Benefits of Choosing Monnow Valley Studio as Your UK Recording Studio

1. Pedigree

Formerly part of the first residential recording studios in the world, Monnow Valley Studio has been chosen by many famous bands, producers, and artists over the last four decades. Recent clients include The Pigeon Detectives, The View and The Enemy.

2. Location

The studio is set amongst 400 acres of green rolling hillside located two miles outside of Monmouth, Wales, which is a lovely picturesque market town with several pubs, three supermarkets, etc. It has great access with the rest of the UK as Monmouth is right on the England-Wales border and is about a two-and-a-half hour drive from London.

The nearest international airports (Bristol and Cardiff) are within 45 minutes drive from the studio. Abergavenny train station is only 10 miles away. A map of the location is on our contact page.

3. Equipment

Of course, Monnow Valley Studio has the some of the best professional recording equipment available including many producer's preferred gear such as Pro Tools and SSL 4064G+.

At 1200 sq ft, the live room is one of the biggest of any professional recording studios in the UK and has variable acoustics which makes it easier to achieve the optimal sound a producer is looking for. It has been described as the best drum room in the world by producers and drummers alike.

4. Leisure Facilities

When the bands are not recording, there are plenty of leisure facilities to enjoy in and around the studio. Our games room has pool and table tennis tables and a dartboard. The band can relax in the lounge with its sumptuous leather sofas, widescreen TV, SKY TV complete with all movie and sports channels, and surf the internet with the studio PC. The entire facility also has wireless business broadband internet access for bands to use their laptops.

Monnow Valley Studio offers fantastic coarse fishing with its own mile of private fishing rights on the beautiful river Monnow. Depending on the season, chub, grayling and salmon can be caught here.

There are many scenic walks around the countryside, which can also be used for jogs and mountain biking if the band are feeling more energetic!

Golfers have several superb courses to play: The Rolls of Monmouth is four-minutes drive from the studio; Monmouth Golf Club, "arguably the prettiest golf course in Wales", is within five miles; and seven miles away are the two Forest of Dean courses and driving range. Favourable rates for all the courses can be attained through the Studio.

Should the band wish to venture into Monmouth, there are several lively pubs with many a tale to be told of previous rock bands visiting the pubs over the last four decades.

5. Food

At Monnow Valley Studio, all food is home-cooked and prepared in-house, so it can provide all types of catering to suit a band's individual palates. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are provided as well as snacks and coffee. A self-catering option is also available should the band wish to prepare their own food, which can be purchased from any of Monmouth's three supermarkets, grocers, butchers and shops.

6. 24-Hour Staff

In the studio, we have our engineer, Tom Manning. Tom has been part of the Monnow Valley team for over a year and knows the equipment inside out. Tom came to us from LIPA and has an extensive musical knowledge. He has recently produced tracks for Switch Blade, Kick Box Riot, The Autopilots and Electric Skies.

Tom has assisted and/or engineered for many top producers such as:

Jim Lowe (Stereophonics, Glen Matlock, The Charlatans)
Bob Marlette (Toni Iommi, Rob Halford, Tracy Chapman)
Mike Crossey (Arctic Monkeys, Razorlight, The Enemy)
Ian Caple (Tindersticks, Simple Minds, My Bloody Valentine)
Richard Jackson (The Automatic, Future Of The Left)
Dan Turner (Bullet For My Valentine, Cradle Of Filth)
Head (PJ Harvey, Massive Attack)

Working hours are flexible so if the band wants to work from 9 to 5 or 3pm to 7am... Monnow Valley Studio can accommodate your requirements. Since taking over in 2006, the studio has never had to stop a recording session due to technical problems as any problems have been able to be fixed immediately. The equipment is regularly maintained and serviced by Richard Griffiths, an SSL specialist previously of Olympic Studios in London.

Recording Studio News

June 16th 2010 - New pre-amps on their way. API and Neve pre-amps will be in the studio by the end of the week.

