Zip Tie Studio is a classical music production company built by two musicians. This is who we are, why we started, and what we believe about how this work should be done.
Where We Started
Zip Tie Studio was founded in 2023 by two musicians: myself, Campbell Parker, a conservatoire-trained violist, and Matthew Swan, who studied at the University of Edinburgh. We met through working together in the Scottish classical music world, both increasingly drawn to the production side of the industry, and both frustrated by the same thing. The gap between how good live classical performance sounded in the room and how it ended up sounding and looking once it had been recorded.
Classical music is often recorded by people who know equipment but not repertoire. Sessions run to a technical schedule rather than a musical one. Edits get made by someone who does not know where the phrase is going. The result can be clean and still completely flat.
We started Zip Tie Studio because we believed musicians should be on both sides of the glass.
What We Do
We record, film and produce classical music. Live concerts, albums, artist films, audition tapes and livestreams, for soloists, ensembles, labels and institutions across the UK and internationally.
The work spans from a single singer recording a competition submission to full album campaigns for international labels. What stays constant is the approach: audio and video handled together, by the same team, from the first conversation to final delivery.
"Every technical decision exists to serve the performance."
What We Believe
A few principles shape every project we take on.
The music comes first. Every technical decision, from microphone placement to colour grade, exists to serve the performance. If a choice makes the session easier for us but worse for the musicians, we do not make it.
Sessions should feel calm. The best takes almost always happen when artists forget the microphones are there. We arrive early, set up quietly, and try to keep the atmosphere closer to a good rehearsal than a red-light studio session. It sounds simple. It takes real discipline to protect.
The standard does not change with the budget. We give the same care to a student audition tape as we do to a label release. The projects are different sizes. The attention is the same.
And we finish what we start. Editing, mixing, mastering and delivery all happen in-house. You deal with the same people from the first email to the final file.
Where We Are Going
Since 2023 the studio has grown faster than either of us expected. We have recorded a world premiere song cycle, delivered international release campaigns for Pentatone and Linn Records, built ongoing relationships with Scottish Ensemble and Scottish Young Musicians, and had our work for Sean Shibe's album Vesper featured by Gramophone as their Video of the Day, with our photography appearing in the magazine's May 2026 issue.
The ambition from here is straightforward: keep making work at this standard, for artists and organisations who care about the details, wherever they happen to be. Scotland is home. The work travels.
If you are planning a recording, a film or a release and want to talk it through, we would be glad to hear from you. The first conversation costs nothing and usually saves a great deal.
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