Premium music production space for the DIY scene.
| Fly solo in a premium music production space in Exeter built for creativity
| Become a resident to join the community + inspire nights
| Pricing: £20 incl Vat per session bookable in 2 hour windows
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gear list
Pro gear in a compact digital studio - dim lights, write and flow
Soyuz 017 Tube Microphone
Hand built super-premium valve vocal mic, favoured by artists including Thom Yorke and Maddison Cunningham, this beautiful microphone is a rarity in the UK and gives vocals a beautiful shine, sitting effortlessly in any mix. The Soyuz 017 runs through our Cranborne Audio EC2 pre-amp for a beautiful vocal signal chain.
Beautiful Mic Locker
From a Neumann KLM184 / AKG 414 combination on acoustic guitar (as used by Lizzie McAlpine on her most recent record) to an AEA R88 ribbon mic for drum overheads (and room recordings), Neumann KMS105 on snare and TLM102 on hihat... A locker of premium studio microphones plugged in and ready to go...
Neve Analog Summing Mixer
The legendary console sound of Rupert Neve in a integrated unit for digital studios. The 5057 Orbit takes the four group busses and sums the signal through unique Neve transformers to the final mix bus. In addition the Red or Blue silk textures can be enabled to add vintage vibe to mixes.
Premium UAD Interfaces
LARK is built on professional Apollo X8, Apollo X4 interfaces as well as an Audient Evo 16 expander. This provides 20 channels at 96KHz of pre-wired in audio, Cranborne EC2 pre-amps or UAD emulations for the sound of modern and vintage desks and even running the whole session in UAD's Luna with the API Vision Console emulation.
Genelec "The Ones" Monitors
A listening experience in itself, the Genelec "The Ones" 8341 monitors and additional 7350 subwoofer provide incredible mix translation from the studio to your streamers. Calibrated for the room with Genelec's GLM in-speaker software, and with unbelievable imaging and detail, Sound on Sound magazines recent review: "These new monitors are genuine game-changers... we are in ‘product of the decade’ territory here!"
Schiedmayer Piano
Recently relocated, our beautiful Schiedmayer piano is now in situ in the studio - beautiful sound and touch... There is an additional cloth which can be placed in front of the hammers for a felt piano sound, and typically this is mic'd with a pair of AKG 414s with additional microphones to close mic the hammer sounds. The vocal mic can also be dropped down for songwriter pianists.
Arturia Polybrute | Nord Stage 3
Industry defining Nord Stage 3 as the rock of the studio, from pianos to rhodes, organs and epic bass lines. Then layer on the incredible Arturia Polybrute as a 6-voice analog synth with incredible sound morphing potential with the ribbon and XY pad controllers. Both keyboards patched in and ready to record as inspiration strikes...
The Big Trees Valve Amp
As used heavily by Bon Iver, Novo Amor, Foals and numerous others, The Big Trees is an all valve, Class A amp box which doubles as a versatile preamp. Use for subtle richness or destructive bass lines! “For me, I really like the Audio Kitchen Big Trees pedal for overdrive - I use that both live and in the studio, just to have that natural drive." - Yannis, Foals.
Plugin / Library Heaven
An insane amount of instrument libraries and plugins awaits residents in LARK - multiple Spitfire libraries, from Albion NEO to BBC Symphony Orchestra, Slate + Ash Landforms to Komplete 13, Omnisphere to Jasno, collections of UAD, Soundtoys, Izotope, FabFilter, Output, Goodhertz plugins + secret weapon boutique plugins... See the gear list below for full list!
Mic'd up Gretsch Renown Kit
Stunning Gretsch Renown rack mounted drum kit with Zildjian cymbals and Evans heads, mid'c up a stereo pair of AKG 414 TLiis, Neumann TLM 102, Sennheiser 421, AKG D112, Audix D6, Shure SM7b, SM57, Sphere Mic and the Soyuz 017 Tube mic for 10 channels of drum kit recording. A djembe and hand percussion is also available in the space.
Martin OM28, Tele, Jazz Bass...
An array of beautiful guitars as well as a Fender jazz bass to get residents plugged in - guitars featured a Fender telecaster strung Nashville style, Squier paranormal baritone for that Phoebe Bridgers sound, a special Martin OM28 acoustic on request as well as handmade nylon string and takamine acoustic tuned to Drop C!
Woodwind incl Coltrane Tenor
For those able to play woodwind, the studio also features a Selmer Series III black lacquered tenor sax and metal mouthpiece, the same model played by John Coltrane, as well as a wooden Leblanc Sonata Clarinet, both available on special request.
Premium UAD Interfaces
LARK is built on professional Apollo X8, Apollo X4 interfaces as well as an Audient Evo 16 expander. This provides 20 channels of pre-wired in audio, UAD channel strips for the sound of modern and vintage desks and even running the whole session in UAD's Luna with the API Vision Console emulation.
