Rockfield Studios

Rockfield Studios is a residential recording studio located in the Wye Valley just outside the village of Rockfield, Monmouthshire, Wales. It was founded in 1963 by brothers Kingsley and Charles Ward.

Recording studios
Rockfield is a two-studio facility consisting of The Coach House and The Quadrangle. Both studios reside within converted solid-stone farm buildings. Rockfield was one of the world's first recording studios to have living accommodation for clients.

The Coach House
Constructed in 1968, The Coach House includes a large 150-square-metre live area with stone walls, a wooden ceiling, and a Yamaha grand piano. Additionally, it has a stone drum room, an acoustically variable second drum room, and two isolation booths. Recording equipment is based around a customised Neve 8128 recording console with vintage outboard processing, including Neve 1060 microphone amps, Rockfield's original Rosser Electronics microphone amps, API 550 equalisers and UREI 1176 compressors.

Artists who have recorded in The Coach House include Oasis, Bullet for My Valentine, Sepultura, Jayce Lewis, Simple Minds and Opeth.

The Quadrangle
Constructed in 1973, The Quadrangle has a total of 170 square metres of recording space spread between the main area with Bösendorfer grand piano, two large variable acoustic drum rooms and three isolation booths. Recording equipment in the central control room is based around an MCI 500 Series in-line mixing console with outboard processing, including Neve 1061 microphone amps, Rockfield's original Rosser Electronics microphone amps, API 550 equalisers, and UREI 1176 compressors.

Best known for the recording of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", The Quadrangle has hosted such notable artists as Manic Street Preachers, Robert Plant, Shop Front Heroes, and Coldplay.

Background and early history
The Ward family bought Amberley Court Farm in Rockfield in the early 1950s. Originally a Shire horse breeding centre, they ran it as a livestock farm, with 500 pigs and a herd of dairy cows.

Brothers Kingsley and Charles Ward were educated at Abergavenny Grammar School. While there Charles got into the early rock and roll music of Elvis Presley and began playing an acoustic guitar that he purchased for £5. In 1960 the brothers formed a band named the Charles Kingsley Combo and Kingsley wrote a couple of songs, which the brothers recorded using a tape deck borrowed from a local businessman. Deciding to pursue a record deal, the brothers drove to EMI's pressing plant in Middlesex, London, but were redirected to the label's offices in Manchester Square where, on that same day without an appointment they met producer George Martin. Martin decided not to sign the brothers, but noted that the reason he was compelled to take the meeting was because they were the first artists he had seen bring a portable reel-to-reel tape deck.

The Ward brothers returned to London the following year and met with Joe Meek at his studio. Meek signed them, and the brothers recorded songs as The Charles Kingsley Creation and as The Thunderbolts while observing Meek's studio techniques. Back home, the brothers set up a recording studio in an attic space with a Rosser Electronics mixing console and a Ferrograph tape machine. In 1961 the brothers began recording local bands in their studio, which they named Future Sounds Ltd, charging £5 per acetate.

Early success
In 1963 the Ward brothers converted an existing farmhouse into a recording studio by investing in an 8-track tape deck and lining it with feed bags to create sound deadening. In 1965, they became the world's first residential studio, set up so that bands could come and stay in the peaceful rural surroundings to record.

The first big hit recorded in the studios was Dave Edmunds' "I Hear You Knocking" in 1970. In the early 1970s, the studios were used to record seven albums by Budgie, several by Hawkwind, one by Hobo, Peter Hammill's second solo album Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night in 1973, Ace's hit single "How Long" in 1974, and Queen's album Sheer Heart Attack. Queen first worked on developing their album A Night at the Opera and the song "Bohemian Rhapsody" for a month at Ridge Farm Studio during the summer of 1975, then moved to Rockfield in August 1975 to begin recording the album, which became the band's first Platinum-selling album in the US. Motörhead made their first recordings at the studios in 1975 and were, briefly, signed to the Rockfield record label. Cyril Jordan of the Flamin' Groovies (who recorded at Rockfield several times between 1972 and 1978) said in 2014, "We thought Rockfield was the new Sun recording studios."

Later developments
As the trend moved from rock music of the 1970s and 1980s to the electronic music of the 1990s, which had a far greater use of technology and could almost be produced from a bedroom, the need for space and complex analogue recording systems reduced. Rockfield also faced more competition, with many of the main recording labels creating their own residential recording studios, such as Virgin's "The Manor". With the Rockfield company facing dire financial consequences, the Ward brothers decided to split the farm, with Kingsley retaining the Rockfield half, whilst Charles refurbished a semi-derelict manor house on the opposite side of the valley to create Monnow Valley Studio.

Facing financial difficulties, and with his wife Anne working full-time as a book keeper, Kingsley was approached by friend and record producer John Leckie to record the first album of Manchester band The Stone Roses. Resident for 14 months to record both their first and second albums, the band saved the studio financially. The band's residency created interest from other bands, resulting in recording sessions for other bands including Oasis.

During a 12-month period in 1996–97, Rockfield sessions resulted in five UK number one albums, by Oasis, Ash, Black Grape, The Charlatans and the Boo Radleys.

