Shortly after the release of their Château Piano library, Spitfire Audio returned to the Château d'Hérouville with three renowned pianists — Camden Stewart, Adrian Valia and Tina Hizon — capturing a selection of performances and holding a round-table discussion comparing the studio's legendary Steinway Model B with its new virtual counterpart. They kindly invited SOS to come along and check out the iconic facility — which is currently undergoing extensive restoration work — and talk to Jean Taxis, one of the studio’s new owners, and Spitfire Audio’s Paul Thomson about the Château's rebuild and the recent sample library collaboration.
Château d'Hérouville
Situated just north of Paris, the Château d'Hérouville was once home to one of the world’s most famous residential recording facilities, Strawberry Studios. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, the studio played host to some of the world’s biggest acts, with the likes of Elton John, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, Cat Stevens, Jethro Tull and many more all choosing to record albums at the Château. In fact, it’s alleged that Queen enquired about booking in, only to be turned down due to the studio being too busy!
New Ownership
After Strawberry Studios closed its doors in 1985, the Château stood unused for 35 years before coming to the attention of Jean Taxis, an engineer and producer who was looking to relocate after redevelopment work in his hometown left his existing studio with some noise issues. “We knew that the Château d'Hérouville was for sale so we visited out of curiosity, saw the condition and said ‘oh wow, what a nightmare!’” Jean recalls.
Concerned as to whether the significant effort to restore the building to its former glory would be worthwhile, he decided to gather opinions from those who’d worked there. “I’ve met a lot of people who’d recorded there, and asked them what they thought about the studio as I’d thought perhaps it was just a fashionable place to be”, he continues. It seems the assumption was wrong, though, with all of the engineers in question praising the Château, and one even ranking it alongside the likes of Abbey Road, Capitol and Ocean Way.
The studio has been under the new ownership since 2015, and was very quietly re-opened and made available for public use in 2020 whilst the restoration work continued. “We knew that the studio part was not too complicated because I had a studio before, but we’ve struggled a lot with the building itself. There are some holes in the roof, one building is very damaged, there was no heating, no electricity, water on the ground from leaks we couldn’t find,” Jean explains, “So we didn’t communicate anything at all at the beginning. We didn’t want to say ‘we bought the Château, we’re the best!’ and then have people laugh when nothing had happened in two years time!” Instead, the team decided to restore the main live room and a single control room — there will eventually be three live spaces and three control rooms all linked together with tie lines — and then take on a handful of recording projects while continuing to carry out the work on the rest of the building.
Amazingly, the live room still houses the very same 1901 Steinway B grand piano that graced the iconic records created at the Château. It’s been painstakingly restored by master tuner Bastien Herbin, who took great care to repair the original parts rather than replacing them in order to preserve the instrument’s original sound and character. And of course, as of August 2025, that sound has been available in virtual form thanks to British sampling experts Spitfire Audio.
Enter Spitfire
The Château Piano project came about in an unusual way when Spitfire were contacted by the Musical Director of a new show that Elton John was composing the music for. Tasked with reproducing the sound that featured on the artist’s early hits, the team began to research what had become of the original piano when Strawberry Studios closed down, and that research led to the discovery of the studio’s new ownership.
“We realised that the team here were not only renovating the studio to a very high standard, but they’d brought the piano back into service as well,” says Paul Thomson. Intrigued by the opportunity of capturing such an iconic instrument, the Spitfire team decided to visit the studio, and were immediately taken in by the sound of both the piano and the room. “Every so often you get a room where everything just sounds incredible, and this is that kind of room,” Paul continues, “And it’s the same with instruments — you have some that are incredibly old and just seem to live forever.”
Spitfire are renowned for their attention to detail, and the Château Piano library is no exception. Although the instrument itself and the recording space play the most obvious parts in contributing to the sound heard on so many classic albums, the gear and techniques involved have a significant impact, too. “When we’re recording at Abbey Road, we still use the original equipment and signal paths in addition to the modern equivalents, so you’ve got the option of going back to the Beatles’ string sound,” Paul explains, “and it’s the same here: we recorded it onto tape and put the mics in the same places — with the research that the guys at the studio had done, we were able to know how it was all set up originally.”
Check out the video below to hear what the artists have to say about the studio, the piano and the resulting sample library.
SOS Review
We put Château Piano through its paces in the November 2025 issue, you can check out our full review here.
About The Artists
Camden Stewart
Camden Stewart is a British composer, pianist and operatic tenor with Ghanaian and Jamaican roots. Trained at Guildhall, he blends classical piano and soaring voice into something modern and emotionally rich.
- Instagram: @camdenstewarts
- TikTok: @camdenstewarts
- YouTube: @camdenstewarts
- Website: camdenstewart.com
Adrian Valia
Adrian Valia is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist, composer, jazz theorist and instructor best known for his hit 'Music Visually Explained' series on TikTok, and is the author of ‘Music Theory Made Simple’.
- Instagram: @adrian.valia
- TikTok: @adrianvalia
- YouTube: @adrianvalia
- Website: adrianvalia.onuniverse.com
Tina Hizon
Tina Hizon is a producer, songwriter, vocalist and session musician who has worked with artists including Dua Lipa, Zayn, Pet Shop Boys, Roger Taylor and Ed Sheeran. She is currently on tour with Maisie Peters and Sophie Ellis-Bextor.
- YouTube: @TNAkeys
- Instagram: @tnakeys
- Spotify:https://tinyurl.com/mrpnff2p
