our studios

studio 1

The original rooms that Disney built. Complete isolation from outside noise with silent air conditioning and a naturally dead acoustic. Optional wood or stone flooring together with an isolation room and a selection of common spot effect props make it the ideal place to record drama. Additional dampening and screens are available for outdoor simulation or for single voice reads. This room is the ideal base to layer with our library of digitally sampled room acoustics.

The control room is equally isolated from outside noise and separately air conditioned. Seating eight people comfortably, it has ample desk space for production staff as well as additional room for other visitors.

All our studios have Neumann microphones and may used with either SADiE or Pro Tools systems. This studio has a Yamaha 02R desk for fast scene changes as well as a selection of other microphones. The control room has large Tannoy Lockwood monitors as well as Yamaha nearfield speakers and a selection of outboard equipment.

studio 2

The popular choice for one or two readers for audiobooks, voice overs or voice to picture.
With natural daylight, acoustic isolation and it’s own dedicated air conditioning, Studio 2 is always busy.

As with all our studios, this comes with a choice of SADiE or Pro Tools systems, Tannoy monitors and Neumann microphones. It also has a Yamaha desk with Broadhurst Gardens mic pre-amps.

studio 3

s3_1

STUDIO 3 control room

Seats 2 people comfortably
With natural light

s3_2

STUDIO 3 recording area

For 1 or 2 readers
Also available as a booth for studio one

As well as it’s own entrance, the booth of Studio 3 can be accessed from Studio 1. So when not in use as an isolation room for dramas it’s regularly used for single voice audiobooks. Although it has it’s own control room, Studio 3 may also be linked to the Green Room.

As with all our control rooms, this may also be used as an edit suite and has Tannoy monitors and a Yamaha desk.

green room

Green Room

Garden2

Situated next to studios 1 and 3 – a calm setting to prep the script, rehearse or just hang out between scenes.

May also be arranged as a control room to Studio 3.

garden

Garden

Garden recording

The ideal place to relax or to use as an additional recording space!

reception

Reception

Source of all refreshment. A place to mingle, reboot and enjoy the complimentary teas, coffees, fruit and snacks. Often used as a meeting point and a place to plan the session.

equipment

Recording

Pro Tools 9 for PC with video sync for ADR
Pro Tools 24 MIX for Mac with 888 interface
SADiE 5 with USB, Firewire, SCSI, CD or DVD backup/transfers.
PQ indexing and faster than real time CD mastering from within SADiE.
RAID NAS, USB and FireWire storage
SADiE 3 with 50 pin removable hard drives. Exabyte data back-up and archive restore.

Mixing Desks

Yamaha O2R v2
Yamaha MG 16/6FX
Yamaha MG 12/4 FX

Microphones

Neumann U 87s, Audio Technica 4047s, AKG 414 and Apex 440

Monitors

Tannoy and nearfield Yamaha NS10s

Ancillary Equipment

VOIP for phone-in interview recording or remote productions
Broadhust Gardens Mic Preamps
Drawmer, Klark Teknik, Behringer, A&D compressor/limiters, expander/gates
Yamaha multi-effects
Cassette decks and DAT machines for vintage transfers
Extensive sound effects and royalty free music library
Convolution reverbs with acoustic library

analogue

vintage2

monitors

vintage4

"Since 1998 we have been using the facilities at Motivation Sound Studios. Whether we were recording the Royal National Theatre Company in The Mysteries or Leslie Caron and Stacey Keach in Michael Hastings' adaptation of The Plutocrat, or Sir Donald Sinden, Alec McCowen, Charles Dance, Geoffrey Palmer and Joseph Fiennes in John Osborne's memorable The Charge of the Light Brigade or this year Paul Scofield in Michael Eaton's adaptation of the Dickens story George Silverman's Explanation, all the actors, directors and producer of Promenade have enjoyed the professional atmosphere and attention they have received from the staff of Motivation Sound Studios."

Nicholas Newton, Producer, Promenade

"Thank you very much for providing such an excellent service for the recording of our play "Chair" by Edward Bond for BBC Radio 4. I found everyone at your studios very helpful and professional and I am very pleased with the end result"

Turan Ali, Director, Bona Lattie Productions

"Motivation Sound Studios have been recording unabridged audio books ranging from 4 to 16 hours for Chivers since the early 1980s… I would not have the slightest hesitation in recommending MSS as a recording studio, either for the recording of audio books or indeed for any other form of recording work. Their technical expertise is of the highest order, their attention to detail is superb, their ability to cope with the logistical 'nightmare' of several titles going through at different stages is exemplary"

Nicole Kirkman, Publishing Director, Chivers Press Publishers

"A very friendly but professional environment for everything from King Lear and Sherlock Holmes to Heidi and W.B. Yeats"

Nicolas Soames, Director, Naxos AudioBooks

"I seem to have spent a lot of the last year up at Motivation Sound and have never said what a pleasure it is to be there... I may have worked in more overtly glamorous places but Motivation takes a lot of beating"

Jane Morgan, Drama Producer

"Thanks again to you for all your hard work. The project has gone really smoothly, you’ve delivered everything really quickly and kept us in touch the whole way through."

Teresa Raho, Editorial Manager, LCP - Language Centre Publications

"Acoustiguide have used the services of Motivation Sound Studios for a number of projects. We have always found their staff reliable and their work to be of good quality. As a team they are always willing to go out of their way to help us in meeting our objectives and tight deadlines and they do so with great good humour"

Alyson Webb, Creative Director, Acoustiguide

"It has been a great pleasure for our company to discover the expert work that your company provides in producing audiobooks. We have now completed three different projects with you - an unabridged mystery, a non-fiction, and a poetry collection - and we can certainly recommend your services to any other US audio publisher"

Linda D Olsen, President and Publisher, The Audio Partners Publishing Corp.

"We were pleased with the production of 'Don't be a Stranger' for BBC Radio 4… It is a good place to work, your staff are welcoming and friendly and the price is competitive… By the way the BBC Commissioning Editor liked the production"

Ralph Rolls, Director, Forge Productions Ltd

"Just a note to say what a delight to be at Motivation for the ten day recording of Philip Pullman's 'The Amber Spyglass'. Your whole team looked after Philip and all forty of us royally… Many thanks for making us so welcome and helping to keep the long, intricate schedule running so smoothly"

Garrick Hagon, Director/Producer, The Story Circle

"I have always enjoyed recording at Motivation Sound Studios; the relaxed and friendly atmosphere belies the steely professionalism and efficiency which ensures I get a good product"

Hazel Imbert Audio producer and Writer of ELT materials

"A Tribute to Finchie was recorded in a small studio in North London.. Like so many Radio 4 dramas, it is a miniature gem"

Valerie Grove, The Times, Play directed by Martin Jarvis

"Just a note to thank you and the sound staff for the invaluable experience the Central [School of Speech & Drama] students gained working in your studios… I was impressed by the way their microphone technique improved in these sessions"

John Scotney Producer

our studios

studio 1

studio 2

studio 3

green room

garden

reception

equipment