Introduction:

Hello!

The British home of Prince Fatty Studios is based above the Fox & Firkin live music venue, at 316 Lewisham High St, in South East London. (Post code: SE13 6JZ.)

It's a music recording and mixing facility like no other!

Available to hire upon request - both for dry hire, after familiarisation with the equipment, and for serviced hire - with the talents of Prince Fatty and his team at the controls.

There's a 35 square metre mixing and mastering room, alongside a voiceover booth and drum room. It offers a perfect hybrid of old and new - modern digital converters and workstation, paired with the best vintage analogue equipment, hunted down by Prince Fatty over the years, and designed to satisfy perfectionist ears. All connections available via bantam patch bay.

We are ready to welcome you and your project - contact us today to begin!

A guide to our services:

Album and Song Mixes

Prince Fatty is an award-winning mix engineer. Credited also as Mike Pelanconi, he has mixed a range of albums and style, from the multi-million selling "Alright Still" album of Lily Allen, to more esoteric works.

He is available to mix your music at Prince Fatty Studios in Lewisham, located above the Fox and Firkin live venue. Discounts are available upon request for multiple days, tracks and services, or for students and indie musicians, or musicians in need worldwide. Please get in touch via our contact form to discuss your requirements and circumstances.

Dub Mixes

Prince Fatty can provide you with a dub mix of your song. Reviewed as one of the world's best living dub music producers, with a track record of working on major dub releases, such as VP Records' "Prince Fatty Meets The Gorgon In Dub", you are in expert dub hands when you choose this service.

Typically this is offered as a remote service, involving the provision of stems and discussion of musical aspects with Prince Fatty in an online call, followed by him dubbing with your music in the studio and providing a mixed and mastered dub of your song, with a chance for feedback and revision.

This process can also be provided with you in person, should you wish, spending part of the studio day dubbing alongside Prince Fatty and discussing the music.

1 studio day is normally allocated for this service from start to finish.

We have provided dub mixes to bands and musicians all over the world. By choosing this service you will be able to credit the Prince Fatty name as the dub artist on your release and in your promotional material.

Mastering

Prince Fatty and Noah Priddle form the current mastering team. We also proudly collaborate with mastering engineer, Frank Merritt at The Carvery for some vinyl releases and restoration work. He has mastered and cut thousands of records, cementing himself as one of the most sought-after vinyl mastering engineers in the UK.

A formidable group, we offer single song mastering from £65 + VAT for streaming and vinyl releases. Discounts available for multiple tracks or services.

Attended Mixing & Mastering

We welcome attended sessions, primarily for mixing or live show recordings at the venue. For many artists and engineers, attending the mix is very much part of their music-making process, and it's a rite of passage for newer producers, as it helps to better understand how the music will translate to your speakers.

Stem Mastering

For those having trouble with the acoustics in their room, or in need of a little help getting their own mixes in balance, we are able to offer our new Stem Mastering service.

Instead of us mixing all the individual parts of your track, we ask you to supply us with the bass, kick, melody (guitar/synth etc), vocal and percussion as five or six separate mix groups, or stems. We then mix the individual elements so they are perfectly in balance, and produce your master from our new mix of your track.

Live Show Recording with the Fox & Firkin

We can offer full multi-track live recording of any show performed on the Fox's stage! Up to 32 channels of pristine audio from the acoustically treated stage, including extra ambience and crowd microphones. Capture the live energy of your music at this fabulous grassroots venue, which has played host to stars big and small. By arrangement, subject to calendar availability.

FAQs

So how much will my job cost and how long will it take?

Each job is personal, each job is special, each deserves personal consideration and needs an individual quote. This is why it's important that you reach out to us for an initial chat.

The headline rate for work at the London studio for 2024 is £700 + VAT per day. We count a studio day as lasting 10 hours. Where appropriate the fee includes a limited licence to credit and use the Prince Fatty Studios names and brands in your work.

For close friends of the studio, for new artists from poorer countries than the UK, to support music that brings a lot to the table, and especially in periods when the studio has fallow time AND always when someone is buying a lot of studio time for one bigger project, such as an album, we offer discounts to the headline rate. Discounts range from 10-50%.

