Music Farm Studio is a recording studio set on a large property near

Byron Bay Byron Bay ( Minjungbal: ''Cavvanbah'') is a beachside town located in the far-northeastern corner of New South Wales, Australia (in Bundjalung Country). It is located north of Sydney and south of Brisbane. Cape Byron, a headland adjac ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. It is known for having had many musicians recording their music there from the 1980s onwards, including

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, and

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. Established in 1979 by producer and studio designer

John Sayers John L Sayers (died September 2021) was a New Zealand-born Australian recording engineer, producer, and studio designer. Initially associated with Armstrong's Studios in Melbourne, he was later the owner of John Sayers Productions. He designed ...

, it was refurbished in the 1990s and passed through several private owners before being sold in 2017 and turned back into a commercial studio.

History

Music Farm Studio was established by musician Gary Deutsche after buying the property in 1976 as a working dairy farm called The Fig Tree Inn. The original studio was built in 1979 by New Zealand-born Australian

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproducti ...

, producer, and studio designer

. It was equipped with a

24-track Multitrack recording (MTR), also known as multitracking, is a method of sound recording developed in 1955 that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources or of sound sources recorded at different times to create a cohesive who ...

MCI 500 recording console and known for its rich acoustics. Radio and broadcasting entrepreneur Eric Roberts refurbished the studios during the 1990s and expanded the console to its full capacity of 42 inputs, as well as adding new effects units and

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

. Greg Courtney became director of the studio. In 2001 Roberts sold the property Suzi Dowling for around A$1.5m, who sold it to photographer Martin Kantor (nephew of

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...

) and artist Tanya Hoddinott for around A$3m in 2010. In 2017 it again changed hands, for around the same price, and has since been converted back into recording studios.

Description and current use

Music Farm Studio is a well-equipped

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 ...

situated on a property near Coorabell, in the hinterland of

, New South Wales. The property also includes several other dwellings and provides luxury accommodation. Musician and producer Chris Collins has used the studio to produce the music of many contemporary artists.

Significance

In 2021 ''Mixdown'' magazine listed it as one of "The 10 most important Australian recording studios of the 20th century". Many famous musicians have recorded their music in the studio, including

Jimmy Barnes James Dixon Barnes ( Swan; born 28 April 1956) is an Australian rock singer. His career, both as a solo performer and as the lead vocalist with the rock band Cold Chisel, has made him one of the most popular and best-selling Australian music a ...

(in

Richard Clapton Richard Clapton (born 18 May 1948) is an Australian singer-songwriter-guitarist and producer. His solo top 20 hits on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart are " Girls on the Avenue" (1975) and " I Am an Island" (1982). He reached the top& ...

, Pete Murray,

, The Radiators,

Tommy Emmanuel William Thomas Emmanuel (born 31 May 1955) is an Australian guitarist. Originally a session player in many bands, he has released many award-winning recordings as a solo artist. In June 2010, Emmanuel was appointed a Member of the Order of Aus ...

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, and

Tash Sultana Taj Hendrix "Tash" Sultana (born 15 June 1995) is an Australian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and music producer, described as a " one-person band". Sultana rose to international prominence with their 2016 single "Jungle", which was ...

References

External links

* {{authority control Recording studios in Australia 1979 establishments in Australia Australian music industry Byron Bay Companies based in New South Wales