With the grass returning to the Glastonbury Festival site, the addition of a recording studio to the event’s attractions is being regarded as a succes.
‘The idea was that The Cowshed would provide a practical insight into all aspects of the recording process, from song writing and arrangement through to final production,’ says Cowshed's Joe Leach, who collaborated with Greenpeace and equipment supplier KMR Audio on the project. ‘The equipment KMR supplied made it easy to get polish despite an incredibly fast workflow (one act per hour) and substantially different line-ups.’
The London studio was essentially on the Greenpeace field in a ‘low-impact’ straw bale building, enabling artists to use the studio’s classic keyboard collection, grand piano, vintage mics and preamps.
The Glastonbury Cowshed successfully recorded a string of well-known and highly seasoned artists, including The Noisettes, Stornoway, Jah Wobble and Billy Bragg. Recordings were direct to stereo and – without exception – the engineers were met with very broad smiles on playback.
‘It was a rare thrill to experience the joy of making music without financial pressures and constraints, and KMR’s generous donation of high-end audio gear went a huge way to making this possible,’ Leach reports. ‘KMR helped take the project from the original concept of a laptop in a muddy field to a high-spec studio with world-class equipment, with 45 artists benefiting from the sound of their fantastic outboard.
‘The Clasp system allowed us to use both ProTools and 2-inch, 24-track tape, which always creates a buzz with clients,’ he adds. ‘Those wanting to combine the flexibility of a DAW with the sound of tape should definitely get in touch with KMR, who helped us with a comprehensive demo and install of this fantastically innovative system.
‘Off the back of The Cowshed Glastonbury project I have been asked to specify a new analogue studio build. KMR will definitely be in there.
‘It was a real pleasure working with someone as ambitious and dedicated and nice as Joe,’ comments KMR Sales Manager, Stefan Pope. ‘What a wonderful thing he’s done for Greenpeace and the bands involved, not to mention the quality recordings he’s produced onto vinyl. We only made some gear we owned available, it was nothing. All the plaudits should go to Joe for organising it all and making it happen.’
More details of the project and studio equipment appear in an earlier Fast-and-Wide post.
More: www.cowshedstudio.com
More: www.kmraudio.com
