Set in the rolling Hampshire countryside as a purpose-built recording space that would be the envy of many studios all over the world, Winchester Audio Barn is a unique addition to the UK’s commercial studio landscape. While it is the eye-catching styling and incredible collection of vintage equipment that will first grab the attention, behind these is a technical backbone that ensures anything is possible, all underpinned by a huge inventory of Van Damme cables and patchbays.
Winchester Audio Barn has been a passion project for its founder Niall Holden, but creating a world-class recording facility was not the original idea. “It started off as a bit of the jam room where I could throw some guitars down there and just make a lot of noise without upsetting my neighbours,” he recalls. “It kind of grew from there. I spoke to various friends; different opportunities came to light and the idea evolved. It soon became clear that we had the potential to do something different and create the kind of new-build recording space that the UK hasn’t seen for 25 years.”
The studio has been built with the concept of getting things right from the very beginning. This meant involving some of the finest minds and ears in the business to ensure that current studio requirements were met while future needs were planned for. This saw Bill Ward from Langdale Technical design and install the studio while Chris Walls from Level Acoustic Design took on responsibility for the acoustics and engineer, producer, musician and educator, Stuart Bruce added his input and experience to the technical side of the project.
“It’s been a no compromise build really, and the results are the evidence,” says Ward. “Because we knew what the levels of gear were, we could wire it and design it accordingly and we’ve put a lot of capacity in as well for more gear in the future.”
These possibilities can all be experienced from the well-appointed control room. Offering direct line of site to the main galleried live room as well as all three isolation booths, the control room features a 48-channel SSL Duality Fuse console and PMC BBS XBD main monitors as well as racks of vintage outboard gear that all comes with a story to tell and 72 lines of DAW I/O. In total over 250 mic and tie lines service the live area and booths with both Van Damme Blue series and Van Damme Green series used throughout. To give scale to the installation, over 2km of Blue and Green Series cable was used with a termination count that was in excess of 10,000.
Additionally, a network of guitar lines exist between the control room, live area, booths and custom-built guitar cupboards. These are wired with Van Damme Silver Series cable in Lo Cap, Flat Cap and Hi Cap guises. On top of this, high level amp lines were installed using Van Damme 2x6mm loudspeaker cable. The audio connections landed on 13 Van Damme Purple Patch patchbays configured with EDAC56 connectors and computer-generated laser etched designation strips.
“I’ve been doing this for 25 years, and the things I always spec are Van Damme cables and Neutrik connectors,” states Ward. “I explain to people, that if you’re out of money, ditch a bit of kit, because you can buy that in six months, plug it in and go. But the stuff you’re burying in the wall, the infrastructure is critical. Don’t skimp on that, because you’ll regret it.”
“It’s about making it work in a way that’s flexible but also comprehensible,” adds Bruce. “I’m really proud of what we’ve achieved with Winchester Audio Barn. We’ve had a lot of engineers come through from young to old and so far, they’ve looked at the system and can see where everything is, they can see that it all works and they know it’s going to be great.”
