Our favourite music festival and conference, The Great Escape, is almost upon us – in one month to be exact!
Celebrating its tenth year, the annual festival is on in Brighton once again from May 19 – 21 and the whole Miloco team will be there! We have been attending the festival for years, using it as a way to discover the best new talent out there and introduce them to the world of Miloco Studios.
We’re proud to say we have a decade’s worth of support for TGE and its artists behind us, having worked with a huge number of past acts, both before and after they came into their wider recognition. See the full list of TGE alumni on Miloco’s client list in the picture below.
We continue that tradition this year, with a whole host of acts on the 2016 lineup that we’ve had the pleasure of having in our rooms around London, and across the world, including:
Oh Wonder, Kiko Bun, Clean Cut Kid, M.O, Cloves, Nadia Rose, Shura, Cortes, Izzy Bizu, Max Pope, Kiwi, Louis Mattrs, Michael, Kiwanuka, Mabel, The Hunna and more.
Stay tuned for more in the lead up to The Great Escape, including Miloco reviews and staff picks.
Listen to this comprehensive playlist from the festival to get acquainted with The Great Escape Class of 2016:
Posted in Uncategorized |One of our top west London locations, Westpoint Studios is offering a special one-time-only offer on booking rates for a very limited time!
Shane, Westpoint’s owner, is away on paternity leave for the next few weeks, and in a fit of new-parent joy has offered the incredible boutique studio for £2,500 + VAT for a full week’s booking (12 hours/day for 7 days) with an assistant. The offer is only available for two weeks, from the 11th – 25th May, 2016.
A boutique studio in West London, Westpoint continues to be one of the leading choices for music producers and top artists for the past 20 years. Precision built by the crème de la crème of acoustic design, ‘Recording Architecture’, the studio is a unique blend of state-of-the-art recording facilities combined with a daring white interior design. Natural light floods the 22-foot control room through tall frosted glass windows and is made homely by the relaxed feel and chill out zones in every room.
At the centre of Westpoint’s control room is the purebred SSL 48 track 4K G Series and the highly acclaimed ATC SCM 200 monitoring system for a listening experience recommended by all who have had the pleasure of experiencing it. For multi-track recording we have the latest Pro Tools HDX system with a staggering 64 i/o via apogee symphony converters. Add to this over 100 balanced tie lines for you to record in any room (yes even the kitchen!) and it’s easy to see why even clients with the most complex of sessions find it a synch to set up effortlessly into our facilities.
Westpoint Studios is an oasis of creativity in the heart of West London and promises an unforgettable recording experience with results that are hard to beat.
Contact the Miloco Bookings Team to enquire about booking your session.
Posted in Uncategorized |A few weeks ago we had American seven-piece band Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats spend a day in The Pool filming the video for their new single ‘I Need Never Get Old’. They were joined by a great production team, a gospel choir, troupe of make-up artists, and a cat!
They spent a full 14 hour day here at Miloco HQ, and even took over our local pub The George as their make-up room – watch the clip below to see why… The video is pretty hilarious and mirrors what I’m sure a lot of us have felt during take after take in the studio. After the main video was released a few weeks ago, we now have a behind the scenes look at the epic day of filming!
Watch the original and BTS clips below, and if you’d like to take a look at some of our other prime studio filming locations click here.
Posted in Uncategorized |At Miloco our studios are only as good as the people that work in them, and we’re very proud to work with some of the best young minds (and ears!) in the business. Part of our business is managing a roster of engineers & producers, giving them a foot in the door and the tools to develop into the best musicians they can be.
These guys are often the unsung heroes of the music you’ve come to know and love over the past few years, so we thought we’d embarrass a few of our new generation of our engineers by talking about how great they are. We’ll introduce you to them below, but for more information and to view their full CVs just click on the images below.
Billy Halliday
Originally from Australia, Billy Halliday has spent the last four years working his way up through the ranks at Miloco, which has given him the opportunity to work in a wide variety of studios, including a number of recent sessions in Paul Epworth’s The Church Studios in Crouch End. Billy is equally at home on an SSL, a vintage Neve, or in any other recording environment.
He’s worked alongside many great engineers and producers including Mark Rankin, Alan Moulder, Markus Dravs, Dan Grech, Matt Wiggins and Charlie Hugall. His credits include sessions with Adele, U2, Florence + The Machine and Frank Ocean.
Daniel Moyler
Raised on The Beatles and Bowie, Dan studied guitar at BIMM and spent his teenage years playing in some of London’s questionable venues. In his twenties he turned his hand to engineering and started working on night reception at Trevor Horn’s SARM Studio’s. Daniel soon progressed to an assisting position where for over two years he assisted on records for Ed Sheeran, Half Moon Run and Mumford and Sons.
