spring 2013

2012 was a great year for us at the studio. We recorded an album with funk legends, Cymande working with producer John Schroeder and engineer Alan Florence alongside our house engineer, Isi Clarke.

There were also albums from country-punksters, Rattleshack and Burning Codes (both released on our record label, Oilbug Music), as well as an album from Faintest Idea and a whole load of other projects including a great little E.P. from indie-pop group Jakarta Club that you can download for free at their bandcamp page!

So we're excited for 2013 and all the great musical projects you're gonna bring us. We wish you all a fine, prosperous, musical year!

may 2012

2012 has been really busy at the studio. So good we're looking at adding some new gear to the set-up. I'll let you know when the decision is made...

We're dead chuffed to be working on Faintest Idea , Southern Discomfort & Burning Codes Albums at the mo as well as a load of other exciting projects.

We're also pleased to be involved as sponsors for The Willow Festival , back for 2012. It takes place the last weekend in May, in Peterbourough and is one of the biggest free festivals in Europe. You'd be mad not to go!

november 2011

Autumn is here, nights are longer, the Fens become bleak and moody and the nights packed of bright stars and fuzzy galaxies.

Bonfire Night (5th November) sees the release of a much awaited album, Bonfire by Indie-Folk artist Neil Cousin. Recorded here and also released through our little side project record label, Oilbug Music, you can listen to tracks on his soundcloud or facebook.

There is an E.P. from the talented Kenworthy also released this week (4th November) and on the 12th November, Matt McChlery is releasing his E.P. So this month we are mostly PROUD!

isi...

Well Christmas is coming and we're once again we're offering our Christmas Vouchers with reduced rates for those who want to buy a more interesting and musical gift. There are two different voucher options, an hour and a half or 3 hours in the studio but do contact us if you would like to discuss options. We also offer overnight accommodation as well as our new fantastic 20m pool and large hot tub if you want to make a weekend of it! (See our prices page for info of weekend stays). Just click the button below and we'll send you a voucher so you have something to present on the day, redeemable for 12 months and we're open 7 days a week.

Thanks to everyone who made our 2nd year anniversary party so special. The sun shone and the bands were great, Lexie Green, Neil Cousin and King Kool. These are all people we've recorded / are recording albums with so do check them out.

Summer is a beautiful time here and we're busy with people coming to stay to record and take advantage of the new leisure facilities (20m pool and large hot tub!) Also our Hangout's have been busier than ever so if you're into music, do come for our free networking sesh's on the last Thursday of every month @ 7.30pm. Chat to other local musos and listen to some live music at the end of every session. Join the group on facebook too (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=367880365919)

Keep enjoying the festivals too!

Isi.. x

We are pleased to announce that we will be having a 2nd year anniversary party, held at the studio, on the 3rd July. It is also to celebrate the opening of our fantastic new leisure facilities - A stunning 20 meter swimming pool and a luxurious big hot tub, complete with large flat screen TV and in built sound system. It's an open invitation but if you can, drop me a mail to let me know you're coming so we know roughly how many to cater for!

We're going to be having live music from some of the great bands we've recorded with over the last 2 years and the event runs from 2pm-8pm. We will also be giving away exclusive prizes and money off vouchers so get yourselves over! Bring you swimming togs too if you want to join in the pool party..

Thanks to all who came down and supported our Elme Hall Charity Gig on Sunday 7th March. And special thanks to all our 7 acts who played. You can see all the pics from the gig at www.dandonovan.co.uk/GFHOGIG. Cheers Dan for the fantastic photos (again!) And here are the videos too filmed by Michael at Elme Hall.We raised £324 for Sue Ryder Care Charity as well as having a great afternoon.

We're also pleased to announce that this summer we are going to be adding our fantastic new leisure facilities to our residential studio options. We have a stunning swimming pool and hot tub, with HDTV and stereo so you can listen back to your mixes in luxury! Keep posted for more info and pictures...

And finally... Grange Farm Studio got to the final 4 of the Mayor's Business Awards for new enterprise. Despite not winning the top prize we are still very grateful and proud to get to the final few and the awards dinner.

Last year we put on a gig in association with our hangout evenings. We had a great time and have planned another for MARCH 7th, at Elme Hall. This time we are raising money for the Sue Ryder Care Charity, suggested by one of our Hangout members who has had personal experience of their invaluable work. The gig will feature several acts that we know through the evenings and is sure to be a great showcase of the local talent that we have around this area. Please do show your support, both for the charity and for local, original music. It's bound to be a fantastic day!

Happy New Year Everyone. Our main news here is that we've been shortlisted for the Mayor's Business of the Year Award and are awaiting the results. Fingers crossed. It's a great recognition of the progress we have made here in a short space of time, our fantastic feedback we continue to receive from our clients and the difference we hope to make to the local music scene. On that note we have another Hangout gig, this time in aid of Sue Ryder Care Charity on 7th March. Keep checking for line-up details and do put the date in your diaries. Not only is it a showcase of local talent (all different line-up than last time!) but we're also raising money for a very worthwhile and valuable charity.

