Liverpool’s Most Iconic Recording Studio

Al Groves

Al Groves is a producer and mixer with over sixteen years’ studio experience. Owner of The Motor Museum, he has curated a musical utopia to reflect his vision of how records can, and should be made.

Al has made his name with acts such as Bring Me The Horizon and The Sherlock’s as well as developing a whole of host of new talented upstarts. Recent artists produced and mixed by Al include STONE, Blanket and Shefu.

Al’s production on The Sherlocks album ‘People Like Me & You’ achieved a UK #4 chart position, and other work earning Platinum, Gold and Silver awards worldwide.

Al is available for Production, Mix, and Writing sessions and is represented by Pip Newby at Bridge Management.

Credits include…

Bring Me The Horizon / The Sherlocks / STONE / Crawlers / Blanket / The Reytons / Shefu / KO KO MO

Al’s Showreel

Ben Harper

Partner-engineer Ben Harper brings a wealth of talent to his sessions. Cutting his teeth in a bands around Liverpool Ben has been a part of the Merseyside music scene for almost a decade on both sides of the glass.

After graduating Lipa in 2020 his longtime relationship with The Mysterines led him to contribute to their debut album ‘Reeling’ earning him his first top ten album credit. He quickly capitalised on this early success gaining credits on records for The Luka State, The Zutons and The Sherlocks.

Ben’s strengths lie in how he supports artists through the creative process; his gentle personality nurtures creativity in those around him, and he is a master of guiding sessions to being wonderfully productive events. He cares deeply about the music he is entrusted with, and is an advocate of ‘doing things right’ when it comes to applying recording techniques.

Ben is comfortable on a variety of genres spanning indie, acoustic and jazz, and has a special interest in creative microphone techniques. He is also an exciting co-writer!

Credits include…

The Zutons / The Mysterines / Sister Sledge / Luvcat / The Luka State 

Ben’s Showreel

Jake Gore

Getting his start drumming in DIY bands to making demos in practice rooms, partner-engineer Jake Gore is no stranger to the recording studio.

A close friend of Liverpool’s underground music scene, Jake is deeply enthusiastic about helping artists make their mark. He combines his passion for the art with thorough technical insight, and he applies his intelligence to every project. He relies on time-honoured techniques and understands how to make the transition from writing to recording a seamless process. His comfort zone spans genres from hyper-pop to heavy-metal, always retaining a deep respect for expression and identity. A calm demeanour and supportive attitude guide a session to a sounding exactly as the artist hears it in their head, offering encouragement, ideas and “absolutely belter brews” to great effect.

Credits include…

MARi MARi / India Lillie Davies / Witherhorde / Danger Dog / Hazmat

Sam Pierpoint

Sam Pierpoint is the hero behind the scenes at The Motor Museum. 

An outstanding drummer (Al says one of the best in the north west!) Sam had already spent many hours behind the kit in our live rooms and understands The Motor Museum culture perfectly. Friendly, meticulous and highly professional, Sam ensures the studio runs like clockwork. He’s a great people person and a friend to everybody, and is hugely passionate about delivering the ultimate recording experience.

Drawing on his experience as a recording artist, Sam brings valuable insight that he uses to help us do what we do in the best possible way. He is constantly analysing the studio’s output and searching for ways to not only achieve, but surpass our goals.

Sam looks after day to day operations, technical projects, social media and client liaison. He’s the drummer-extraordinaire in Paint Me In Colour, Pleasure Island and Esme Bridie, and an avid fan of Formula One!

We do Recording.

Recording is our bread and butter, and we think we’re pretty good at it. We see recording as an art form, and our engineering team are dedicated to the perfect application of it. We specialise in both live recording and overdubbing, and we’ve developed workflows that harness the power of the studio and put creativity at the forefront. Whether loud band or an intimate acoustic, our recording services are focused on capturing amazing music in the most authentic way possible.

We do Production.

If recording is our bread and butter, then production is our fine dining. Taking all our knowledge of recording and supercharging it with our imagination and a little bit of magic, our productions are what define The Motor Museum. From Al Groves’ raucous, larger-than-life sonic spectacles to Ben Harpers’ rootsy and organic ear-worms, our roster represents some of the most talented music producers in Liverpool.

We’ve produced emerging artists at the beginning of their journey right through to established household names spanning a range of genres. But no matter the project, at the core of our commissions is our passion to showcase expression, individuality, identity and great songwriting to create records that mean something remarkable to our artists and their audience.

