Northcote, Victoria

The quietly spoken ‘Idge’ (Andrew Hehir) of Soundpark studios in Melbourne has a popular (and remarkably cheap) studio in the leafy suburb of Northcote. Up on the hill looking down over the inner city, Northcote is where many of Melbourne’s musicians fled to in the late ’90s after they’d been chased out of Fitzroy by the latté-sipping, convertible-driving yuppies that complained to Council (the moment they arrived) about the noise from the pub next door. You can’t make 200% profit in 12 months from the purchase of land, you see, if those pesky musicians are still hanging around…

Idge’s Soundpark studios opened for business about seven years ago now, predominantly as a rehearsal space, and it’s been growing in popularity ever since. Constructed inside a saw-toothed warehouse, the main recording space is high (5m at its peak) and brightly lit with skylights. Three booths adjoin the main tracking room, one of which is big enough to house drums and the other two mainly for acoustic guitars and amp isolation.

As Idge describes it: “The place is built out of stuff I grabbed from skips mostly. I did buy some bits and pieces towards the end, like the acoustic insulation for the walls [to protect the recording space from the rehearsal rooms down the hall] but the joint was built on a shoestring. I hire it out about 50% of the time to other engineers these days, but the rest of the tracking is done by me.”

One thing that can’t have been built on a shoestring is Soundpark’s gear list, which is impressive for the $350-a-day asking price (without engineer). Preamps include Neve 1272s and 33115s, as well as Telefunken, API, Ampex and Giles preamps. Mics include a large collection of Coles, Royer and RCA ribbon mics (many of them vintage) as well as a Neumann M149 and U87, AKG 414s, Beyers, and Sennheisers, rounded out with a large collection of Shure dynamics. The whole place is tied together with a Toft console and ProTools HD. – Ed.

Soundpark Studios: (03) 9481 3318.