Soyuz 017 Tube Microphone
Hand built super premium vocal microphone, favoured by artists including Thom Yorke and Maddison Cunningham, this beautiful microphone is a rarity in the UK and gives vocals a beautiful shine, sitting effortlessly in any mix. The Soyuz 017 runs through our Cranborne Audio EC2 pre-amp for a beautiful vocal signal chain.
Genelec "The Ones" Monitors
For ultimate mix translation from the studio to the ears of your fans, LARK have selected premium Genelec "The Ones" monitors - with 8331A nearfield monitors and a 7350A subwoofer, calibrated for room with Genelec GLM software. Sound on Sound: "These new monitors are genuine game-changers... we are in ‘product of the decade’ territory here!"
Arturia Polybrute | Nord Stage 3
Industry defining Nord Stage 3 as the rock of the studio, from pianos to rhodes, organs and epic bass lines. Then layer on the incredible Arturia Polybrute as a 6-voice analog synth with incredible sound morphing potential with the ribbon and XY pad controllers. Both keyboards patched in to their own channels and ready to record as inspiration strikes...
Mac Studio + Mini Double Act
Unusually we have built LARK on two Macs - a Mac Studio (64GB RAM) at the heart of the recording setup, geared with Pro Tools, LUNA and Logic DAWs. Then there is a second Mac Mini (64GB RAM) with an insane amount of virtual instruments for super low-latency recording in to the Mac Studio
The Big Trees Valve Amp
As used heavily by Bon Iver, Novo Amor, Foals and numerous others, The Big Trees is an all valve, Class A amp box which doubles as a versatile preamp. Use for subtle richness or destructive bass lines! “For me, I really like the Audio Kitchen Big Trees pedal for overdrive - I use that both live and in the studio, just to have that natural drive." - Yannis, Foals.
Sphere DLX Mic
Increasingly the Go To swiss army mic from studio producers like Joe Chiccarelli to artists like Dave Grohl, the Sphere mic models a mic locker of other classic microphones, which can be changed after recording! It also has a stereo capsule, so with one quick turn you can be recording drums, guitars, pianos in stereo. A magic mic....
Mic'd up Gretsch Renown Kit
Stunning Gretsch Renown rack mounted drum kit with Zildjian cymbals and Evans heads, mid'c up with a stereo pair of AKG 414 TLiis, Neumann TLM 102, Sennheiser 421, AKG D112, Audix D6, Shure SM7b, SM57, Sphere Mic and Soyuz 017 Tube mic for 10 channels of drum kit recording. In addition a djembe and percussion instruments are available in the space.
Martin OM28, Tele, Jazz bass...
An array of beautiful guitars as well as a Fender jazz bass to get residents plugged in - guitars featured a Fender telecaster strung Nashville style, Squier paranormal baritone for that Phoebe Bridgers sound, a special Martin OM28 acoustic on request as well as handmade nylon string and takamine acoustic tuned to Drop C!
Premium UAD Interfaces
LARK is built on professional Apollo X8, Apollo X4 interfaces as well as an Audient Evo 16 expander. This provides 20 channels of pre-wired in audio, UAD channel strips for the sound of modern and vintage desks and even running the whole session in UAD's Luna with the API Vision Console emulation.
Soyuz 017 Tube Microphone
Hand built super premium vocal microphone, favoured by artists including Thom Yorke and Maddison Cunningham, this beautiful microphone is a rarity in the UK and gives vocals a beautiful shine, sitting effortlessly in any mix. The Soyuz 017 runs through our Cranborne Audio EC2 pre-amp for a beautiful vocal signal chain.
LARK COMMUNITY
A space bursting with creativity and community
The vision for LARK is as much about community as creativity - collaborate with fellow residents in sessions + leave samples or lyrics to inspire the next artist...
getTING started
Three simple steps to recording...
LARK is a residents studio - apply to join, head down for the next training eve then book your sessions!...
01
Application
We put our residents in the driving seat of a lot of pro equipment and special instruments- so before we do we ask for a little info up front to get to know your vibes!
02
Training
Our philosophy at LARK is that tech should get out the way of creativity, so mics are already setup ready to record in a template! But there are a few things to show you to avoid any infinite feedback moments - so we'll be running a few training evenings for new residents during the year as well as inspire nights to get some production input and ideas!
03
Recording!
Once you feel confident with the space you will be added to the LARK Studios platform and can book the time you need as well as join the community thread to shout out for any musos to join your session! Once recorded, you can easily send files over to mix engineer Dave Fry for Lark-friendly priced mixes, send to a mixer/producer of your choice, of have a go at a quick mix if you feel confident. A template is already setup with a good workflow to use!
JOIN LARK STUDIOS