HF Recording + Mastering Studios
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HF Studios
Welcome to Hellfire Studios, home to UK's sickest underground recording & mastering complex. We've been slogging away since 2005 and have worked on nearly 300 projects to date, including around 30 national & international releases, with the biggest one signed to EMI Records for worldwide distribution. Unlike any other studios, we specialize in what we love best...heavy metal & hip hop. We aren't just fans of the music, we are fully pledged disciples!All our experienced staff are qualified graduates and expert musicians, which means we speak your language and can offer professional guidance throughout the process. We will help you thicken or tighten up parts that need it, suggest production effects, and ideas as we go, and deliver the sonic excellence you expect a commercial recording to have...we will become that invisible member of the band. Our many repeat clients & record labels come from all over the UK and abroad to get the Hellfire sound. Our hunger to grow and evolve means we conistently adapt to new technologies and embrace the latest advances in commercial music production, allowing us to offer you an unrivalled experience at Hellfire Studios.
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Recording
The recording process is often a daunting experience for any newcomer, however we strive to put all our clients at ease from the minute they enter. Our experience & knowledge in recording means that you can relax when we're at the helm. We will guide you and offer advice throughout the project, making sure your performances are the best they can be. We won't just idly twiddle thumbs whilst you do all the hard work...we will produce & engineer your record, delivering the professional treatment you deserve.We incorporate a modern digital studio setup with classic analogue, valve driven bite, to give you the best of both worlds. All our microphones, outboards, plug-ins, amplifiers and speaker cabinets are industry standard, allowing us to capture your natural sound and enhance the quality of your performances to a commercial level, whilst also at a rate hard to rival.
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Mixing
The mixing process involves paying close attention to detail, bringing out all the different components and placing them in their own natural space, so that there is less clutter and more clarity in the overall sound. Each mix has to be tailored to each band/genre/song whilst keeping the continuity within the context of the album, and also leaving enough headroom for the mastering process.An average song can take anything from one to three hours to edit and mix, depending on the comlexity of the job. We always run a mastering bus alongside when we mix, to give us a more accurate representation of what is happening to the mixes once mastering is applied . The ability to simultaneously switch between listening to the mix and the master saves time, reduces limitations, and also ensures a better product in the end.
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Mastering
Mastering is the final process your music must go through . Many underestimate this process as simply putting song gaps together or boosting overall levels. It's far more complicated than that...It's the process that can make a good mix bigger and more lively, or a bad mix worse, even if louder. We inevitably ended up mastering for our clients as there were so many cowboys in the industry. It made sense for us to master our clients' work as any major changes could be revisited in the mix, on site, saving time and money. We made mistakes and learnt from them. We were guilty for joining the volume wars, pushing the mixes a notch before distortion to please clients, whilst also squashing any dynamics that survived the ear-fatiguing mixes. Mastering requires a level of knowledge and control, which can only be obtained through having experienced ears, a vast understanding of the science behind the processes, and the right gear. Even after 10 years experience, we are not ashamed to admit that we are only budding mastering engineers, however with mentors like Bob Katz, we learn from the best.We use mastering grade outboards, such as our new Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor, and a very discrete signal path to add that finesse to every project. Our masters now have enough volume and loudness to match the latest, loudest, commercial releases, whilst also retaining as much of the dynamic range as possible. Our endless endeavour to deliver consistent quality means that our sound will never cease to grow and evolve.
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d112
sm57b
sm57
nt5
sm58
evo 601
neumann-tlm103
c414
c1000
fireface800
G5
o2r96
shadow hills mastering
slate pro dragon
finalizer96k
focusrite-compounder
metric-halo
drumagog
logic9
genelec 8050a
bass v-amp
m4 cab
1960a
m4head
avt150
mesaboogie dual rectifier
5150
Cigarette Smoke
Smoke
Cigarette Smoke
Copyright Hellfire Productions Ltd. 2010
"Pockets of Resistance" -SLAB
"Thylacine" -SLAB
"Pigshifter" -SLAB
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