SUPERTONE RECORDS – Vintage Recording Studio In The Hills
Tucked away on the outskirts of the small mountain village of Estivella, English musicians and studio owners Simon Campbell and Suzy Starlite manage a top-class recording studio SUPERTONE RECORDS.
ABOUT SIMON AND SUZY
Simon is a seasoned musician and has had a major record deal, playing with many British greats as a session musician. He was nominated for a British Blues Award in 2011 and is a world class guitar player and veteran songwriter. 
Suzy´s career has principally been as a folk musician with a lot of touring under her belt. She now dedicates her study to bass and plays together with Simon in the Starlite-Campbell Band.
With the traditional music industry in decline, music lovers are inundated with millions of bands competing for their attention and support; artists are making music in their bedroom and releasing it free.
“So why the @!·% have we opened an old school, residential, vintage recording facility in Valencia?” Simon asks (rhetorically), “We believe in making real music, that’s why…”.
When Simon and Suzy moved away from the Isle of Man, they had a purpose: to make and facilitate great music; it’s a dream to which many aspire, but few manage to achieve. After a year-long search for the right destination which included France and northern Spain, they finally came to investigate and then fell in love with Valencia.
Of course we are principally songwriters and needed a place to record. So naturally our first thought when we arrived was making our debut joint album, deciding to invest in a ‘minimal’ (famous last words) amount of recording equipment.
SUPERTONE RECORDS
“Being a session musician in the late 70’s really taught me how to record the ‘old school way’” says Simon, “and the more we saw of ‘new’ recording studios the more we knew that we needed to create our own; one with love, a great ‘vibe’, analog gear and setup to capture real music, as it happens…”
Their first location in Bétera just wasn’t the place they were looking for and following an extended search, they found their new home in Estivella which basically presented itself to them – “it was just meant to be – if you believe in that sort of thing.” Supertone Records is located in the wonderful mountain village of Estivella, just 25 minutes from the centre of Valencia and the airport.
“Our new home is perfect for what we do” says Suzy, “but really has too much space, which led us to the idea to open the studio commercially for parts of the year.”
The studio is residential and there is no doubt that all being together is fantastic for everyone’s karma and creativity!! To fill their studio with love and creativity also means filling it with a bunch of stuff: microphones, compressors and other old-school studio gear that is often quite hard to come by if you are trying to build a world class recording studio. Simon and Suzy have bought a lot of gear for sure, but the biggest and most troublesome purchase was the recording console, which prompted Simon to write a couple of detailed articles about the search.
BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME
“Studios are closing all over the world and many of our colleagues think we are very brave, or very stupid in 
going all out and investing everything we have in our facility.” says an enthusiastic Simon. “Suzy and I have a firm belief that there will be a rebound against disposable, plastic music created by plastic artists.”
“Producers and Engineers: Rather than actively buying up new and vintage equipment, more plug-ins, thinking those inanimate things will make better records, you should be asking the artists you record to submit better music, better lyrics and better performances. Don’t degrade your skill and talent by resigning yourself to polishing turds. Chasing the Top 10 is a fool’s game. Give feedback, give direction. This is your responsibility to music, to our culture, to the public whom you do not want to let down.”
Tony Visconti – November 2015.
Of course he’s right and perhaps the reason why the music buying public are not buying is that popular music itself has become disposable, like a quick, casual hook-up; instant gratification with no lasting meaning.
“We believe that capturing the energy of a well written song” says Suzy, “played live and with great musicians, will rekindle the terms ‘fans’, ‘loyalty’ and ‘longevity’ which are now so out of fashion.”
UPPING THEIR GAME
Of course recording together and getting it ‘cooking’ is easily said, but rock and pop musicians (Simon and Suzy admit they are included) have become lazy with all of today’s digital recording comforts.
“We need to change our attitudes in the studio and look to get it right on the first take. OK, there are tracks that need to be developed in the studio due to the complexity of range of instrumentation, but you get the idea.”
Recently working with classical and jazz musicians has really opened their eyes to how the standard of many others has dropped. “These guys” says Simon, “and I know we have had some of the best in the world here at the studio – just do it; no tooling around – and nail it. That´s how it´s meant to be done, and that´s how we´re doing it here at Supertone. ”
As a musician myself, dear reader, I can tell you that walking into Supertone studios is like a 5-year-old walking into a candy store the size of Carrefour. They have everything you could imagine, and a lot of things you´d never even knew existed. Recording can be a difficult and frustrating process….just trying to get the right sound can be the entire battle. At Supertone, all that is taken care of and you can concentrate on just playing.
Open for a little over twelve months, Supertone has been blessed with a whole range of fabulous artists and musicians with loads more already booked in for next year. The studio has seen names such as Chris Cheek, Jorge Rossy, Javier Vercher, Ground Pilots, David Soler, Steve Cardenas, Albert Sanz to come and grace the Supertone analog circuitry.
“No turds have needed to be polished” says Simon proudly “and no auto-tune or digital emulations required; easy, as we don’t own them…”
“We have recorded some very beautiful music at Supertone and judging by the fantastic testimonials we have received, everyone seems delighted. Starlite and I 
are eagerly anticipating the final mastered versions of this work which will be released in 2016.”
Like juggling soot, it is not easy and very stressful,” says Simon with a healthy touch of optimism. “The music business is totally on its arse right now and studio rates are 30% percent of what they were in 2005. But, there are an increasing number of artists that appreciate what we are doing and want a world class facility.”
Yes, Simon and Suzy at Supertone Records are swimming against the tide, but there is no doubt, the tide is changing…
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