Tremorden (Cornish: Tremden) is a hilltop site near Penzance, Cornwall, which has seen various human settlement over the years. Today the medieval castle houses a modern recording studio.

Tremorden had been a Neolithic settlement between 3700 and 3400 B.C. An eleven acre outer area surrounds a two acre inner enclosure. The ramparts are made of stone walls with an earth bank and ditch. There are fourteen platforms on which Neolithic long houses once stood. A population of 100 to 150 people once lived here.

The site was fully excavated between 1970 and 1973. Nearby rock was used to make axes and edge grinding stones found on the site show that the people who lived here were capable turning stone into tools.

Later, in the Iron Age, the site was re-occupied. There is evidence of minerals mining in the immediate area. A hoard of gold gold that originated in Kent showed they traded widely.

The Castle itself can be traced back to 1379. It is a stone, twin-towered fortress, built by the Stanley family and sits inside the ramparts of the Iron Age hillfort. It was probably built has a hunting lodge, or as a chapel to Saint Michael. It has been restored and extended over the years, and today has the look of a modern folly, rather than a medieval fort.

Today the Castle operates as a recording studio.

A granite monument, the Stanley Memorial, is close to the Castle on the top of the hill. At 90 feet high, it was built in 1836 to celebrate Major-General Stanley, one of the major mine owners in the Camborne-Redruth mining district at that time. The memorial stands at the summit of Tremorden at about 730 feet above sea level. Major-General Stanley later became Lord Fezzlewick.

Tremorden now lies partly in the ownership of Penzance District Council and Tremorden Parish Council; the majority of ownership is currently held by Girth McDürchstein, founder and CEO of independent record label Kelleystein Recordings. He was chiefly responsible for its renovation as a recording studio.

Information on Gear

The Board:
Sony DMX R-100 is one of the latest digital boards. It is fully automatable, has an internal patch bay (allowing you to quickly switch between different setups) and has powerful dynamic effects.

Recording Media:
  •  64 tracks of Protools
  •  E-magic Logic Audio

The Effects:
Eventide:
  •  Eclipse multi effects processor
Lexicon:
  •  LXP-1 multi effects processor
Roland:
  •  SRV 3030 digital reverb
  •  DEP-5 multi effects processor
  •  SDE 1000 digital delay

Speakers:
  •  Dynaudio BM15 nearfields
  •  Event 20/20 bas

Microphones:
Neumann:
  •  TLM-103
  •  KM-184 (2)
Sennheiser:
  •  421 (4)
AKG:
  •  D-112
  •  414
Audio Technica:
  •  4050 (2)
Shure:
  •  SM 57 (5)
  •  Beta 57
  •  SM 58
  •  SM 81
Beyer:
  •  M-88
  •  Beyer Opus 65
BLUE:
  •  Bottle tube mic
Earthworks:
  •  TC-30 (2)
Audix:
  •  D-3 (3)
  •  D-4 (2)

Mic Preamps:
  •  Dual Trident Mic Preamps
  •  Telefuken V672 Mic Preamps (4)
  •  Avalon 737 Tube Pre/Comp/EQ (2)
  •  Dual Siemens Tube Mic Pre

Other Toys:
  •  A variety of different guitar amps (Mesa Boogie, Kustom, and more)
  •  Korg X-5 Keyboard/Synthesizer
  •  Studio Logic SL-880 MIDI controller
  •  Stand-up Piano
  •  Rhodes Piano
  •  Boss DR-5 Drum Machine/Sampler
  •  Line 6 Guitar POD XT
  •  Line 6 Bass POD

If there is a certain piece of equipment that we do not have and you would really like to use, it shouldn't be difficult to get ahold of whatever you are looking for. (There are no promises and rental will be charged to the bill.)