Watch house engineer Chris Fielding's video interview at Foel Studios here
Foel Studio is a residential recording studio set in the idyllic Welsh countryside, about 15 miles from the Mid-Wales Border town of Welshpool. They are situated on the side of a beautiful secluded valley and comprise of the studio itself and two cottages.
Established in 1974, it has progressed from humble 8-track beginnings to the current combination of classic analogue equipment and a state of the art digital ProTools HD3 Accel system. Foel also offers an additional 48 digital tracks of RADAR 24 and CD mastering facilities.
Foel's well proportioned control room provides beautiful scenic views across the valley and a birds eye view of the studio floor. Designed around their vintage Trident Series 80B console and ProTools HD3 Accel system, a selection of the best of vintage and modern outboard plus masses of software plug-ins gives the producer and artist complete control over their sound.
Monitoring is provided by a Genelec 5.1 surround sound system as well as Yamaha NS10. The acoustic treatment ensures a true sound enabling the client to feel completely confident in the final sound of their mixes.
The main studio recording area offers two adjacent isolated recording environments, large enough to record a full band completely live if required whilst giving acoustic separation. The studio floor measures 22' by 30' with the live area measuring 22' by 15', perfect for that "Bonham" drum sound!
Good visual communication between both live and dead areas of the studio and the control room is a feature of Foel's construction, enabling musicians and producer to remain in visual eye contact. Additional instrument and speaker tie-lines from the control room allow the other ancillary rooms of the building to be used as recording spaces providing extra versatility.
Artist accommodation is in the recently refurbished 17th century cottage adjacent to the studio. The large property sleeps 7 people with full self catering facilities including a large kitchen, bathroom and living area. The usual relaxation and entertainment is provided by satellite TV, large plasma screen television, DVD, hi-fi and a slate bed pool table. WiFi is also available.
For those that are more adventurous and enjoy the open air there are countless walks, places of interest and activities immediately available in the local area
Equipment List
Console: Trident 80B 30:24:2 (56 Inputs with full EQ!) and Optifile Automation
Recording: Pro Tools HD3 Accel, 2 x Digidesign 192 (32 I/O)
Apple Mac G4 Dual Processor (1.25gb, 2gb Ram, 1Tb hard drive space) with all the plug-ins you could ever want....
IZ RADAR 24 x 2 (48 Track)
Unitor 8 Mk2
3M's M79 (24 Track 2" Analogue)
Studer B67 (2 Track 1/4" Analogue)
Revox A77 (2 Track 1/4" Analogue)
Tascam DA 40 (2 Track DAT)
Tascam DA 20 (2 Track DAT)
Denon (Cassette)
HHB Cd
Monitoring: Genelec 5.1 Surround Sound System
Yamaha NS 10N
JBL
Auratones
Headphones: Beyer DT100 X 6
Outboard: TC Finaliser 96
DBX 160 Limiter / Compressor (2)
Audio & Design Limiter/Compressor (2)
Drawmer Noise Gates (6)
Drawmer Limiter / Compressor (4)
Drawmer Compressor / Expander (2)
Lexicon PCM 70
AKG BX20 Spring Reverb
Yamaha SPX 90 (x2)
Yamaha Rev 7
Yamaha Rev 100
Alesis Midiverb
Eventide Ultra Harmonizer D/SE
TC Stereo Parametric Equaliser
Mutator Stereo Analogue Filters
Marshall 9000 Guitar Valve Pre-Amp
Quadraverb GT
Roland GS-6 Guitar Effects
Akai S900 Sampler
Bell BD80s Digital Delay/Sampler
Audio & Design Scamp Rack
Eventide Harmoniser/Delay
Aphex Aural Exciter
Additional Midi Outboard: Notator & Cubase (With Unitor)
Fatar SL161 Mother Keyboard
Akai S900
Akai ME 35t Midi Trigger
Akai SG01V Vintage Sound Module
XRI 300 SMPTE Synchroniser
Microphones
Microphones/DI: Neumann U87 (2)
Neumann Stereo Sm69 (Valve) (1)
Neumann KM54 (Valve) (1)
Neumann TLM193 (2)
Sennheiser MD421 (6)
AKG D112 (1)
AKG D224e (2)
AKG D321 (1)
AKG D310 (1)
Beyer M6 (1)
Beyer M201N (1)
Calrec CM654 (1)
Shure B52 (1)
Shure SM57 (5)
Shure SM58 (4)
Shure Beta 58 (1)
PZM (2)
Behringer DI (4)
Emo DI (2)
Soundlab Di (2)
Nurdin Custom Reamp Box
Backline: Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier
Mesa Boogie 4X12
Marshall 50 Mk2 Head (Mid 70’s)
Marshall 1960a Vintage 4X12
Peavey 5150 Mk 1
Fender Twin Reverb with EV Speakers (Mid 70’s)
H&H 250w Bass Machine
5 Piece Mapex Mars Pro Kit
Upright Piano
Roland D50
Trace Elliot Bass Amp Combo
Trace Elliot 500w Head
Trace Elliot 4x10 Cab
Trace Elliot 1x18 Cab
Hammond C3 + Leslie 145
Musical Instruments: We Have A Large Selection Of Vintage Guitars And Basses Available On Request.
Clients
Countless renowned artists, producers and record labels have used the studio since its inception:
Gong, Groundhogs, Hawkwind, John Foxx, My Bloody Valentine, Napalm Death, New Model Army, Pete Seeger, Peter Hammill, Porcupine Tree, Scritti Politti, Showaddywaddy, Spear Of Destiny, The Alarm, The Almighty, The Fall, The Strangler's, The Wildhearts, Van Der Graaf Generator
