How Church Studios was saved at the last minute and how its rare Neve console attracts A listers

Recording studios hold a special, almost sacred significance for musicians. The Church, a stunning former place of worship in north London, embodies this sentiment quite literally. For 170 years, its stone walls and stained glass windows have carried the echoes of prayers and extraordinary music alike. In its current form as a world-class recording venue, it boasts three cutting-edge studios equipped with everything a musician could ever dream of. From the Eurythmics’ iconic Sweet Dreams to Adele’s record-breaking album 25, the sound of The Church has left an indelible mark on the world. Luke Pickering, the studio’s head engineer, explains how the studio was saved from being turned into flats, what entices A list artists to record there, and why the beating heart of the historic building is Studio 1 – home to one of the rarest recording and mixing desks in the world.

“It all happened for me when I was around 13,” recalls Pickering of the first band that made a lasting impact on him. The record that was responsible for shaping his formative music tastes? Nirvana’s self-titled greatest hits album.

“It totally blew my mind,” he recalls, speaking to Headliner from his home studio, although he can usually be found at Church Studios. “I was a grunge kid, basically. You could say Nirvana were my Beatles, in many ways.”

With a love of grunge came an interest in playing guitar and writing music, and Pickering began playing in bands, eventually becoming the band member handling the recording side of things.

“Being able to record my own music and document it was such a revelation,” he recalls, admitting that his first attempts were, however, rudimentary. “The first recordings I did were so sketchy,” he grins, thinking back. “Drums and bass were done using this PS1 game called Music 2000, which I've since found out that a lot of early grime was made on – I definitely wasn't doing grime,” – he points out quickly. 

“Everything else was done using a webcam mic, and I recorded it all into this program called Audacity, which I love to bits, but it's primitive, to say the least. I thought it was great at the time, but it did sound bad,” he laughs. 

“The main thing was, there's something really satisfying and magical about taking a song, which at one moment, exists in someone's head and nowhere else, and then you can make it into something that can be experienced by everyone. Something about that sparked something. It’s that idea of documentation, I suppose.”

Fast forward to present day, and Pickering is recording on something substantially more professional at Church Studios: a 72 channel vintage EMI Neve console. He’s been at the studio since 2015, where he worked as Grammy and Academy Award-winning music producer, musician and songwriter Paul Epworth’s assistant. Today, he’s the head engineer – the longest serving one the studio has ever had.

“I’m a dinosaur,” he jokes, after this is pointed out. “Over the years, certainly the profile of the studio has grown. It's Paul's studio first and foremost, but we've worked pretty hard to accommodate things in a commercial sense. 

"We've got to the stage where the biggest artists you can think of have worked here, and also, there’s been as many types of sessions as possible – despite being a relatively small team. We’re ready for basically any artist in the world to come through the door. We're a pretty well oiled machine now.”

To record in The Church today is to play a part in music history that has included Adele, U2, Bob Dylan, Radiohead, Annie Lennox, Depeche Mode, Robert Plant, Patti Smith, Elvis Costello, Lana Del Rey, Tom Jones, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Florence + The Machine, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Mumford and Sons, Seal, Spiritualized, The Stones Roses and The xx.

There are three good reasons why such extraordinary talents come to The Church: history, technology, and location.

“I'd like to think part of it is the people in the team and the experience that artists have,” Pickering considers. “We're quite a small team, but I think the artists quite like that. It's also quite a comfortable place. It's modern enough without being too sterile, and people come in knowing that we'll try and make things happen no matter what. 

"Paul always had the saying, ‘You can rock up without bringing anything at all’. We have so much gear here which we try to make available to people no matter what – it’s a uniquely eclectic selection of toys and vintage gear. We've probably got about 1,000 bits of equipment and two large vintage consoles. That makes a difference to people's experience; it fills people with confidence and definitely makes a difference as to whether people come back or not. It says a lot about your reputation. It's not the sexy stuff, but it's the stuff that makes a difference.”

72 channel vintage EMI Neve console

Indeed, the beating heart of this historic and spectacular building is Studio 1, an epic tracking room with expansive floorspace, a triple height ceiling, and a substantial equipment spec. Taking centre stage in the studio is one of the rarest recording and mixing desks in the world: a 72 channel vintage EMI Neve console. 

It’s the only one of its kind in London. Comprised of two halves – one which lived at Abbey Road, where it recorded hits such as Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, and the other at the famous Pathé Marconi studios in Paris. The size of it alone is a sight to behold; however the vintage quality and warmth it creates is what leaves a lasting impression.

“In the early to mid ‘70s, EMI commissioned Neve to make consoles to be based in their studios, and there were five of them made,” Pickering nods, taking up the story. 