Apologies for not updating the site in a while, it's testament to how busy I've been here at the studio. June and July have been our busiest period to date with recording from Union X, The Telephones, The Journey and The Big Face Orchestra. We've also started recording our own Neil Cousin's album. Thanks to everyone who did remixes for the This Machine album. By the end of this month we will have decided the track listing for the album and hopefully will have a release date...

The Hangout has been fantastic and we've been busy every session with new people every time. The spotlight slots have been great, thanks to Scarlet Sunrise and Mike and Jules for the last couple. Our next Hangout session is booked for August 27th and Terry will be doing a special birthday spotlight slot... We have also lined up the BPI to visit us for our September session.

Isi has been judging the West Norfolk's got talent competition in King's Lynn. I encourage you to enter. There are some great cash prizes and believe me, the odds are good! If you would like to view the videos from the show, go to our youtube channel here.

Ok, back to work... enjoy the sunshine everyone. Oh, and the festival season!

photo by Dan Donovan

Thanks to everyone for a fabulous gig on Sunday 3rd May. Performances were all great and the turnout fantastic. There are pictures and videos here and here. I'll upload some more on this site through the week.

Our big news is our gig at Elme Hall. For more info visit the Elme Hall website. It's a bank holiday and a family friendly event so please show your support. It's a hangout gig so it's featuring some of the artisits that have attended our Hangout evenings over the last year. We're keen to keep live music alive and exciting in our area, as they are at Elme Hall so this is a unique event featuring talented and experienced homegrown musicians.

Spring has arrived at Grange Farm and the garden has sprung into life again. This rejuvenation is echoed at the studio as we're well into building a new pool and we even got some chickens to wander around the fields! We're also in the process of setting up our new label, Oilbug. Keep posted for more info.

We've finished the King Kool album now and there has also been some videos made, including one made partially at the farm here at sunrise. The album is due for release in the next few months. For more details go to www.kingkool.co.uk

We have a follow-up article in play music pickup from our session with Surface To Air and are due to be featured in the new Jigsaw catlogue.

Other news is that Grange Farm together with the members of The Hangout (see Hangout page for details) are putting on a gig on May 3rd at Elme Hall. I'll publish more details of the line-up very soon but we're hoping King Kool will headline.

So, we have a busy Easter coming up with sessions with Rebel Soul Collective and, the rather strange, Big Face Orchestra, back to back over the next week. I shall re-surface after that....

A big thank you to everyone who came down and took part in our Red Nose Day Karaoke competition, we raised £200 and had a great laugh. Those who stayed later even saw the studio owners take the booth... ;)
The winner of the competition was Erin, so well done to her!

This month we've been proud sponsors of the Fenland Battle of the Bands competition. The standard was really high and there were a few local acts that caught our eye and we'll be looking out for, but the worthy winners were The Journey. We're especially chuffed about this at GFS as we recorded with them back last autumn (there are lots of pictures of them here on their myspace i found!). So they're heading back to the studio for their winners prize, after a short break while their drummer does some filming for the BBC that is...

March's Hangout session will be a little different. We've decided to put on a gig at Elme Hall on May 3rd and it will feature musicians that we've met through the Hangout. So, this month we've decided to bring along some instruments and have a bit of a jam session. All people welcome as usual and this month the date is 26th March at the usual 7.30pm start.

And also a thank you to Neil and Ivan who played our last Hangout. We were all blown away and loved it. There will be further gigs over the next few months we'll keep you updated on. Either that or contact McCready Music

So far this year we've completed the King Kool album, due for release later this year and recorded 4 tracks with Surface to Air, our Play Music Pickup competition winners amongst other things. Isi is also mixing Rebelation's next offering which is especially exciting for her as she's been a fan. Upcoming sessions with Angry Man, Ivan McCready and Neil Cousin mean that the start of 2009 is gonna be an exciting time working with some experienced and talented artists.

Our Jan Hangout featured Mike Campbell in the Spotlight Slot, previewing some tracks from his upcoming album and our Feb Hangout it's Neil Cousin and Ivan McCready's turn. Neil is a singer songwriter and guitarist, blessed with a mesmerising voice and soulful and intelligent songs. He has teamed up with Ivan, a cellist with a wealth of experience in both classical music and pop session work. This should prove to be an evening not to be missed. So be there on Thursday, Feb 26th, 7.30pm for our usual chat and music.

December's Hangout on the 18th has had to be cancelled. Sorry everyone but have a wonderful christmas and New Year and see you all on the 29th January.

It's an exciting time at the studio with an interview with our resident producer and engineer, Isi Clarke, in Play Music Pickup, plus articles in Jigsaw, Musicians Union, BBC Cambs. interviews and more. It's a busy time with work too as the autumn and run up to Christmas is always a creative time. Must be the longer evenings...!

We've also introduced some studio vouchers if you're stuck for any Christmas or Birthday pressies! The vouchers are at £49 and £99 and can either be used for a taster session or towards a bigger project. A pretty cool Christmas pressie for someone I think...