Coach House Studios, Clifton, Bristol. Made famous by the debut albums of Massive Attack and Portishead. Designed and built by Andy Allan, Engineer and Director.
After a break of two years following the closure of Cave Studio, the time taken to find the right premises, work started in 1989. The aim was to create not a state-of-the-art digital/analogue studio, but one which recaptured many forgotten and time-honoured recording technologies.
The two air conditioned main rooms were constructed in wood and finished in ash and oak.

The Coach House Studios became the home of the Bristol Sound and enjoyed much acclaim both nationally and internationally. The time was right, and the Coach House was at the forefront of a new musical genre which inspired a generation.

The Coach House included a unique moving ceiling variable acoustics system that could be MIDI controlled.
As far as we know, this was the world's first variable room acoustics that can be synchronised to a real performance. Each of the 12 panels had a reflective and an absorbent surface and could be flipped over silently by it's own 1 horse power direct drive DC servo.

As the millennium drew to a close the ever increasing pace of technology started to take its toll. We decided that the Coach House could not continue as a commercial recording facility despite it's reputation. It was sold in 1999 to a local composer and now supports a number of smaller operations.

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