In this article, the first of two articles in which we look at the development of the team’s studios over the last ten years, here is a detailed look at the development of the studio of Mike Thornton…

For my part, in this look at how the design of our respective studios has changed over the years, as you will see, the design of my current studio has changed little since it was built in 2001, rather the equipment in it has changed.

Back in 2001, we were moving house, and we had the luxury of having the new house for several weeks whilst still living in the old house a couple of miles away. So whilst other work was taking place in the new house, I had the opportunity to build a new studio from scratch, learning from my mistakes made in the old studio. I am the first person to hold my hand up and say I am not an acoustics specialist, and I don't guarantee that all my solutions are perfect, but they have worked for me.

I have already covered the design and construction of this studio across 3 articles…

I am very pleased that the design has not needed to be changed over the 20-plus years. All my careful planning has meant that the changes over the last 20 years or so have been equipment changes. I have not needed to change the furniture or the acoustic treatment. Even better, the design has made equipment upgrades much easier. 

2008

Although my current studio was designed and built in 2001, this is the earliest photo I could find from 2008. The monitors are my original Rogers LS3/5A speakers that I bought back in 1980, the centre speaker is another LS3/5a that I bought in 2007. The screens are 1024x768, 4x3 screens, There is a TV on top of the centre speaker for viewing video playback that was fed from a Canopus box. Looking at the racks, underneath the screens, on the left-hand side is a Tascam CD and cassette deck with a connector panel underneath. The centre rack has my BBC PPM and custom monitor controller with a phase meter. On the right-hand side is a hi-fi 5.1 AV amp which had five 100W RMS amps, plenty to drive my LS3/5a monitors.

2013

Next, we jump forward to 2013. As you will see, there is not much change except the screens have changed to 1920x1200 Samsung screens, which lasted me until 2021. You can also see one of my many attempts to use a control surface, this was the Euphonix version of an Artist Control. Although you can hardly see them, the machines in the left-hand rack have changed to a Sony CDP-11 CD player and a Sony MDS-E11 Minidisc recorder. Finally, you can see that I had elevated the Rogers speakers so that they were closer to my ear height and also to help reduce the reflection path via the desk to my ears.

2015

Onto 2015, and in the centre rack, the BBC PPM has been replaced with a digital BBC PPM meter, and I changed my interface to an HD Omni, which also doubled up as my monitor controller for many years. In the right-hand rack, the AV amp has gone, as I had switched to active speakers and in its place is a Focusrite dual preamp, which I used mainly for VO work. You can also see that the Artist Control has gone and been replaced by a Hotkey Matrix.

2019

Next up, we arrive at 2019. The digital PPM meter in the centre rack has been replaced by a Dirac Live processor, and I finally settled on secondhand PMC speakers, with the fronts made up of a set of three LB1s with a pair of TB1s for the surrounds. For metering, I turned to an RTW TM3. Finally, in the right-hand rack, the Focusrite mic preamps have been replaced by a pair of PreSonus RC500 channel strips.

2022

Finally, we come to the present day. When it came to a major studio overhaul in 2021, when I went from 5.1 to Dolby Atmos, the design paid back dividends. The change to Dolby Atmos triggered a change in computer from a 2010 Mac Pro to a 2018 Mac mini, which triggered the need to have a PCI-e chassis. You can read more about this and how I also updated my media storage setup in my article Replacing A Mac Pro 5,1 With A Mac Mini 2018 - The Full Story. This article also covers the change from my HD Omni to an Avid MTRX Studio.

All these changes also required a significant rewire, but the lessons I learned from my 1986 to 2001 studio again paid dividends. The Krone Block system, which I had developed years before at Piccadilly Radio, was the system I implemented into my current studio back in 2001. This made the major rewire so much easier. You can learn more about the rewiring process in my article Studio Wiring And Patch Bays - Everything You Need To Know.

Part of the design also included cable ducting around the perimeter of the room. You can see that in my article Get Retina Performance Without Paying The Premium, as when I needed to change my screens, I needed to replace the cables between the computer and the screens, which involved opening up the ducts, pulling out the old monitor cables and replacing them with new fibre optic cables.

1979

Finally, just for some fun, I thought it might be interesting to turn back the clock and show you a couple of pictures of my very first studio, circa 1979, which I built in my first home, which was a residential caravan when I was working for Marconis in Chelmsford in Essex. As you can see, space is at a premium, the studio was in the kitchen occupying the space that would normally have a small dining table and chairs. At this time, I was also involved in Hospital Radio Chelmsford as well as providing sound effects and show sound for the amateur dramatic and operatic societies in and around the Chelmsford area.

The mixing console was self-built to my own design, right down to the circuit boards. The two 1/4" tape recorders were Ferrograh Series 7s, and the turntables were Garrad SP25 Mk 3s. The mic was a Shure 545, a lower-cost SM57.

The cart machine on top of the mixer to the left, I made myself using modified 8-track mechanisms, with the cartridges being hand-wound using lubricated tape, which were recorded using the Ferrographs before being loaded in, and looped with a small section of aluminium foil, which triggered the mechanism to stop at the correct place ready for replaying again.

The left-hand rack had a Leak valve FM tuner and a small jackfield (patchbay). The right-hand rack had a self-designed dual compressor limiter and digital delay unit.

The monitor speakers were a pair of Wharfedale Denton hi-fi speakers, but soon after these pictures were taken, were replaced by my first pair of Rogers LS3/5a BBC monitors.

So that is the story of Mike’s studio. Watch out for the next article, where we look at another member of the team’s studios and how they have changed over a decade.