Explore our studios
When Johann founded Clouds Hill in 2005 he wanted this place and especially Live Room 1 to feel like your living room. Admittedly a big living room. On 100sqm with 2 isolation booths and a wooden drum-corner, natural light coming through 3 big windows and a view onto Hamburg‘s industrial area and the river Elbe, The Living Room features Clouds Hill‘s Steinway D, 3.5 meter ceiling and a natural reverb of just over 2 seconds. There‘s an entire wall of effect pedals, from Clouds Hill‘s own brand featuring the world‘s first Floppy Disc Delay and Clouds Hill‘s Vintage Valve Booster to Oilcan Tremolos, vintage Ludwig and Mutron pedals to state of the art noise- and better-makers.
With access to both Live Rooms The Neve Room really is the heart of Clouds Hill. Built around a vintage 48Channel Neve 8068 MKII, previously owned by Sir George Martin and Daniel Lanois, the Neve Room offers one of the world‘s greatest collections of vintage gear in pristine working condition. Besides various working tape machines you can also choose to work completely digital using our state-of-the-art Pro Tools Ultimate with HDX interfaces. But make sure you don‘t spend too much time playing around with Johann‘s huge collection of Copicat Tape-echoes all wired up and ready to go. Or maybe you should? (And yes, while mixing you can watch the river Elbe‘s steady tide.)
Connected to Live Room 2, The API Room features a vintage 32 Channel API 3232. If that legendary sound is not enough, The API Room also features 19 Telefunken V76/V72 tube preamps all wired and prepped to add unique warmth and punch to your recordings. Talking about warmth; Johann‘s favorite tape machine, a Studer A820 with a modified 2” 8-track head is wired and ready to go. But sure: why not just use the Pro Tools HDX rack and choose some great sounding plug-ins from Clouds Hill‘s library? Choose, what you‘re most comfortable with. It‘s all there.
The Oak Room, or simply Live Room 2 features a classic acoustic treatment of absorption and reflection using bleached oak, a tiled corner and a completely dead space. It can easily accommodate up to at least 15 musicians with instruments and its tight but warm sound allows everything from impressive drum-sounds to big live performances. If you‘re afraid of spill Clouds Hill offers some isolation walls and The Oak Room is connected to an isolation booth with a balcony with Hamburg Skyline view. Natural light trough two big windows and a view onto the river Elbe make sure that your creative flow will never stop flowing. You know what we mean…
In the Artist Area Clouds Hill Recordings offers unique and very comfortable accommodation possibilities, just one floor under the studio. Six bedrooms (12 beds in total), a big living room with TV, two bathrooms and a big kitchen for all kinds of cooking activities and a beautiful view of the river Elbe, will guarantee a pleasant stay at our studio. Being able to have 24/7 access to the studio is not the only bonus of staying in the apartment, the use of the apartment is also inclusive with the rental of the studio.
A single bedroom with a king-size bed and its own bathroom. The living space and kitchen advantages of the Artist Apartment are also available for use when booking the Producer Bedroom.
Equipment
WORK WITH HIGH QUALITY EQUIPMENT!
Clouds Hill features one of the most versatile collections of vintage gear available in Europe. Every piece on the equipment list is carefully maintained and in perfectly working condition.
Team
Clients
Johann Scheerer invites an artist to his recording studio. The artist plays a maximum 64 minute set (the length of 2 analog tapes) in an intimate setting for a small audience. The performance is recorded live, simultaneously mixed and immediately submitted for mastering and vinyl production. The artists as well as Johann (in the role of producer and sound engineer) along with the live audience are forced to focus on the uniqueness of the moment, as the final release on vinyl is irreversible.