Matt Berry

In a YouTube interview titled "Matt Berry - Home Studio Interview," Matt Berry's studio features the AKG Acoustics BX 5 Stereo Reverb Unit, highlighting its role in his recording setup.

You can see the unit in this video of Matt's studio

One is visible in this October 2, 2010 photo from Future Music and this photo used for the back cover of Music for Insomniacs, while two can be seen on the back cover of Music for Insomniacs Part IV. It is also mentioned in this December 2020 Sound on Sound interview.

Berry had in the ’90s also collected similarly unfashionable drum machines. “One of the first things that I wanted was a Korg Mini Pops [7] because of Jean‑Michel Jarre,” he recalls. “And I got two of those, for like, 100 quid. And I got a [Roland] CR‑78 [CompuRhythm] for, I think, £250. ’Cause back then no one wanted that. It was this big sort of wooden box, it wasn’t portable and it kind of looked like a microwave, I suppose, compared to small drum machines then.” The appeal for him of these beatboxes, he says, was the warmth of the sounds. “Yeah, they’ve got natural compression and stuff. You don’t need to add a lot. They kind of have all their warmth.”

Visible in this photo used for the back cover of Music for Insomniacs and the back cover of Music for Insomniacs Part IV.

Mentioned in this December 2020 Sound on Sound interview.

Further remote instruction from Oldfield came when the multi‑instrumentalist appeared on Blue Peter in 1979, in a section filmed showing him multi‑layering, on 24‑track tape, his version of the show’s theme tune. “To then see him on Blue Peter,” Berry says, “where you actually saw him build it track‑by‑track, I had more of an understanding.”

Berry’s sole instrument at the time was a domestic Hammond organ, which his parents had bought him. To emulate Oldfield, he bought a Tascam 424 Portastudio and began layering up his own recordings, using the Hammond’s basic beatbox and feeding its various flute, strings and oboe sounds through cheap guitar effects pedals.

Mentioned in this December 2020 Sound on Sound interview.

“Barns Studio was my bedroom,” he laughs. “My mum and dad bought a very cheap, run‑down animal food barn and turned it into a house over time, and I had a room in this converted thing and that was my studio. My setup then had progressed slightly. I worked at Tesco, so I had a few quid. When I say a few quid… enough to spend on gear. I only spent my money on booze and musical equipment.”

Berry’s studio by this point was based around a Fostex R8 eight‑track reel‑to‑reel recorder. “I mean, looking back, the reel‑to‑reel was a pain in the arsehole,” he says, “but I didn’t know any different at the time and I loved how it sounded. It kind of sounded a lot more confident than the four‑track tape. Things like drums, when I used the R8, it kind of sounded like the real thing. I didn’t have enough room for the full kit. It was my cousin’s kit and we’d set up half of it.”

Effects‑wise, at the time, like most low‑budget home studio owners, Berry had an Alesis MIDIVerb. He was also given an AKG BX5, which ‑ incredibly, given its current status as a classic unit — he was warned wasn’t very good. “I was told it was spring and it was a load of shit, so you might not want to use it,” he explains. “So, I had this spring rackmount reverb that I was slightly embarrassed by at the time. It’s now one of my most prized possessions in my studio.”

Used for The Small Hours, as mentioned in this December 2020 Sound on Sound interview.

Only for one album, 2016’s The Small Hours, has Matt Berry ventured outside of his own recording setup, tracking the album at Rimshot Studios in Kent using the facility’s 1966‑built 10‑channel Decca desk and Studer A827 two‑inch 24‑track.

“I just wanted to do something different for different’s sake,” he says. “It was worth it for the experience of going to a studio with your songs, but I don’t know whether I’d do that again. I enjoy controlling the whole thing in my own time. I did it just to see what it would be like, and it was worth it ’cause I got a relationship going with [studio owner] Mike Thorne. He’s got fantastic ears and he masters all of my stuff.”

A Univox SR-95 is pictured and discussed in this December 2020 Sound on Sound interview.

Berry had in the ’90s also collected similarly unfashionable drum machines. “One of the first things that I wanted was a Korg Mini Pops [7] because of Jean‑Michel Jarre,” he recalls. “And I got two of those, for like, 100 quid. And I got a [Roland] CR‑78 [CompuRhythm] for, I think, £250. ’Cause back then no one wanted that. It was this big sort of wooden box, it wasn’t portable and it kind of looked like a microwave, I suppose, compared to small drum machines then.” The appeal for him of these beatboxes, he says, was the warmth of the sounds. “Yeah, they’ve got natural compression and stuff. You don’t need to add a lot. They kind of have all their warmth.”

Pictured in this December 2020 Sound on Sound interview.

Mentioned and pictured in this December 2020 Sound on Sound interview.

For preamps, Berry uses a Neve 1073DPA and a Joe Meek VC1Q Studio Channel, along with his UA Apollo. For his main microphones, he generally chooses between a Neumann U87 and a Rode K2.

Pictured in this December 2020 Sound on Sound interview.

Mentioned and pictured in this December 2020 Sound on Sound interview.

Berry’s studio features a massive Midas Verona 640 analogue mixing desk, which he uses solely for routing. “It’s just for putting everything through,” he says. “All the synths, all the drums go through the Midas. So, everything goes through a mixing desk but I don’t use it at the latter half of the mix. I do all that in Logic.”

One is visible in this October 2, 2010 photo from Future Music and this photo used for the back cover of Music for Insomniacs, while two can be seen on the back cover of Music for Insomniacs Part IV.