South Australia

Ben Petch’s North Studios is located at Loxton North, about 10kms out of Loxton in the Riverland of South Australia. Like many, the enterprise is the culmination of tools garnered over a lifetime of writing and playing music. After years of ‘toying around’ with Cubase and suspect PCs in tiny bedrooms, Ben decided to take the plunge and build a purpose built studio to house his newly acquired ProTools HD system, replete with C24 control surface and a Mac Pro. Ben ‘took a break’ from his day job as a vineyard manager to build the studio, which stands close by his main residence. The project took around four months to complete, but now includes a drum room and a vocal booth, combined with a 5.5m x 5.5m control room. Apparently a lot of the insulation was installed to take care of rain and hail noise on the roof, rather than to keep noise from escaping the studio. Ben reckons he’s pretty impressed with a product called ‘Epicrete’, which is apparently rolled onto cement surfaces such as the slab floor of the studio, to prevent any sneaky infiltrations of moisture into the building. Ben tells us he couldn’t have completed the job without the dedication of local builder, Craig Bartsch, or the constant acoustic guidance of Neville Clark of Disk Edits in Adelaide. Check the AT website for a quick flick of the finished results.

North Studios: 0408 087 877 or www.northstudios.com.au