Biggleswade, UK. Winchester Audio Barn has chosen PMC’s flagship BB5 XBD reference loudspeakers as its main monitors. The newly built recording studio has been created from the ground up to deliver a premium experience for artists and engineers, making PMC an obvious choice for its control room.
Situated in the picturesque Hampshire countryside, around 55-miles from London, Winchester Audio Barn is a purpose-built recording space that would be the envy of many studios all over the world. With a philosophy of getting things right from the very beginning, studio owner Niall Holden brought in some of the finest minds in the UK recording industry to make the studio the best it could be. This saw Bill Ward from Langdale Technical design and install Winchester Audio Barn while Chris Walls from Level Acoustic Design took on responsibility for the acoustics and engineer, producer, musician and educator, Stuart Bruce added his input and experience to the technical side of the project.
“Having the right team was always important, and thanks to their skill and knowledge, we have built something outstanding,” explains Holden. “We wanted to make sure that we invested in the right quality of equipment to do the space justice, so PMC monitors were always the first choice.”
The result is a unique recording space filled with vintage equipment and beautiful design touches. This stunning addition to the UK’s commercial studio landscape features a galleried main live room with perfect acoustics and three acoustically isolated booths. Critically, each of these spaces has a direct line of sight to the main control room, ensuring the band and engineer are always connected.
The control room itself is home to an infrastructure based on Van Damme cabling and Neutrik connectors, an SSL Duality Fuse console and a vast array of vintage outboard gear that all has a story to tell. However, pride of place is taken by the BB5-XBD-A main monitors. Featuring PMC’s 34mm high-frequency driver, 75mm mid-range dome driver and two 15-inch radial bass units in twin ATL (Advanced Transmission Line) cabinets, the BB5-XBD-A produce the ultimate low-distortion response and audio window for any professional.
“PMC are one of a very limited number of monitor brands that I would consider using,” says Bruce. “I’ve always been impressed by the BB5-XBD-A. They’re flat all the way down to 20 Hz and you get incredible detail from them.”
Joining the main monitors are a pair of PMC nearfield monitors. These neutral nearfields stand head and shoulders ahead of their competition in all areas of performance, helping engineers to hear the truth of their mix.
With Winchester Audio Barn now open, it’s already proving popular with artists and engineers alike. “This has really been a passion project built a group of music lovers,” concludes Holden. “We want this to be a place where people come to create their art. The quality of the equipment we have invested in speaks volumes for what artists can expect from the studio. PMC is a big part of the draw, and we are proud to rely on their monitoring solutions.
About PMC
PMC is a UK-based, world-leading manufacturer of loudspeaker systems, the tools of choice in all ultra-critical professional monitoring applications, and also for the discerning audiophile at home, where they provide a transparent window into the recording artist's original intentions. PMC products use the best available materials and design principles, including the company's proprietary Advanced Transmission Line (ATL™) bass-loading technology, cutting-edge amplification and advanced DSP techniques to create loudspeakers that present sound and music exactly as it was when first created, with the highest possible resolution, and without colouration or distortion. For more information on our clients and products, see www.pmc-speakers.com.
About Winchester Audio Barn
The Winchester Audio Barn is a unique blend of retro charm and cutting-edge technology. A state-of-the-art recording studio three years in the making. Designed by a world-renowned acoustic engineer, a master technician, and a dreamer. It’s where vintage soul meets modern sound. For more information, see https://audiobarn.winchesterautobarn.com/audio-barn.
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