Recently Daniel has recorded Rudimental, Kaiser Chiefs and has been working on the debut LP by Shura ‘Nothing’s Real’. He has also recording strings for James Morrison and Zayn’s UK and US #1 album ‘Mind of Mine’.
Drew Smith
Drew joined Miloco in 2009 after two years of darkness in the basement of a Dalston based studio. Through Miloco, Drew met Flood and Alan Moulder and began working his way up through the ranks in their studio, Assault & Battery 2. He spent the next six years working under their watchful eyes, and in this time worked with artists such as Foals, Warpaint, PJ Harvey, Depeche Mode and Ed Harcourt.
Most recently Drew has been engineering for Mark Ralph on releases for Rejjie Snow, INHEAVEN, Foxes, Clean Bandit and Zibra.
Jake Gordon
Starting his career in music at the age of 16, Jake has over a decade of experience in studios already and has become a highly skilled engineer and producer. Having worked at several London studios before joining Miloco in 2010, Jake has since engineered projects across a wide variety of genres and artists, including Jay Electronica, The Vaccines, Naughty Boy, Plan B, and Wild Beasts alongside Stephen Street & Alex Dromgoole.
Recently his credits include records with Emeli Sande, Skepta & Ady Suleiman
Joseph Rodgers
Hailing from the outskirts of Dublin, Joseph moved to London to satisfy his appetite for new and exciting music. Starting his career in Essex he moved to London initially started work at Miloco as runner and part of the Miloco Builds team, before becoming the in-house assistant at The Pool.
He has moved on to work at most of Miloco’s studios alongside producers such as Ben Hiller, Stephen Street, Paul Epworth, Charlie Hugall, Phill Brown, and Pete Hoffman. His artist credits include Tom Odell, Florence + The Machine, Bombay Bicycle Club, The Kooks and many Decca Records artists.
Kristian Donaldson
Kristian began his career in London based Artillery Studios in 2009 before joining Miloco in 2012.
Kristian has worked in a vast array of studios across London, including Paul Epworth’s The Church, Damon Albarn’s Studio 13 and nearly all Miloco’s London based studios, alongside some of the industry’s finest engineers and producers. His credits include sessions with M.I.A., Lianne La Havas, U2, Bjork and many more.
As a multi-instrumentalist Kristian has also released music as an artist and beat maker, composes music for film and music libraries, giving him a deep understanding of all areas of the creative and recording process as a producer and engineer.
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Continuing with Miloco’s improvements of the Livingston Studios complex in North London, Studio 2 is closing for a few weeks for some cosmetic upgrades and a whole new spec list. The live rooms are being refabric’d, we are installing Hue coloured lighting throughout, so you can control your ambience from every shade of white to any colour in any room, and the main live room is being fitted with a few diffusors.
In the Control Room we are re-adding a brand spanking new console, new monitors, new outboard, new microphones and there will be a whole new selection of backline.
When selecting the console we’ve gone for one which covers all bases for engineers and producers today. We have ordered a brand new Custom Series 75 console powered by Neve. The desk contains 24 inline channels containing a blend of the legendary 1073 and 1081 modules. The Mic Pre and 4 band EQ is straight from the Neve 1081, while the output amp is based on the 1970’s BA243, class A circuitry with a gapped core transformer as used in the 1073. The original circuits have only been changed where it adds a benefit to the console – for example the summing busses are now balanced resulting in lower noise and crosstalk. You can read more about this console here
http://www.customseries75.com/site/
Monitoring will be provided by Augspurger Duo-8 monitors (with 12” subs) for the bigs, Genelec 1031’s for the mids and Yamaha NS10’s for the near fields. Recording will be to the 32 output Pro Tools HDX system running Pro Tools 12 with a UAD-2 card and loads of plug-ins. Or you can record to 2” multi-track tape. Outboard will be selected to complement the 24 channels of Neve EQ and mic-pre’s. With a variety of compressors and a few alternative EQs and mic pre’s.
The studio will have a great selection of backline including a 1970’s Hayman Vibrasonic Kit, a variety of guitar amps, am Ampex B15 Portaflex bass amp and a variety of other keyboard, pedals and backline that is shared with Studio 1.
To check out the new equipment specification head over here:-
https://milocostudios.com/studios/livingston-studio-2/new-equipment-spec-from-may-2016/
bookings@miloco.co.uk if you want to start book in your sessions. More details will follow in May.
Posted in Uncategorized |Back in January we were thrilled to announce the winner of Sentric Music‘s The Next Big Sync, a competition they ran in collaboration with Miloco Studios, was Liverpool’s Luke Cusato.
