DESCRIBING themselves as The Complete Music Solution", Pig Hut Studios has become a popular recording space for musicians in the York area.

But with the arrival of a band from the United Arab Emirates, who have travelled to Acaster Malbis to record at Pig Hut's facilities, the studio can now boast an international clientele.

Asking Alexandria, the Dubai-based band, are currently recording their debut album called The Irony Of Your Perfection.

The band formed in 2003 and is about to start a tour of North America, and have been offered a spot at the Leeds and Reading Carling Festivals in 2007. The owners of Pig Hut are hoping to gain publicity and attract more clients from around the world with an international band using their facilities.

The Pig Hut Studios control room offers 24 tracks of digital audio and a variety of both digital and analogue processing.

This means producers at the studio can retain the clarity of digital recordings and the warmth of analogue recordings.

With onboard and outboard effects units, the PC workstation is equipped to run the latest multitrack and audio editing software.

Majid Al-Qassimi, the Asking Alexandria's drummer, said: "When we were told what facilities were available, we decided it was in our best interest to use the studio.

"The studio allows us to be where we want to be in terms of sound, as opposed to the facilities we would have used at home.

"We are having a good time in York and living like a little happy family."

Alex Browne, the founding owner of the studio, scooped the Young Entrepreneur Of The Year title in The Press Business Awards in 2003.

The business was sold to a consortium of three musicians last year and the new owners claim the studio has since "gone from strength to strength".

Ian Hebdon, one of the directors of the studio, said: "This is an example of all our hard work over the year and a half we have owned the business paying off."

Chart-topping rockers The Beautiful South used the studio's facilities to record several songs, and previous artists that have used the studio include former Fame Academy singer/songwriter Alistair Griffin, and Electric Eel Shock, who recently recorded material for a DVD at the studio.

The Asking Alexandria debut album UK release will be licensed to Hangman's Joke Recordings, a record label also based in York.