In July 2020 the documentary Rockfield: The Studio on the Farm, directed by Hannah Berryman, was broadcast by BBC Four.

Charles Ward died on 27 July 2022.

1960s

 * Amen Corner
 * Doc Thomas Band (Mott the Hoople)
 * The Interns
 * Love Sculpture

1970s

 * Ace
 * Alquin
 * Joan Armatrading
 * Be-Bop Deluxe
 * Bintangs
 * Black Sabbath
 * Blonde on Blonde
 * Arthur Brown
 * Budgie
 * Rocky Burnette
 * Carlene Carter
 * City Boy
 * Dave Edmunds
 * Dr. Feelgood
 * Flamin' Groovies
 * Foghat
 * Peter Hammill
 * Roy Harper
 * Hawkwind
 * Help Yourself
 * Andy Irvine and Paul Brady
 * Judas Priest
 * Lone Star
 * Man
 * Barry Melton
 * Motörhead
 * Graham Parker & The Rumour
 * Mike Oldfield
 * Prelude
 * Queen
 * Radio Birdman
 * Rush
 * Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets
 * Del Shannon
 * Gary Shearston
 * Edwin Starr
 * Solution
 * Tom Robinson Band
 * Tyla Gang
 * Van der Graaf Generator

1980s

 * Adam and the Ants
 * Age of Chance
 * Bad Manners
 * Alain Bashung
 * Bauhaus
 * Christian Death
 * Clannad
 * Tom Cochrane
 * Conflict
 * Cry Before Dawn
 * The Cult
 * The Damned
 * Di'Anno
 * Dumptruck
 * Echo & the Bunnymen
 * Edie Brickell & New Bohemians
 * Fields of the Nephilim
 * Ian Gillan
 * Human Drama
 * The Icicle Works
 * King Kurt
 * The Mighty Lemon Drops
 * Monsoon
 * Modern English
 * The Mood
 * Joey Parratt
 * Robert Plant
 * Iggy Pop
 * Simple Minds
 * Skids
 * Smashed Gladys
 * The Sound
 * The Stone Roses
 * The Stranglers
 * The Teardrop Explodes
 * That Petrol Emotion
 * Thrashing Doves
 * T'Pau
 * The Undertones
 * The Waterboys
 * Danny Wilde
 * The Wonder Stuff

1990s

 * 60 Ft. Dolls
 * Ash
 * Aztec Camera
 * The Beta Band
 * Big Country
 * Black Grape
 * Black Sabbath
 * The Bluetones
 * The Boo Radleys
 * Carcass
 * Cast
 * The Charlatans
 * Coldplay
 * Del Amitri
 * EMF
 * Energy Orchard
 * Gay Dad
 * Gene
 * Herbert Grönemeyer
 * Headswim
 * HIM
 * Hot House Flowers
 * Kerbdog
 * Julian Lennon
 * Annie Lennox
 * Lush
 * Manic Street Preachers
 * Menswear
 * Midget
 * Monk & Canatella
 * The Mutton Birds
 * Ned's Atomic Dustbin
 * Northside
 * Oasis
 * Paradise Lost
 * The Pogues
 * Sepultura
 * Stereophonics
 * The Stone Roses
 * Streem
 * Super Furry Animals
 * Symposium
 * Teenage Fanclub
 * Toploader
 * The Wedding Present
 * Paul Weller
 * Witness
 * XTC

2000s

 * Badly Drawn Boy
 * Band of Skulls
 * The Beta Band
 * Bullet for My Valentine
 * Catatonia
 * The Coral
 * The Darkness
 * Delays
 * Delphic
 * The Enemy
 * Funeral for a Friend
 * Gyroscope
 * Glamour of the Kill
 * Heaven & Hell
 * In Case of Fire
 * Kasabian
 * Nigel Kennedy
 * M83
 * Manic Street Preachers
 * George Michael
 * Morning Runner
 * New Order
 * Paolo Nutini
 * Ocean Colour Scene
 * Oceansize
 * The Proclaimers
 * Simple Minds
 * Starsailor
 * Joe Strummer
 * Suede
 * Super Furry Animals
 * Supergrass
 * KT Tunstall
 * Violent Soho
 * The Wombats

2010s/2020s

 * Bear's Den
 * Bellowhead
 * Emma Blackery
 * Broken Hands
 * Chinaski
 * The Darkness
 * Dinosaur Pile-Up
 * Frightened Rabbit
 * Frost*
 * Gun
 * Gwyneth Herbert
 * Idles
 * J.Fla
 * Kasabian
 * Jayce Lewis
 * Lower Than Atlantis
 * The Maccabees
 * Maxïmo Park
 * Merrymouth
 * Ben Montague
 * Nada Surf
 * Ocean Colour Scene
 * Opeth
 * Palma Violets
 * Phantom Limb
 * Pixies
 * The Proclaimers
 * Roving Crows
 * Royal Blood
 * Savage Messiah
 * Shadow Academy
 * Shame
 * The Sherlocks
 * Skinny Lister
 * The Strypes
 * The Treatment
 * Turbowolf
 * Turin Brakes
 * Down by the Jetty