We recently discovered Grosvenor Road Studios, or GRS as they are sometimes called. The most outstanding thing is that the studio has been in Birmingham (UK) for around 60 years! Why didn't we know about it?
Having finally discovered the studios we invited ourselves in for a look around and uncovered one of the most impressive studios we have seen in quite a long time. The design and 'look' reminds us of Cello Studios (East West?), Abbey Road and many other classic rooms. It doesn't have big 'live rooms' but it does have big 'dead rooms' that sound very natural, it would be very hard to get a bad sound in there. Just to add, there are numerous corridors and other live spaces so you aren't restricted to just dead sounding rooms.
The studio is really a complex, the main Studio One had the largest space with ISO booth and client lounge and is kitted out with an SSL AWS 900 console. The control room has a comfy sofa in front of the SSL so musicians can keep out of the engineers way if needed and get a better view through the control room glass.
Studio Two shares the medium sized recording space with Studio Three and both offer affordable recording and mixing for local artists but also offer bigger budget clients the chance to spread the session out, say backing tracks in One and then move to do overdubs and vocals etc in the smaller rooms before returning to the large control room for final mixing.
The studio originally named Hollick & Taylor Recording has a wealth of history. Dr Who and Thunderbirds sound tracks, the sound track to the Guns of Naverone, UB40, Spencer Davis, The Moody Blues, Roy Wood, The Mavericks, Steel Pulse, Cliff Richard etc etc have all been produced here. The microphones date back quite some time with the U87's and Coles dating back to the late 50's. When booking you get full use of the grand piano, drums, percussion, guitars and amps. The studios have a very nice and relaxed feel with plenty of space, parking and catering facilities.
The Mikey Godfrey and Grosvenor Road Studio Photo Gallery
The Mikey Godfrey and Grosvenor Road Studio Photo Gallery
House engineer Mikey Godfrey was really kind and gave us a brief studio tour which we filmed and hope that you get some sense of what the place is about. It would be ideal for recording bands and at long last we can say that Birmingham has a great studio! Give them a try!