Greetings from the Belly of BE Recording Studios 1 & 2
Hi. Thanks for stopping by the Brighton Electric Recording article V1.0.
This is Jimi Wheelwright, Studio Manager. I’ve been spinning various plates here since 2006. After realising I was in the building 4 times a week as a client, I ended up walking round the other side of the desk thanks to the legendary rehearsals manager Nigel O’Brien in 2009 and have never looked back.
Waxing all things production, backline, microphones, pre-amps, tracking, mixing & mastering makes up a big part of my time, so let’s not break the habit! What can I say.. The two recording facilities in Tramway House really hold their own among some of the best in the Country & beyond. The character of the building is not only respected in the design of both studios, but genuinely drawn upon creatively. Whether you’re crushing a couple of 57’s pointing at the parquet floor in Live Room one on some drum tracking, or picking up the eerie ambience of the corridor outside the crack of Control Room two’s door whilst tracking a Korean Soprano ensemble, the Victorian building ends up on whatever it is you are working on.
The management of the recording arm is a journey of discovery & something to feel very proud of. We’ve moved up the ranks over the years, made our mistakes, toasted the good times & most importantly — we’re still here after 18 years! Electric is built on good relationship’s and productive output, whilst housing some of the finest analogue recording gear available.
We have always been artist and client led. Nothing gives us more pleasure than watching a band develop in the rehearsal rooms, cut their first demo’s here, gather momentum and end up parking their tour bus out the front when they load in to record album 3. I’m not using this as a forum to name names, or blow smoke up anyone’s arse, but to give you our motives. We love music and we love nurturing and encouraging all artists who wish to make music.
The story of Studio one is probably a bit long to get into here & one for another time! But essentially, the first ‘proper’ board we had was a Trident. The studio lived upstairs and was of a modest specification compared to these days. After moving S1 downstairs to its current home on the southern wing, we dipped our toe in Neve’s world and became proud owners of a V3–36, we went through various floorplans, iso booth’s, added and removed mezzanines, constructed ceilings, furthermore knocked them out again, wired, re-wired, re-pinned, had many cups of tea with Blake Devitt, bought outboard and microphones, refined it, refined it, the V3 made way for the 66 series, bits broke, bit’s got fixed, we bought, we sold, we begged, borrowed and stole. Then in 2012 it was time to say goodbye to the 66 and acquire the mighty 5316 console which we proudly offer as the main board to this day.
Studio two is much more recent in the history book — work began in the Spring of 2014 and we we’re open for business that Summer. Making use of S1’s second live room (the Lounge as it is affectionately known here from when it was.. a lounge) and our old storage bay. We took everything we learned from Studio one and built the control room around a lovely BCM10 loaded with 1073 and the PSM12 (pictured here unloaded) a funky and brilliant Neve sidecar console. The fatter, more focussed live room & detailed control room were instantly a hit with the engineer’s and clients. After a few formation changes and deliberation, the sidecars we’re sold in the Summer of 2017 and made way for the automated API 1608, which offers a flatter and crisper pre section than the 2 retro predecessors. Although, we couldn’t be without those 1073, so we got them discreetly boxed up in their own rack and you can still find them there alongside 8 x 1081 in the outboard rack. Why not eh..
Both studios also feature lovely LDC’s, ribbons and all your usual suspects from a good mic cupboard alongside a few wild cards. Both are geared towards tracking with the best compression and EQ options in their outboard racks. It’s a functioning facility, non-elitist and project driven. Gap’s in the calendar are my nemesis!
Anyway, I’ll be following up this gush with news, offers and updates from the recording wing. It is — as the rest of our business is — dynamic, ever shifting and exciting. Always get in touch if you have questions for me, or want to come and have a coffee/ look around and discuss a project.
Jimi Wheelwright
