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Woodworm Studios is a residential recording facility offering both analogue and 24 bit digital (up to 192kHz) recording media. The studio is located on the edge of the quiet and idyllic village of Barford St. Michael in North Oxfordshire, on the banks of the River Swere. The village offers a relaxed rural atmosphere, a small local farm-shop/Post Office and a friendly local pub, all within walking distance.

The Studio

• Large control room with natural lighting and picturesque views
  
• Large main live recording room with natural light
  
• Three smaller acoustically damped rooms
  
• Excellent studio acoustics
  
• Analogue and 24 bit digital recording media
  
• Grand Piano and Hammond Organ
  
• Ample parking at studio floor level
  
• Chill-out spaces in the studio flat, recreation deck and attractive gardens
  
• Residential accommodation for six people on site
  
• Extra accommodation available in the village
  
• Rural village location with shop/post office and friendly local pub all in walking distance

We receive lots of requests to see the studio before booking. In most cases this is easily arranged, however for those clients who can't get in to view before booking we have included some virtual tours on these pages.

Please note these files use Java - if you do not have Java you will just see a sign offering to take you to a site to download it. The images also take about 15 seconds to start downloading (longer if you have a low Internet connection). Please be patient. If all else fails, you can see them hosted elsewhere by visiting this site.

The live room

The acoustic gallery

The control room

The kitchen and living room

The garden

History

'Woodworm's Hilton', an old jazz term for a double bass, is the name of the owner's 17th century thatched house, a few yards from the studio. There is ample parking. The studio itself is an early Victorian Baptist chapel converted into a recording studio in the early 1980s by Dave Pegg, the bass player with folk rock band Fairport Convention. The buildings have solid walls made from the local Horton stone, which is very rich in iron: those Victorian Baptists knew a thing or two about building for RF rejection!

Woodworm Music Ltd was incorporated in 1979, although the studio has not been actively marketed in recent years, having been used by Fairport Convention and friends for their own independent projects. In 2004 the studio was bought by Steve Hill who is carrying out a programme of improvements, dictated largely by the needs of clients. Recent additions to the set up include an Apple G5, Audient 8024 mixing desk, Trident/Oram monitor mixing desk, Westlake monitoring, new Neumann and AKG mics etc. We have also aquired a Yamaha grand piano and Hammond organ from world-famous Jacobs Studios - these instruments have featured on sessions by Stevie Wonder, Robbie Williams, David Bowie and many many more.