Miloco Studios
Miloco Studios are a leading international group of recording studios based in London, England.
History
Miloco was formed out of the merging of three former London recording studios: Milo Music, The Garden and Orinoco Studios.
Milo Music began in 1984 as a small studio in east London's Hoxton Square (the studio is commonly referred to as simply ‘The Square’), which was used by the likes of Tricky, M People and The Brand New Heavies in the early years of its life. In the early nineties they took over another building nearby to The Square and used it to build seven programming suites for artists and producers to use for long-term periods. Today, Miloco still operate five of the seven rooms, and people filling them currently include pop producer Richard X and Swing Out Sister. In the late nineties, Milo Music also became the parent company of producer Howie B's Pussyfoot record label, whose roster of artists usually recorded at the studios.
The Garden studio, located in the Shoreditch area of East London, was built in 1981 by John Foxx and the well-renowned studio designer Andy Munro. It became a regular choice of studios for the likes of Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure and Depeche Mode, as well as Matt Johnson of The The who ended up buying the studio for himself. Milo Music became the studio's representative from the mid-1990s, when for the first time The Garden was run as a commercial enterprise.
Orinoco Studios was founded in the mid-1980s and came to prominence with the release of Enya's Orinoco-produced Watermark album, which included the hit "Orinoco Flow", apparently named after the studios. Orinoco was central to both the dance explosion of the late 1980s and the indie / Britpop era of the early to mid-nineties. The studio's top-end Neve mix room (known as The Engine Room) has always been integral to Orinoco's appeal, and since the early 1990s bands such as Oasis and The Chemical Brothers mixed groundbreaking albums such as (What's the Story) Morning Glory? and Dig Your Own Hole respectively, in The Engine Room. All of The Chemical Brothers’ six albums have been mixed in the room, and the dance act also regularly used The Toyshop programming room, located in the same building as The Engine Room. 1997 saw Orinoco produce more number-one albums than any other UK studio, apart from EMI's Abbey Road.
When Milo Music bought Orinoco in 2000, the Miloco name was created. 2006 saw Miloco open three new studios. The first was the former Innovation Studios on Highbury Corner in North London, renamed ‘The Yard’ after the road on which it is, Swan Yard. After opening The Yard came the addition of dance producer and DJ Pete Heller's Kentish Town studio, Musikbox, and then producer Ben Hillier built a unique live tracking studio in the former Orinoco building, which is now called The Pool.
2007 and 2008 saw the company expand considerably further, forming partnerships with various established producers and recording artists to re-open a number of formerly private studios as commercial ones. The first room added during this expansion period was legendary producer Hugh Padgham's, Sofa Sound Studios in west London, which Miloco took over in the summer of 2007. At the start of 2008, Miloco unveiled their very first residential studio, El Cortijo, which they opened in partnership with studio owner and session drummer Trevor Morais. Based in a 7-bedroom Andalucian villa, El Cortijo became the first facility Miloco opened outside of the UK, however the studio closed in 2013 and El Cortijo is now solely used as a luxury holiday villa. In the summer of 2008 Miloco opened a brand new tracking studio in the famous Battery complex in Willesden Green, Assault & Battery 2, in collaboration with the famous British rock producers and studio owners, Flood and Alan Moulder. Flood and Alan's SSL mix studio, Assault & Battery 1, which is also located at the Battery Complex, came under the Miloco umbrella a year later in the summer of 2009.
The first UK residential studio facility Miloco opened was Fisher Lane Studios near the town of Guildford in Surrey, which came under Miloco operation in the Autumn of 2008. Since the early 1980s, the studio has been famous for its association with bands and artists such as Genesis, Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, The Cure and Mike + The Mechanics. Under the new representation of Miloco, Fisher Lane has been developed into the closest rural residential recording studio to London, having acquired two 4-bedroom cottages next-door to the studio.
The Garden Studio in Holywell Lane was demolished in autumn 2013
Artists
Well-known artists who have worked at Miloco studios include:
- Adele
- Alphabeat
- Arctic Monkeys
- Audio Bullys
- Badly Drawn Boy
- Beth Orton
- Björk
- Black Kids
- Bloc Party
- Coldplay
- Crashcarburn
- Crystal Castles
- DJ Ironik
- DJ Shadow
- Editors
- Elastica
- Enya
- Florence and the Machine
- Foals
- Franz Ferdinand
- Full Body Anchor
- Funeral for a Friend
- Gallows
- Glasvegas
- Groove Armada
- Idlewild
- Jamie T
- Jarvis Cocker
- Kasabian
- Kate Nash
- Late of the Pier
- Liberty X
- The Long Blondes
- Luke Haines
- Madness
- Mark Ronson
- Mystery Jets
- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
- Oasis
- Rachel Stevens
- Razorlight
- Roots Manuva
- Spiritualized
- Sugababes
- The Auteurs
- The Chemical Brothers
- The Futureheads
- The Horrors
- The Hours
- The Prodigy
- The Rascals
- These New Puritans
- Trivium
- Turin Brakes
- Twelfth Night
- Unkle
Albums
2008 Miloco albums include
- Bloc Party - Intimacy
- Sugababes - Catfights and Spotlights
- The King Blues - Save the World. Get the Girl
- Roll Deep - Return of the Big Money Sound
- Trivium - Shogun
- DJ Ironik - No Point in Wasting Tears
- Will Young - Let It Go
- The Metros - More Money Less Grief
- Slipknot - All Hope Is Gone
- Late of the Pier - Fantasy Black Channel
- Sparkadia - Postcards
- Black Kids - Partie Traumatic
- The Rascals - Rascalize
- Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
- The Music - Strength in Numbers
- Alphabeat - This Is Alphabeat
- Spiritualized - Songs in A&E
- Adem - Takes
- Hadouken! - Music for an Accelerated Culture
- Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
- The Long Blondes - "Couples"
- Foals - Antidotes
- Mystery Jets - Twenty One
- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
- Adele - 19
- These New Puritans - Beat Pyramid
- Bullet for My Valentine - Scream Aim Fire
- British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
Past Miloco albums include
- Kate Nash – Made of Bricks
- Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare
- Newton Faulkner – Hand Built by Robots
- The Horrors – Strange House
- The Chemical Brothers – We Are the Night
- Shitdisco – Kingdom of Fear
- Roll Deep – Rules and Regulations
- The Maccabees – Colour It In
- Mr Hudson and the Library – A Tale of Two Cities
- Battle – Break the Banks
- Enya – Watermark
- Oasis – (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
- Ash – 1977
- The Chemical Brothers – Dig Your Own Hole
- Depeche Mode – Construction Time Again
- Roots Manuva – Awfully Deep
- Audio Bullys – Ego War
- The Cure – The Top
- M.I.A. – Arular
- Richard X – Richard X Presents His X-Factor Vol. 1
- The Auteurs – How I Learned to Love the Bootboys
- Gene – Olympian
- Jarvis Cocker - Jarvis
- Fionn Regan - The End of History
- Black Box Recorder - The Facts of Life
- Plan B - Who Needs Actions When You Got Words
- Shed Seven - Ladyman
- Luke Haines - Das Capital
- The 57th Dynasty - The Spoken Word
Interface Engineer Management
In 2007 Miloco set up a sister company, Interface, a studio engineer and producer management company. The Interface roster currently manages the following UK-based engineers and producers: Pete Hofmann, Finn Eiles, Matt Hyde, Matt Foster, Ferg Peterkin, Joe Hirst and Ben Thackeray.