“They were 36 channel consoles installed with 1091 modules – for the geeks reading, they're basically the same as 1081s, but the ones put with the EMI consoles were called 1091s. A guy called Blake Devitt – who's kind of Mr. Neve; he's maybe the most in demand guy I can think of, certainly in this sort of studio tech world – he basically made it his project to take two out of the five original EMI desks, redesign them and join them together, so to speak. It was a pretty massive engineering feat that he managed to pull off.

“Then Paul bought it, but he bought it before he bought a big studio, So I think it was living in a hanger for a while waiting to be installed in Studio 1. You see the pictures, but in real life…” he trails off. “I remember the first time I walked into that room, you just see this massive Neve. It's a pretty impressive thing.”

Epworth designed Studio 1 to be a completely ‘no-bars’ recording experience. The sound of the room alone is indeed stupendous, however by implementing a number of panels, screens and amp cupboards, it presents a plethora of acoustic options. One of the old church booths has been converted into a large recording booth which can accommodate drums, and there are countless nooks and crannies around the building that can be exploited, for example the church spire, which makes a brilliant echo chamber.

“If you talk about Studio 1, we have to talk about the history of the whole building in general,” notes Pickering. “The story goes that the Eurythmics recorded Sweet Dreams on a four track tape machine in what is now our office in front of the building, and then off the back of that, they inhabited the rest of the space and turned it into a fully fledged studio. I think they had the building until around 2002, and then David Gray took it on.”

Gray's ownership would last for almost a decade, however due to the decline of record sales changing the landscape of the music industry, he eventually announced that he would be selling the studio. It was rumored Church Studios was to be turned into a number of high-end apartments. Epworth stepped in at the last minute, buying and refurbishing the studio in 2013.

“It was literally going to be turned into flats,” nods Pickering. “There was a bit of a local uproar, because obviously that would have sucked. The story goes that on the final day when the contract was going to be signed, Paul flew in like Superman and took it on. 

"Studio 1 looks very different now to how it used to do simply because Paul has so many toys and so much gear. It's kind of a big playroom, whereas beforehand, it was more of a commercial studio. Paul's idea is that it should be a musician studio rather than an engineer studio. It's not a laboratory. It's a creative space. It's really special.”

Pickering considers the advantages and limitations of working with a vintage analogue console in today’s recording environment: “Obviously the biggest advantage is that it sounds great. There's a certain quality that comes from things made during that era. The disadvantage is probably the cost of maintenance. I mean, things in the 1970s are obviously going to go wrong more often than stuff that's manufactured more recently! 

"Another advantage of working with analogue is that you're forced to commit, and if you're lucky enough to work on high quality stuff and if you know what you're doing, then there's a quality that comes from that processing which works so well, and in my opinion, has a much better success rate than software processing.”

Pickering cherrypicks a handful of iconic records that have impacted music history that were recorded using this very desk: “All sorts! Originally you had one half of the desk which came from Abbey Road Studio 2, and on that one, Pink Floyd did Wish You Were Here. You just have to look at any record Paul's done over the last 10 years: a couple of tracks from Adele's 25, the Mumford and Sons record, the Horrors’ last record…”

In terms of what sets the Neve desk apart from other vintage consoles, Pickering has an easy answer: “Just the size of it, to be honest! Having 72 1091 modules just sat there is pretty ridiculous. Most people would give an arm and a leg just to have one of them, and probably 12 grand as well,” he jokes. 

“Working there day in, day out, it's so easy to forget how mad that is. But that's the most impressive thing about it. You get clients who come into the studio for the first time and it's a pretty nice way to start a session or a working relationship. They walk in and there's that wow factor; there's this ridiculous Neve sat there – it's like an icebreaker in itself.”

The sheer size of the desk also explains its unusual placement in the studio’s live room: “Traditionally, you'd have a control room where the desk is totally isolated from the recording space – you only really want to hear what's being recorded when a performance is happening,” Pickering explains.

“The Neve desk is in the live room, mainly because Paul bought the desk before the studio and it wouldn't fit,” he reiterates. “It means that you have to work on headphones and really understand the room. Some engineers aren't a fan, because they aren't totally sure what they're hearing when they're recording. But once you get used to working that way, there's so many advantages, like you can just speak across the room to people, so communication's really quick. Any boring things like problem solving, you can just run across the room quite quickly. Also, there's no walls between anyone in the room, so the ego is left at the door.

“You're definitely at an advantage as an engineer if you work in there a lot, because you need to understand the room and what mics work, and as an assistant, you're probably leaned on a lot more than in other places. If you're helping an engineer who's never worked in there before, it can feel quite unwieldy, like stepping in as a producer or engineer for the first time. But, it’s a wonderful thing. The old girl's doing well,” he smiles.