Hook End Recording Studios was a

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and Audio mixing, mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home proje ...

located in Hook End Manor, a 16th-century

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...

house near

Checkendon Checkendon is a village and civil parish about west of Henley-on-Thames in South Oxfordshire and about north west of Reading in Berkshire on a mid-height swathe of the Chilterns. History The parish records exist from the 7th century. The vi ...

, Oxfordshire, England. Its previous owners include the musicians

Trevor Horn Trevor Charles Horn (born 15 July 1949) is an English record producer and musician. His influence on pop and electronic music in the 1980s was such that he has been called "the man who invented the eighties". Horn took up the bass guitar at an ...

and

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter who is a member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined in 1967, shortly before the departure of the founder member Syd Barrett. By the early 1980s, Pink F ...

History

Hook End Recording Studios geograph-2136270-by-Des-Blenkinsopp

The original studio, Space Studios, was built by

Alvin Lee Alvin Lee (born Graham Anthony Barnes; 19 December 1944 – 6 March 2013) was an English guitarist, singer and songwriter, who was best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the blues rock band Ten Years After. Early life Lee was ...

of the band

Ten Years After Ten Years After are a British blues rock group, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, the band had eight consecutive Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart. In addition, they had twelve albums enter the US ''Bi ...

when he first bought the house. Many recordings were made during Lee's tenure, including '' On the Road to Freedom'' (1973), before he sold the house and studio to

of the band

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

, who used the studio to record parts of the band's album '' The Final Cut'' (1983). Gilmour sold the house and studio to

Clive Langer Clive Langer (born 19 June 1954) is an English record producer and songwriter, active from the mid-1970s onwards. He usually works with Alan Winstanley. He composed the music for the films '' Still Crazy'' and '' Brothers of the Head''. Biog ...

and

Alan Winstanley Alan Kenneth Winstanley (; born 2 November 1952) is an English record producer and songwriter, active from the mid-1970s onwards. He usually works with Clive Langer. Early life He was born in Fulham in November 1952 to parents Ken and Doreen. ...

. They sold it to

, who turned it into Hookend Productions Ltd. Several major rock bands have recorded albums at the studios. These include

Manic Street Preachers Manic Street Preachers, also known simply as the Manics, are a Wales, Welsh Rock music, rock band formed in Blackwood, Caerphilly, in 1986. The band consists of Nicky Wire (bass guitar, lyrics) and cousins James Dean Bradfield (lead vocals, le ...

' '' Gold Against the Soul'' (1993),

The Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Crawley in 1976 by Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith (vocals, guitar) and Lol Tolhurst (drums). The band's current line-up comprises Smith, Perry Bamonte (guitar and keyboards), Reev ...

's '' Disintegration'' (1989) and '' Mixed Up'' (1990), and

Marillion Marillion are a British neo-prog band, formed in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 1979. They emerged from the post-punk music scene in Britain and existed as a bridge between the styles of punk rock and classic progressive rock, becoming the mo ...

's '' Seasons End'' (1989) and '' Holidays in Eden'' (1991). In or around 2009, Hook End Manor was purchased by Mark White, who reportedly still owned it as of 2016. In October 2017, the house was reported to be abandoned and in a state of disrepair.

References

Recording studios in England Culture in Oxfordshire David Gilmour Former recording studios {{recording-studio-stub