About the studio

Take our virtual 3D tour

Control room

Purpose-built for both superb acoustics and comfort during long sessions, our control room has a great selection of classic outboard including an EMT plate reverb, valve EQs and limiters from EAR and other outboard from UREI, Decca and Solid State Logic.

Rimshot studio control room

Live room

  • Superb acoustics, purpose built from the ground up. Designed by Kevin van Green.

  • Space for up to 20 musicians.

  • Beautiful views over the North Kent Downs AONB through west facing floor to ceiling windows. Great sunsets too!

  • Comfortable to work in for long periods, including a fully ducted HVAC system.

  • Hearback system for monitoring.

  • 9 full height and 2 half height acoustic screens.

  • Drum riser to isolate the drums from the floor.

  • Instruments include our beautiful Bechstein 7' foot grand piano, Hammond C3, Hammond M100, Fender Rhodes 88 and vintage Yamaha 9000 drum kit, plus vintage snare collection including Ludwig 400, Super Sensitive and Slingerland Radio King snares.

  • Backline includes Ampeg B15, Leslie 122, Fender Champ and Music Master amps. DI boxes include ACME Motown WB-3 and Littlelabs Redeye.

  • Extensive mic locker includes Telefuken U47, C12, AEA R44 ribbons (pair), vintage Neumann U87 (pair), KM184 (pair), AKG C414 (pair), Earthworks TC25 pair, AKG D12 (pair) and many others.

  • Blackout curtains available on request.

Our large live room has a warm and natural acoustic with a smooth ambience and feels great to play in. The mic locker includes Telefunken valve mics, AEA ribbon mics and vintage Neumanns.

Home to our beautiful Bechstein grand piano and Hammond C3, the room is hugely versatile and sounds great whether recording rock drums, solo piano, horns or a string section.

The live room was purpose-built from green oak and is very conducive to long sessions, with floor-to-ceiling windows along the entire west side giving lovely views over the Kent Downs. As a bonus, we get amazing sunsets! Did we mention we also have great coffee!

Booth

  • Six meter ceiling height with variable acoustics - drums sound fabulous!

  • Comfortable for long sessions with a fully ducted HVAC system for fresh air.

  • Good sight lines to the live room.

  • Speaker tie lines from the control room, live room and machine room.

  • Leslie speaker tie line from the live room.

The isolation booth is a versatile and great sounding space for drums, brass, vocals, strings and amps.

The acoustic is quite live and can be changed with the addition of screens to create a drier acoustic if required. There are good sight lines to the live room courtesy of large floor to ceiling windows.

The room also has various tie lines including one for the Hammond’s Leslie speaker.

Rimshot studio booth
Rimshot studio garden with coffee mug

Facilities

  • Parking and unloading – We have our own private car park. Load-ins are on one level directly to the live room

  • Relaxing – The live room opens onto a decking area and paddock. Perfect for lunches in summer..

  • Freshly cooked homemade food – We can often provide lovely homemade soups and bread, subject to a small additional charge.

  • Takeaways, restaurants and pubs – We are 1 mile from the centre of Sittingbourne which has several good restaurants and takeaways (including delivery). The Sun Inn at Bredgar is a 5 minute drive and provides good food, excellent ales and has a nice beer garden.

It’s not just the obvious things that make for a great studio experience – it’s also the all-important unseen details that help your session go well.

Photos on this page © Mike Banks, Petra Biedermann, Rob Blackham, Felix Zimmermann and Mike Thorne