Redesdale Studios was a

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enoug ...

founded in 1996. It was situated in Elsdon in North Northumberland. It began as a partnership between Rubber and Black Crow Records manager Geoff Heslop, Scottish singer and songwriter

Dick Gaughan Richard Peter Gaughan (born 17 May 1948) is a Scottish musician, singer and songwriter, particularly of folk and social protest songs. He is regarded as one of Scotland's leading singer-songwriters. Early years Gaughan was born in Glasgow's Roy ...

, and the two partners in CM records, Dave Bulmer and Neil Sharpley. In the years between 1986 and 1995 it was the main studio in the county, recording many albums for its own labels,

Black Crow Records Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have ...

, Acoustic Radio, Delta and Rede, as well for other labels. Built and designed by Heslop and Gaughan, they had in addition the talent of engineer Mickey Sweeney to call upon, as well as musicians such as

Rod Clements Roderick Parry Clements (born 17 November 1947 in North Shields, Northumberland) is a British guitarist, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He formed the folk-rock band Lindisfarne with Alan Hull in 1970, and wrote "Meet Me on the Co ...

, Chuck Fleming, Paul Flush and Paul Smith and

Dire Straits Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals and lead guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar and backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Pick Withers (drums and percuss ...

' keyboards player

Alan Clark Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark (13 April 1928 – 5 September 1999) was a British Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), author and diarist. He served as a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher's governments at the Departments of Employment, Tra ...

. The studio was in the Old School and featured a large

acoustic space Room acoustics is a subfield of acoustics dealing with the behaviour of sound in enclosed or partially-enclosed spaces. The architectural details of a room influences the behaviour of sound waves within it, with the effects varying by frequency. ...

linked by a huge window to the control room. The rooms were filled with natural light which was always a plus for musicians who preferred it to the black holes that they usually had to record in. Unfortunately, the partnership broke up, with Heslop and Gaughan leaving in 1995 over severe differences with the other two partners. The building has stood empty, unused and deteriorating since that time. Many well-known artists recorded there during the studio's heyday. Among the clients were

Kathryn Tickell Kathryn Tickell, OBE, DL (born 8 June 1967) is an English musician, noted for playing the Northumbrian smallpipes and fiddle. Music career Early life Kathryn Tickell was born in Walsall, then in Staffordshire, to parents who originated from N ...

(''Kathryn Tickell Band'', ''Signs'', ''The Gathering''), Ribbon Road ('' The Mortgaged Heart''),

Clan Alba Richard Peter Gaughan (born 17 May 1948) is a Scottish musician, singer and songwriter, particularly of folk and social protest songs. He is regarded as one of Scotland's leading singer-songwriters. Early years Gaughan was born in Glasgow's Roy ...

, Rod Clements, Joe Hutton,

Alistair Anderson The High Level Ranters are a Northumbrian traditional musical group founded in 1964, best known for being one of the first bands in the revival of the Northumbrian smallpipes. Name and history The name was chosen as a combination of the locat ...

Simon Thoumire Simon Thoumire is a Scottish musician and an English concertina virtuoso. Thoumire has played all over the world. A winner of the BBC Radio 2 Young Tradition Award in 1989,Catriona MacDonald Catriona Macdonald is a musician and teacher from Shetland and is considered to be one of the world's leading traditional fiddle players. Background Macdonald started studying fiddle with Dr Tom Anderson MBE in 1981 at age 11 (she consider ...

and many others.

References

Recording studios in England 1996 establishments in England {{recording-studio-stub