Real World Studios
UK recording studio, founded by Peter Gabriel
Real World Studios is a residential recording studio complex founded by Peter Gabriel and situated in the old Box Mill building in the village of Box, Wiltshire, England, near to the city of Bath. It is closely associated with the Real World Records record label, Real World Publishing, and the WOMAD Festival, whose offices are also based at the complex.
History
In 1986, following the success of his album So, Peter Gabriel decided to pursue a permanent recording facility. Knowing that he wanted to remain in the same area as the Ashcombe House that he had been renting, and that he wanted the new location to be close to running water, Gabriel looked at several sites, mostly old mills, near Bath. A 13-acre site in the village of Box featured the By Brook and several existing buildings, including Box Mill, a 200-year-old water mill that had been converted to offices in the 1950s. Gabriel purchased the site and its buildings from Spafax in 1987.
Gabriel's vision for the new studio was a unified space where everyone could work together, where musicians aren't separated from the engineer or producer. Additionally, he wanted these creative spaces to have elements of light, air, and water. Working with architectural design firm FCBStudios, the existing buildings were converted and a new building ('The Big Room') was added. The new complex provided both recording studio facilities and residential accommodations.
“Real World Studios” enters the record as uK recording studio, founded by Peter Gabriel. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Real, World and Studios can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q387707. Authority coordinates are 51.419, -2.252. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1986 and 1987.
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This entry incorporates text from “Real World Studios” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.