 (x6)
\nNeve 1081 (x4)
\nSummit TPA200B Stereo Valve Preamp
\nApogee Mini MP Stereo Mic Preamp
\nUniversal Audio 2-610 Valve Preamp<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"\"

Studer A800 MKIII<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

REVERBERATION<\/strong>
\nLexicon 480L
\nLexicon PCM90
\nEMT 140 Plate Reverb
\nAMS RMX16
\nRoland SRV330<\/p>\n

DELAYS\/PROCESSORS<\/strong>
\nAMS DMX 1580S
\nRoland SDE330 (x2)
\nLexicon PCM42
\nRoland SDE3000
\nRoland SDE2000
\nEventide H3000
\nYamaha SPX1000 (x2)
\nYamaha SPX90 (x3)
\nYamaha SPX900
\nYamaha Rev 7 (x2)
\nBoss CE300 Super Chorus
\nRoland Space Echo RE201
\nRoland Chorus Echo RE301
\nRoland Space Echo RE501
\nLine6 MM4 Modulation Modeller
\nAural Exciter Type C (x2)
\nAphex Expressor<\/p>\n

SYNCHRONISATION<\/strong>
\nApogee Big Ben Master Clock<\/p>\n

SEQUENCING<\/strong>
\nProtools v7.3<\/p>\n

INSTRUMENTS<\/strong>
\nYamaha Upright Piano<\/p>\n

MICROPHONES<\/strong>
\nAKG 414EB
\nAKG C451E
\nAKG D112
\nAKG D12E
\nAudio-Technica ATM25 (x2)
\nAudio-Technica ATM23HE (x2)
\nAudio-Technica ATM35
\nAudio-Technica ATM87R
\nAudio Technica AT4041
\nAudio Technica AT4050
\nColes 4038 Ribbon Mics (x2)
\nEarthworks TC\/40K (x2)
\nElectrovoice RE20
\nNeumann KM84i
\nNeumann KM86i (x2)
\nNeumann U47 Fet (x2)
\nNeumann U87i (x4)
\nOktava MK219 (x2)
\nReslo RBT\/H (x2)
\nRode NT5 Matched Pair (x2)
\nSE Electronics SE3 Matched Pair (x2)
\nSE Electronics Z5600A Valve Mic
\nSE Electronics Gemini Valve Mic
\nSennheiser MD421 (x4)
\nShure SM57 (x4)
\nShure SM58 (x2)
\nShure Unidyne 57<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"\"

Some of Hugh’s mics<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

HARDWARE<\/strong>
\nApple Quad 2.5GHz G5
\nApple 20-inch Cinema Display
\n3 x Apogee 192 DA16x interfaces providing 48 Outputs
\n3 x Apogee 192 AD16x interfaces providing 32 Inputs
\nApogee Big Ben Master Clock
\nDigidesign Sync I\/O synchronizer<\/p>\n

SOFTWARE<\/strong>
\nOSX 10.4.8
\nProtools v7.3.1cs4
\nLogic Pro v7.2.2
\nRoxio Toast 8<\/p>\n

PLUG-INS<\/strong>
\nAccess Music Indigo v7.3
\nAmp farm v3.0
\nAmplitude v1.2
\nAutotune v4.3.0
\nAvox Choir v1.0.7
\nAvox Punch v1.0.6
\nBand Delays v1.2.2
\nBF Essentials v7.3
\nBFD v1.0.10.21
\nBomb Factory 1176 v7.3
\nBomb Factory BF-3A v7.3
\nCosmonaut Voice v7.3
\nD-fi v7.3
\nDigirack Plugins v7.3
\nDrumagog v1.0x0
\nEMI TG12413
\nFocusrite D2 v7.3
\nFocusrite D3 v7.3
\nFunk Logic Masterizer v7.3
\nJoe Meek SC2 Compressor v7.3
\nJoe Meek VC5 Meequalizer v7.3
\nMassenburg Design EQ v1.4.0
\nMaxim v7.3
\nmoogerfooger Lowpass filter v7.3
\nPitch v7.3
\nPrincetown 2016 Plate Reverb
\nPultec EQH-2 v7.3
\nPultec EQP-1A v7.3
\nPultec MEQ-15 v7.3
\nSansamp PSA-1 v7.3
\nSmack! v7.3
\nSpectron SST-282 v2.03
\nTel-Ray Variable Delay v7.3
\nT-Racks EQ v1.2.1
\nTL Everyphase v1.1.1.5
\nTL Space v1.1.3.5
\nUltra-Channel v1.0.1
\nURS 1975 Compressor v1.0b6
\nURS Strip v1.1b1
\nVoce Spin v7.3
\nVoce Chorus\/Vibrato v7.3
\nWaves Platinum v5.4.5<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"\"

Bits and bobs<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

See also our interview with Alan Moulder here: Assault & Battery 2 Studios<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And our interview with Marius de Vries here: Marius de Vries: Brave New World<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 

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