We met him a few months ago before his prize sessions as The Motor Museum in his home town. We’ve become big fans of Luke’s here at Miloco Studios, so we thought we’d take the chance to get to know him a bit better and pick his brain on music, the recording process, and what’s in store for the future.
Describe your music for us in three words:
Real, emotional and meaningful
What made you apply for The Next Big Sync?
I think that Sentric Music are brilliant at what they do. They are full on hardworking and passionate people who have always been really supportive and helpful. Seeing that it seemed like such a great opportunity, I thought I’d be stupid not to apply haha!
When did you join Sentric?
I joined Sentric at the end of 2012.
What’s the best thing about being a Sentric member?
The best thing about Sentric for me is the fact that they have regular sync briefs that you can apply for, they make it all so easy for artists. Not gonna lie, royalty days are pretty special too!!
How do you prepare for a studio session?
I like to work on a demo of the song before going the studio, this means when I’m there me and James Mellor (who’s the producer from The Motor Museum) can work from the demo and use that as a reference. Making sure I have the song well practiced and getting a good amount of sleep the night before is a good way to prepare myself too. They can be looong days 🙂
What did you like about The Motor Museum?
I’ve spent a lot of time recording at The Motor Museum before and I know James really well. I always record with him and I absolutely love the studio. I really like how the studio feels so open when you first walk inside, its a pretty unique place but what matters most are the people that work there; I can honestly say that Al Groves and James Mellor are both genuine and extremely talented guys to work with, which makes the whole experience of recording at The Motor Museum a great pleasure!
Huge thanks to @sentricmusic and @milocostudios for picking me as their ‘Next Big Sync’ winner. Really excited about this track! #Breathe #Miloco #Sentric #TheMotorMuseum #RecordingStudio A video posted by Luke Cusato (@lukecusatomusic) on
Can you tell us anything about the material you recorded?
The song that I recorded is called ‘Breathe’, it’s very stripped back, emotional and full of moving vocals. I feel its a proper ‘pour your heart out’ kind of track. Sentric, The Motor Museum and me all put our influences to it, I’m well proud of it 🙂
Sounds exciting! When will we get to hear it?
After hearing it, the brilliant HEROIC label, based in The Netherlands, were really excited to release it. You can hear the first exclusive streaming of it on their #HeroicSessions #025 (below – 52:20mins in). You’ll also be able to hear it on this month’s legendary Sentric Podcast. Then it’s due for worldwide release May 19th!!
What’s in store for you in the next 12 months?
More music, more gigs … I may take up geocaching haha!
Stay in touch with Luke on his Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more music and news!
Learn more about Sentric Music on their website
In January we sadly announced that Miloco’s first ever studio, The Square in Hoxton, would be closing after thirty fantastic years. Last week the Miloco team dismantled and removed every instrument and piece of gear before walking out of those doors for the last time. It was strange seeing the space bare after so many years. But the spirit of Miloco, instilled by our late founder Henry Crallan, continues on in our many other Miloco studios.
Read more about The Square’s history here.
Our 1955 Steinway B has arrived in the UK, and what a sorry looking piano it is! It is well overdue for a bit (or a lot) of TLC. It’s now in the hands of our capable piano restorers who will start the process of rebuilding the piano and bringing it back to its former glory.
First of all the piano has to be stripped completely so that the case can be sent off to the polyester plant for a nice new coat. The metal frame, the soundboard, keyboard – basically everything has to be removed. The frame will be away for about six weeks before the process of rebuilding the insides can even begin.
In the meantime we can prepare the new soundboard and order all the new parts to bring it back to its once great self.
Stay tuned for the ‘after’ shot and click here to read Episode 1: The Quest For The Ultimate Piano
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Getting into the Olympic spirit early, Miloco this week has added its second Brazilian studio by way of Estúdio Eiffel! Okay so the Olympics had nothing to do with it, but we are thrilled to welcome the brand new studio to our roster, making it out second studio in São Paulo, alongside AudioArena.
Located in the greater São Paulo neighbourhood of Santo André, the building was purpose-built as a studio by owner and producer Marco Antonio Esteves with the aim of developing artist projects with the highest sound quality. With this in mind he enlisted the help of designer and architect Jorge Suwazono for the construction, and engineer Adalbert Baggio for the acoustic treatment.
Spread across two floors, the studio is made up of two recording rooms, which includes one very spacious tracking room, a control room and vocal booth. Upstairs is the ‘chill-out zone’ with the kitchen and break room for artists to relax and unwind between takes.