We do Mixing.

Some of the most acclaimed records of the last decades have been mixed at The Motor Museum. Whether it’s the incredible sounding control room or our Solid State Logic Duality console, mixing makes up a large part of our work. Our engineers are experts in balancing sound and creating beautiful sonic landscapes, and Al Groves brings his unique high-impact style to bring a mix to life. The magic of what we do can be applied to songs recorded elsewhere too, and all our mixes include instrumentals as standard.

We don’t do anything else, because we’re specialists at what we do;

everything else is just noise.

Recording/Monitoring

Solid State Logic Duality Delta SE 48

ProTools HDX (PT2023), Intel MacPro 7.1 w/ 26 in & 48 out

Burl B2 Bomber ADC

Genelec 8351B x 2

Genelec W317A x 2

Cranesong Avocet

Hear Technologies Hearback Headphone Mixers (x4)

Beyer DT100/150/770, Vic Firth Isolation (x8)

Outboard

API 560

Cartec EQP-1A (x2)

Neve 1073 (x3)

Ridge Farm Gas Cooker DI

Tritone Fethead (x2)

DBX 160X (x2)

Drawmer DS201

Empirical Labs ES-8 Distressor (x2)

Retro Sta-Level Gold

Urei 1176 Silverface (x2)

SPL Transient Designer 2

AKG BX20 Spring Reverb

Aphex 204 Aural Exciter

Chandler Industries Tube Driver

Eventide H3000-D/SE

Korg Kaoss Pad

Lexicon PCM90

Lexicon 960L

Radial Phazer

Roland SDE-2500

Solid State Logic Fusion

SPL Vitalizer

TC Electronic FireworX

WEM Watkins Copicat

Microphones

AKG C414 B-ULS

AKG C451B

Beyerdynamic TG D71

Calrec CM1050C (x2)

Earthworks DM6

Earthworks DM20 (x4)

Earthworks SR25 Gen 2 (x2)

Flea U47 Vintage

Neumann KM84 (x2)

Neumann TLM193 (x2)

Neumann U67

Realistic PZM (x 2)

AEA R44CE

AEA R88 mkII (stereo)

Coles 4038 (x2)

AKG D112

AKG D12E

Audio-technica ATM25

Beyerdynamic M201

DrAlienSmith Alien8

Electrovoice RE20

Sennheiser MD421 (x4)

Shure Beta 52A

Shure SM57 (x5)

Shure SM57 Transformerless

Shure SM7B

Yamaha Subkick (x2)

Drums/Percussion

Tama Starclassic Mirage Acrylic

22×16, 10×7, 12×8, 14×12, 16×14

Tama Starclassic Bubinga Elite

24×16, 14×12, 16×16, 18×16

KD Customs Vented 14×5 Snare

Mapex Black Panther Snare Drum 14×5

Pearl Free Floating Brass Snare Drum 14 x 6.5 (additional hire charge)

Pearl Vinnie Paul Maple Snare 14 x 8 (additional hire charge)

Pearl Sensitone Steel Snare Drum 14 x 6.5

Worldmax Brass Snare Drum 14 x 5

Guitar/Bass Amplifiers/Keys/Synths

Ampeg B15R

Ampeg 8×10 Cab

Badcat Cub IIIR

Diezel Einstein 50

Marshall Silver Jubilee 2555x

Orange OR50

Orange 4×12 Cab (EV12L + G12H30)

Marshall 7400

Mesa Boogie Rectoverb

Mesa Boogie Rectifier Oversized 4×12 Cab

Fender Rhodes MK2 Stage

Moog Minimoog

Octave The Cat

Studio Electronics SE1-X

Challen Upright Piano

FX Pedals/DI’s/Signal Tools

Boss CE-2 Chorus

Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer

Boss HM-2

Ceriatone Klon Centaur

EQD Afterneath

EQD Arpanoid

EQD Disaster Transport Sr

EQD Transmisser

Ebow

Elextro-Harmonix Freeze

Electro-Harmonix Microsynth

Electro-Harmonix Superego

Electro-Harmonix The Worm

Hudson Broadcast 24v

Dunlop Crybaby Wah

Lovepedal 4 Knob Blackface Deluxe

Marshall Jackhammer

ProCo Rat

Sansamp Bass Driver DI

Zvex Fat Fuzz Factory

Zvex Super Hard-on

Zvex Wah Probe

BSS Audio Active DI (x2)

EMO Passive DI

Little Labs STD (x2)

Radial Reamp