Buy a raffle ticket to win 3-Days Studio Time at Monnow Valley recording studio. Tickets cost £20 and all proceeds go to the Dan Black Fundraiser. Our draw has been postponed thanks to both eBay and PayPal not allowing the tickets to be sold under their gambling rules. We will drop everyone an email who has bought a ticket. Thanks for your co-operation

For more details, click here

June 2010 - We're all reeling from the news about the tragic death of Stuart Cable today. Stuart wasn't just a studio client, we'd been good friends for 15 years and been through many incredible highs and lows over those years. Our thoughts & prayers are with his family, band mates (past & present) and friends. Gone, but never ever forgotten!!

Producer, Head, has been back into the studio (after all, we are his favourite recording studio in the world!) with the brilliantly named Tommy Tokyo & Starving For My Gravy, for Warner Norway

April 2010 - Electric Skies have been making their debut album at the UK's premier recording studio with our in-house engineer, Tom Manning

March 2010 - Fresh from their appearances at SXSW, The Smoke Fairies have been mixing their album with producer Head

Golden Silvers have been putting the finishing touches to their forthcoming album

January 2010 - Romesh Dodangoda records drums in Monnow Valley Studio's massive live room for the forthcoming Attack Attack! single

BenSem come into the studio to record new material following the success of their first album

Orange Unsigned runner-up, Hip Parade, with Adam Zindani (guitarist from the Stereophonics) have been in to record an EP

7th December 2009 - Since the summer, we've been really busy making albums with two great Welsh bands: Feeder and Bullet For My Valentine. 'Road To V 2009' winners The Last Republic are currently with us, working on their debut album due out next year.

News Archive...

History of Monnow Valley Residential Recording Studio

Monnow Valley Studio was originally the rehearsal facility of the world's first residential recording studio, Rockfield Studios, created by brothers Charles and Kingsley Ward. When the brothers went their separate ways in the 1980s, Charles took over Monnow Valley and turned it into an independent recording studio.

In 2006, Monnow Valley Studio was taken over by Jo and James Hunt and has undergone substantial reinvestment including an acoustically engineered control room, new recording equipment, redecoration and improved leisure facilities for the clients, making it one of the best recording studios in the UK.

Jo started her career in distribution in the late 80s working as a label manager at what is now Vital Distribution before venturing into production management at (amongst others) Mushroom Records. In 1995, she went on to handle distribution for key labels at BMG, before being headhunted to Richard Branson’s newly formed V2 Records in 1996 and moving into PR – ultimately being one of the key team members behind the Stereophonics’ success for the label. In 2000, Jo was asked to run an arm of a charity helping young Welsh musicians get into the industry. In this role, she helped develop the careers of many bands including The Lost Prophets, Funeral For A Friend and Bullet For My Valentine – to date, these bands have sold over 10 million albums between them. Jo set up her own management company in 2003 signing Jarcrew to Gut Records and People In Planes to Wind Up Records in New York. In 2004 she won the award for export at the Music Manager’s Forum British Music Roll Of Honour. In 2006, Jo (along with her brother, James) bought Monnow Valley, saving this historical studio from the property developers. As well as running the studio, Jo is chairman of local charity Monmouth Festival which promotes 9 nights of free live music every summer to over 40,000 people. She has recently gone back into management, working with 'Road To V 2009' winners, The Last Republic.

Over the decades, many of the musical world's biggest artists have used Monnow Valley for writing, rehearsing, or recording, including Led Zeppelin, Queen, Oasis, Stereophonics, Black Sabbath, and many more. The recent book, Rock Legends At Rockfield by Jeff Collins, documents the history of bands staying at both Rockfield and Monnow Valley Studio.

Benefits of Residential Recording

There are many advantages of choosing a residential recording studio over a non-residential studio. Cost is a major factor:

• It usually works out far less expensive to record at a residential studio than for a band (and sometimes producer, engineer, etc.) to stay at a hotel nearby to the studio
• There are no travel expenses or wasted travelling time getting to and from the studio and hotel each day
• A residential studio can accommodate a band's meal requirements and the cost is usually included in the price of hiring out the residence
• A residential recording studio can provide a more homely, relaxed and private atmosphere than staying in a city hotel
• Many residential recording studios are set in rural surroundings, which allows the band to concentrate on their music, writing and recording without the distractions of a big city on their doorstep.