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August 2013 l 21


Phil Croft of Summerfield Studios


UNITED KINGDOM The taste of summer


Phil Croft’s West Midlands studio hideaway has been built with much sweat and toil, but also with love – a fact which has just been recognised by the Miloco Group, writes Dave Robinson


SUMMERFIELD STUDIOS in Birmingham has become the first facility in the West Midlands to partner up with the Miloco Studio Group. Built from the ground up by


owner Phil Croft, the studio reflects Croft’s vision to “create


Summerfield’s live room


features a 48sqm fully-floating French pine floor, natural daylight and a drum riser. The attention paid to décor, lighting and furniture is immediately evident. Located on the eastern outskirts of Birmingham (just


“Summerfield is my mother’s surname,” says Croft, “and she inspired me to get through and finish the project with her positivity, hence the name.” n www.miloco.co.uk www.summerfieldrecordingstudios. co.uk


NEW ORDER’S Bernard Sumner (left) has purchased three pairs of Unity Audio Rock MK IIs and


studionews UNITED KINGDOM


Avalanche subwoofers – including a pair for drummer Stephen Morris (right). The monitors are being used for a forthcoming album due out soon. “I was looking for speakers that didn’t fatigue my ears during long sessions – with the ribbon tweeter I have found this in the Unity Audio Rock MK II,” said Sumner. “I’ve used a lot of studio monitors but the Rock is something very special. They will improve your mixes and recordings and what you do really translates well to the real world environment,” he added. n www.unityaudioproducts.co.uk


The live room


Soundtracs Jade in the control room


a comfortable and creative atmosphere, combined with excellent acoustic quality and an ever-growing selection of great equipment” and is his interpretation of the publication Recording Studio Design by acclaimed acoustician Philip Newell. In keeping with Newell’s strict approach to the subject, the studio and control room have “excellent isolation and inter-room visibility”, says Croft. The control room is centred


around a Soundtracs Jade 48/96 inline production console, with Tannoy FSM flush mounted main monitors, PBM 8 closefield monitors and System 800 dual concentrics. Logic Pro X running on a Mac Pro is the current DAW of choice, though Croft confirms that Pro Tools is in the pipeline. Waves, PSP and UA plugs (running on a UAD2-Duo card) are in plentiful supply. Chief engineer is Dan Coley.


off Junction 5 of the M6, in fact) it is at the heart of the UK’s major transport routes, making it not only ideal for Birmingham-based artists, but placing it within an acceptable travelling distance for bands and producers from other cities too. Croft may be a driver by


trade, but is himself a driven man. His hobby almost became an obsession, as he privately educated himself in acoustics and engineering for several years, achieving an HND in Professional Sound Engineering in 2000. Croft spent over six years


building the studio, and not without incident: he was nearly decapitated by falling steel plates after falling from scaffolding halfway through the build. However, his perseverance has culminated in a facility that Newell himself has called a “remarkable achievement”.


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