Dream It, Build It…and They Will Come.There is a New Hum in San Miguel

By Charles Woollett

You have to go back in time for a little context to understand the motivation behind Myles Wakeham’s inspiration for his Troubled Clef Recording Studio.

London, Oxford Circus, circa 1970s, and the brilliant A.I.R (Associated Independent Recording) Studios, one of the most in-demand recording studios ever. Researching this article made me reminisce about my days at Revolver Records in Tottenham Court and having coffee & cheese sandwiches with our friendly competitor, Richard Branson, at his first Virgin Records store off Sloane Square. We acquired new release demos from Melody Maker and New Musical Express reviewers, boy those were the days, but I digress.

A trip back to Beatles Producer, Sir George Martin, who founded the original A.I.R Studios. In 1979, Martin eventually moved AIR to his Caribbean hilltop home on Montserrat. The rest is history as legendary band after legendary band recorded there for the next ten years. McCartney, Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, Dire Straits, The Police, The Stones, and Elton John, along with countless others. Enter Studio Engineer & Producer Myles Wakeham to carry on the iconic sound of AIR Studios Monserrat some thirty-six years later, in a totally technically updated form, as in Troubled Clef Studios, in the Sierra mountains here in Central Mexico.

Myles is originally from Australia, but in 2021, he and his wife, Sandra, began the transition out of the United States. They decided to buy a compound, which included a bull ring on an acre of land just outside of San Miguel de Allende. “Wouldn’t this be the ideal place to create the world’s best music?”, asked Myles, stemming from his knowledge of the music business and ‘off-the-beaten-track’ studios, and having built two studios prior in Los Angeles and Australia. What’s with the name, one might ask? Myles said, “It came from a play on words from simple sheet music.”

Like many an Aussie, true grit and the belief in the old adage of build it and they will come, with an homage to his dear Producer friend, Bruce Brown, formerly of Albert Studios in Sydney. The past four years have proven to be a world invitation to come to a recording studio in the remote hills of San Miguel. A town some 500 years old, renowned for its old world architecture, fabulous culinary diversity, and magnetism of beckoning musicians and artists of all stripes. This is truly ‘state-of-the-art’ from its solid double concrete floors, walls, and roof; soundproofing is critical in this industry. The brains of any studio have to be, in a word, perfect.

So the hunt was on for a vintage Neve console. As luck would have it, Myles located a Neve 8232 in New Jersey, one of only a handful still operational in the world. Combining old and new technology has resulted in a one-of-a-kind recording studio with finely tuned acoustics, including a Yamaha C7 concert grand piano, a 1960’s Hammond B3 organ, and unique microphones (one even sung into by the late Bon Scott, lead singer of AC/DC) for the, sound booths and ‘live room’ which is an exact replica of the one from Montserrat.

As of early February this year, the studio started with the first session by the world’s largest publisher from New York City. What has followed over just the last six months, is several recording sessions by Grammy Award-winning artists, film studios, video game companies, and TV broadcasting production groups. Despite popular belief, successful recording studios record sound for all purposes, and only a small percentage comes from music recording. With expected growth in production media in San Miguel, Troubled Clef Recording Studio is poised to be a serious resource for International media producers of all types. "It’s been hard work, but we are excited and proud of what we have created. Troubled Clef Recording Studio is a celebration of humanity in sound."

What the future holds and artists to come, one can only guess. As Mark Twain once said, "You cannot depend on your eyes if your imagination is out of focus." What can be said today is that the legacy of the original AIR Studios and George Martin’s dream lives on in Myles Wakeham’s reality and belief, “that artists struggle for their art, and we at TCS are here to help in that creative process.”

Myles was recently asked to teach a post-graduate class in audio engineering at TCS by Universidad Anáhuac (one of the largest universities in Mexico & among the Top 2% in the World) to be a professor of music & sound, to which he humbly said yes. His way of paying it forward. Mil Gracias Myles, or as the Aussies would say, “your blood's worth bottlin’ mate”. Thanks to a brilliant ‘human’ mind, there is a new hum to be heard in San Miguel de Allende and around the world.

See more at www.troubledclef.com

Charles has been head of his company CPBW international - Film Food Travel and journalist for thirty years. charleswoollett@gmail.com

cpbwinternational.base44.app