Availability does vary throughout the year and we sometimes have gaps between bigger projects. Again, it's best to discuss your exact needs with you first.

Most smaller jobs we aim to turnaround within 3 weeks.

How should I prepare my mixes for mixing and mastering?

Please leave around 3db of headroom and ensure there is no limiting, compression or overloading on the final mix bus. This will give us the head room required to work on your track. If you have been mixing with compression / limiting on the final bus, you can send us this version to use as a reference but ensure you bounce a version without limiting for us to mix or master from.

We recommend 24bit / 44.1khz or 24bit / 88.2 khz WAV or AIFF files.

If supplying more than 8 stems, then we prefer to be supplied with a pre-prepared Pro Tools session. If this cannot be done, a set-up charge of £50 will be incurred.

Separate FX stems to be included alongside mixes in a Pro Tools session file. If drums are your thing then we advise including the original drum and percussion multitrack files. Please bypass any noise gate plugins if used.

With multi-track mixing, a Pro Tools session file should be prepared in advance and 100% checked for accuracy by you before supplying.

I'm here for analogue - tell me what you've got again?

If vintage analogue sound is your thing, then stay true to the 1960s with choice of Pultec tube mixer (8 inputs), Ampex tube and Class A mixers (16 inputs) and Lang  Mixer (5 input with Aux). Use the 1965 EMT 140S Plate Reverb, Fairchild Spring Reverb, Fischer Space Expander Tube Spring Reverb or Dynacord S62 Tube Tape Echo for that classic sound!

OK, I wanna start a chat about a music project or I have a different question for Prince Fatty Studios:

Get in touch using our contact form and we will usually reply within 2-3 business days.

The Almost Complete Equipment List:

Equipment can get swapped in or out throughout the year, with Prince Fatty picking up or being lent new toys, or things being repaired or serviced. The below list is current from April 2024.

Monitoring

Yamaha NS10M
Neumann KH-120
Tannoy Little Gold Monitor
Tannoy SRM12-X Gold Monitor
Tannoy Lockwood 15" HPD
Quad 520F Amplifiers

Mixers

24 Channel SSL X-Desk
1960s Pultec SP3 and MH4 Tube Mixer - 8 inputs
1960s Ampex MX10/AM10 Tube / Class A Mixer -16 inputs

Tape Machines

Otari MTR12 1/4 inch Stereo Mastering Machine

Vintage FX

EMT 140S Stereo Plate Reverb
Fairchild 659 Spring Reverb
Orban 106-C Spring Reverb
Grampian (Prince Fatty Edition) Spring Reverb
Fischer Space Expander Tube Spring Reverb
Dynacord S62 Tape Echo
Dynacord VRS-23
Rodec Stereo Filter
Akai  MFC-42 Stereo Filter

Digital

Dynacord DRP-16 Reverb
Eventide 2016
Lexicon PCM60
TC M-One Reverb
TC D2 Delay
Moog 500 Series Delay
Eventide 500 Series Delay
AMS RMX Reverb 500 Series

Compressors

Chiswick Reach Stereo Tube Compressor
EMI TG1 Stereo  Limiter
SSL G Comp Mix Bus Compressor
SSL Bus Plus Stereo Compressor
SSL LMC+ Limiter / Filter (2)
1176 Klark Teknik (4)
DBX 160 (8)

EQ

SSL 4 Band XR625 (12)
Summit EQP 200 Stereo EQ
Urei 565 Filters (2)
Altec Hi and Lo Pass Filter
Pultec Hi and Lo Pass Filter
Radial Toss Over Hi and Lo Pass Filter (4)

Microphone Amplifiers

Ampex MX-35 Tube mic amp (4)
Ampex AM10 Class A mic amp (8)
Focusrite ISA Class A mic amp (8)

Microphones

Shure SM7B Dynamic Microphone
EV RE-320 Dynamic Microphone
Groove Tubes Tube Condenser Microphone
Beyer M160 Ribbon Microphone
AKG D12