A musician and studio engineer from Beccles has opened a new recording studio which he hopes will attract some top names to the region.

Will Vaughan has spent the last six months transforming an old milking barn at Henstead Arts and Crafts Centre into a state-of-the-art recording facility called Toad Row Studios.

And the future looks bright for the fledgling business as Mr Vaughan says he already has about 30 bands waiting to use the facility which has only just opened its doors.

The studio mixes vintage analogue equipment with modern digital technology and facilities include a treated mixing room, ambient live room with high ceiling, isolated recording booth, kitchen and television area, toilets and free parking.

As well as national acts, the studio will be available to hire out by local bands and artists at specially reduced rates.

Mr Vaughan, 21, said: 'I used to play in a band called Plan Nine. We played in London a lot and I started working in studios in London and it has just grown and grown.

'I have always been in the music business, but I have transferred over gradually to recording. I started with a small room and it got bigger and bigger with more equipment and I started getting jobs on the side to fund it all and now I have got a commercial recording studio.

'There are studios around here but what I want to offer is somewhere that people can come and relax and write as opposed to somewhere to lay down a recording and just go.'

Mr Vaughan said the studios are full of instruments which people can use.

'There are about 20 to 30 bands waiting at the moment, so it is all looking good,' he said.

He hopes to attract bands from across East Anglia and further afield, including some big names.

Mr Vaughan is in a duo called Crystal Bats, which he described as 'fairly experimental,' and hopes to record a first album at the studio soon.

He added: 'Our resources make Toad Row Studios the ideal place for voiceover work, and we can comfortably record anything from rock bands to string quartets, singer songwriters to choirs.

'In addition to in-house production we also offer our services for recording and engineering on location, whether for a live show, an orchestral concert, a choir performance or simply a rehearsal.'

To find out more or book visit www.toadrowstudios.co.uk