The Manor Studio

The Manor Studio (aka The Manor) was a recording studio in the manor house at the village of Shipton-on-Cherwell in Oxfordshire, England, north of the city of Oxford. It was the first residential recording studio in the UK. The concept was pioneered in 1969 by French musician Michel Magne in the Château d'Hérouville.

The manor house was owned by Richard Branson and used as a recording studio for Virgin Records, although artists signed to other labels also used the studios.

Albums recorded here include, perhaps most famously, Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield during 1972–73 when Oldfield was given a week to record the album at the studio. The Bonzo Dog Band were recording there immediately afterwards (hence the inclusion of vocals by Viv Stanshall on Tubular Bells[1]). Sandy Denny also began her second solo album Sandy there in March 1972.

In April 1995, after the takeover of Virgin Records by EMI, The Manor Studio was closed as a recording studio by EMI. It is now the country home of the Marquess of Headfort.

In 2010 NME reported that the Manor is up for sale for £5.75 million.[2]

Contents

Studio facilities

The facilities were advertised as follows, as of 1973[3]:

16/8/4 track studio
60 minutes from London
100 acre grounds
Resident engineers
Resident cooks
Room for producers, wives, girl friends, roadies
Day and Night recording
Free food and beds
Good rates etc
16 Track Ampex
20 Channel desk
Equalization
Dolby noise reduction
Quadrophonic monitoring
Phasing facilities
Echo facilities: tapes/plates/springs/drums
Grand piano
Room for 40 musicians etc

Partial list of albums recorded at The Manor

References

  1. ^ Tubular Bells information
  2. ^ http://www.nme.com/news/mike-oldfield/51374
  3. ^ Notes in 25th Anniversary Edition of Tubular Bells, 1998

Map

A map is available here.