Professional broadcast quality recordings.

From low budget demo to fully produced, mastered CD.

The Soundworks is a well equipped recording studio based in Barnet, North London.

I have personally run the studio for over 25 years and I have lots of real world experience working as a producer, sound engineer and session guitarist.  This wealth of experience enables to me to offer my clients both technical and artistic services and advice.

My business partner Matthew Ashforde is a professional actor with a wealth of experience who offers invaluable production advice to clients working on voicereels and vocal demos.

I do not employ third party engineers, so when you start a project with me, I will work with you from it's start to it's successful completion.

Because the studio is not based in London's West End our location we are able to offer exceptional value as our overheads are lower.  The studio has natural light which contributes to a relaxed and productive working atmosphere.    It is also served by local British Rail, London Underground and bus connections.

Creating a recording is typically the final stage that occurs after lots of hard work preparing, writing and rehearsing material. Deciding on where to make your recording is an important decision.  I'm happy for potential clients to visit the studio to ask questions and to discuss their requirements.  Whatever the size, type or budget of the project, I'm sure that I will be able to help you to achieve your recording aims. 

Mick Hutchings.

The Team

Mick Hutchings is an professional recording engineer, producer & musician.  He has many years of studio experience including sessions at Good Earth (Tony Visconti) and Abbey Road studios.  
He has worked with hundreds of musicians and singers recording music of all genres.
As a guitarist he has played all over the country at major events such the Brecon Jazz and Cambridge Rock festivals.

Matthew Ashforde is a professional actor whose credits in Theatre & television are many & varied, including roles in the West End and National Theatre along with several Off West End & regional venues. He has played roles in television programmes for all the major channels. Matthew has also directed several professional productions in Theatre's across the UK. Matthew also regularly teaches performance classes & audition technique at The London School of Musical Theatre.

Equipment

Core system

Soundcraft Spirit 328 32 channel digital mixer
3Ghz Dual-core PC
Presonus Studio One v2
Cubase 4 audio & MIDI sequencing
UAD1 DSP cards (x3)
Soundforge stereo editor
Tascam DA20 MkII DAT
Sony mini-disc

Outboard Hardware

SPL Track 1 recording channel
Lexicon MPX1 (x2)
Joe Meek VC3 microphone preamp
DBX 266XL dynamics
Drawmer LX20 compressor
Symetrix 544 noise gates
TL Audio Indigo valve compressor
TL Audio Crimson equalisers (x2)
Microphones from: Sennheiser, AKG, Audio Technica, SE & Shure
Monitors: Tannoy & Rogers
Headphones: Beyer Dynamic, Sennheiser and AKG

Other Equipment

Roland TD3 MIDI Drum kit (Triggering Toontrack Superior Drummer)
Various electric (Fender, Ibanez, etc) & acoustic (Brook, Levin, Fender, etc) guitars
Cornell Custom 30W hand built valve amp
Cornell RT45 hand built valve amp
Fender 15W bLUES Junior
Fender 15W Pro Junior
Mango Duo 18 hand built valve amp
SansAmp PSA1 guitar preamp
Johnson J-Station digital amp and FX medeller
Many FX pedals including compressors, overdrives, distortions, delays, chorus, phasers, etc.