History

Studio History

Our state of the art recording studio is situated in an architecturally stunning building, purposely built as a studio in 1993 by Jim Vallance, writing partner of Bryan Adams. The studio was acquired in 1995 by legendary music producer Bruce Fairbairn, who made the Armoury his home base. While Fairbairn passed on more than two decades ago, the studio remains a legacy to his work and continues to be run by his family.

As one of Canada’s few purpose-built high-end recording facilities, the importance of building a studio that was properly isolated and acoustically balanced was recognized from the beginning. The Armoury, which is outfitted with a single control room, a live room and four isolation booths, was built using state of the art sound engineering. It was the first studio in Vancouver to employ true room within room construction and advanced technical design. This has resulted in an extremely quiet, acoustically accurate facility.

Over the years, the studio has hosted great artists: AC/DC, Nickelback, the Cranberries, INXS, Seal and Chicago. More recently an eclectic range of artists, from Elvis Costello and Diana Krall to Drake and Bruno Mars have enjoyed the quality equipment and service that the Armoury has become known for.

Bruce Fairbairn Biography

Bruce Earl Fairbairn (December 30, 1949 - May 17, 1999) was a Canadian musician and international record producer from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He was active as a producer from 1976 to 1999 and is considered one of the best of his era. His most successful productions are Slippery When Wet and New Jersey by Bon Jovi, Permanent Vacation, Pump, and Get a Grip by Aerosmith, and The Razors Edge by AC/DC, all of which sold at least five million copies each. He was originally a trumpet player and then started a career as a record producer for Canadian rock band Prism. He won the Canadian music industry Producer of the Year Juno Award 3 times. He produced albums for many famous international artists such as Loverboy, Blue Öyster Cult, Bon Jovi, Poison, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Scorpions, Van Halen, Chicago, The Cranberries, INXS, KISS and Yes. His style was notable for introducing dynamic horn arrangements into rock music productions.