No compromises were made when it came to stocking the studio with top quality, state-of-the-art equipment. Explore the gull gear list here, which features brands such as Neumann, Telefunken, Barefoot, Yamaha, Manley, and Maselec and of course the studio’s centrepiece – a brand new SSL Duality Console.
An historic area of São Paulo, and only 40 minutes drive from the city centre, the studio’s surrounds include plenty of accommodation options and various activities nearby.
Nick Young – Managing Director, Miloco Studios.
March 2016
I am no expert on pianos. I fully admit it. I can play a few notes on one, and I can hear when one sounds nice but certainly not like some others can. We rely on experts and clients to tell us about the pianos in our studios, and each time they do we listen to their feedback to try and improve what we have. So begins the tale of the Livingston piano saga…
In around 2012 Miloco took over Livingston Studios. The place was rundown and most of the gear was broken and needed work doing to it. We decided the console was so badly maintained that we had to get rid of it straight away and brought in a new one, and slowly but surely we did what Miloco does – fix things and make them better.
Amongst all this equipment came a Yamaha C5 grand piano (below). To my ears it sounded okay and some clients seemed to love it, but a lot of the Jazz heads said it was not a great piano and it had tuning issues. We decided to live with it for a while and off we went running Livingston and doing session after session.
In early 2015 we were offered a Bosendorfer grand as someone was moving and could not fit it in their new house. We offered to house the Bosendorfer and decided to move the Yamaha. However the Bosendorfer we realised was a bit smaller than the Yamaha and probably not fit for the job. This was verified when we had a Jazz pianist in who tried both the Yamaha and the Bosendorfer and decided she was not keen on both of them!
So began our quest for the ultimate piano.
Livingston 1 is a great tracking studio with five separate live rooms all connected with line of vision sight. It should be a natural choice for Jazz bands, and in short we want to make it the number one studio in London for Jazz bands (and of course any other type of band). For this to happen though we knew there is one last piece to the jigsaw: a top quality recording Piano. The question was how to do it on a limited budget?
We put the word out that we were looking for a piano and due to financial constraints probably an old one that we could refurbish. One of our piano tuners found an old 1890s Steinway (pictured below) so off we went to inspect the piano with the Jazz pianist. The piano was in a state! Not setup at all, needed restringing but still, the pianist liked the feel of it. She did of course point out that she did not know how the piano would end up sounding, and if we bought it it was a gamble. Our tuner was confident that we could make the piano sound great so we decided to buy it and our tuner took it away to restring and make it sound amazing.
A lot of work went into the piano and three months later we rushed it into the studio to try to get it in for a session that wanted to take it for a spin. Our jazz pianist came back in and tried it…instantly she did not like it! It had a nice bottom and top end but the middle of the register was not singing at all. The piano also kept going out of tune. Our tuners revisited over the next three weeks time and time again. We must have retuned the piano about 30 times but it just wouldn’t settle. We know pianos take a while to settle after a restring, but this was not right. Some days the piano would be out of tune within an hour of the tuner leaving the building. Finally our tuner admitted defeat and worked out that the problem was the soundboard. It had failed. This was a disaster!
After much consulting he put us onto Paul Leverett form pianorestorations.com. He said he could change the soundboard but he would only do this if he could refurbish the whole piano, which was the only way he could guarantee it would sound great. After adding the cost of this to what we had already paid for it to be partly refurbished, we decided to let it go and our tuner (who was extremely helpful) took the piano off our hands and gave us our money back.
So, back to square one. We spoke to Paul more and decided that his restoration service sounded like the way to go. We headed up to Paul’s workshop to meet him and look at the work he does and were blown away. We entered what looked like a small factory and found what must have been 20 – 25 grand pianos in various states of repair. Paul took us around and talked about what he would do. The process basically involved replacing everything in the piano and setting it up from scratch. With this work done he assured us we would end up with an incredible sounding piano and that it would be every bit as a new piano coming out of the Steinway factory. Great! Now we just had to find a Steinway to restore…
In a matter of weeks Paul located one in the States, a 1955 Steinway B. Although it needed a lot of work doing to it the price was exceptional for a piano of this year. As we were going to be rebuilding the piano completely (except for the frame) it didn’t matter how it was inside. So we bought the piano and then waited patiently while lorries were sent to pick it up but turned away by floods (following the snow storms).
Finally we got word that the piano was crated up on a plane! We now start the rebuilding process which Paul will update us on, step by step.
In the meantime while we wait for the Steinway to be rebuilt we have had the Yamaha restrung. It’s now sounding great and holding its tuning well (but it’s no Steinway). Clients who have been using it have been loving it though – now the only thing to decide is whether there should be one or two grand pianos at Livingston!
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