| Founded | 1965 in London, England |
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| Founders |
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| Website | www |
Associated Independent Recording (AIR) is an independent recording company founded in London in 1965 by record producers George Martin, John Burgess, Ron Richards, and Peter Sullivan. [1] In 1970 the company established its own professional audio recording facilities, AIR Studios. [2]
In 1965, producers George Martin, Ron Richards, and John Burgess of Parlophone and Peter Sullivan of Decca founded the company in order to produce music independently and license the final masters to the record companies, creating the opportunity for producers to earn bonuses and royalty payments. [1] In 1970 AIR opened its first recording studio complex in London. [2]
AIR's first recording facility was meant to be suitable for both dubbing films and making records, so the company sought a central location with easy distance from the Claridge's and Connaught hotels to appeal to producers from around the world. Eventually a site in Oxford Circus on the fourth floor of 214 Oxford Street, atop the Peter Robinson department store was secured, and in 1969 the company began a year of construction costing £136,000. The studios were outfitted with £200,000 worth of equipment, opening with a high-profile launch party in October 1970. [3]
The Oxford Circus facility included two large studios (one 58×32 feet, the other 30×28 feet) and two small ones. The studios contained two Bösendorfer pianos, many soundproof booths, and a 56-channel mixing console, custom-designed by Neve Electronics to AIR's specification. [4]
AIR London became popular in the 1970s for spoken word recordings. [5] It also became one of the most in-demand music studios in London by 1973. [6]
In 1991, with the lease on the Oxford Street premises coming to an end, AIR Studios relocated to a building that was formerly the Lyndhurst Road Congregational Church, a Grade II listed building designed in 1880 by Victorian architect Alfred Waterhouse and located in the Hampstead suburb of north London. The space was revamped as a recording facility and opened for business in December 1992. The Lyndhurst Hall location features a hexagonal room large enough to record both a full orchestra and a chorus at the same time, making it a key London facility for film scores and classical recordings, as well popular music, television post-production, and dialogue, sound effects and music for video games. [7] Spitfire Audio has recorded many of its digital audio samples here. Employees include Olga Fitzroy. [8]
In 1975, AIR was sold to the Chrysalis Group, and Martin used the infusion of cash to build a residential studio on the island of Montserrat, a British colony in the Caribbean where the producer had a residence at Olveston House in Salem. [9] The studio was built near Martin's home, [10] situated on a hilltop overlooking the sea within a 26-acre farm and surrounded by mango, citrus, and coconut groves. After two years of construction, AIR Montserrat ( 16°44′28″N62°12′53″W / 16.74111°N 62.21472°W ) opened in July 1979, complete with several surrounding villas where clients could stay while working at the studio. The first band to record there was the Climax Blues Band who were recording their album Real to Reel. [3]
As of 1979 the studio consisted of a 46-channel Neve mixing console, a pair of MCI 24-track recorders, three Ampex ATR-102 2-track tape recorders and an MCI synchronizer (for any 46-track work), with JBL and Tannoy monitors. [11]
Jimmy Buffett recorded Volcano at the Montserrat studio in May 1979, naming the album and its title song for the then dormant Soufrière Hills volcano on the island. Elton John recorded three albums at the Montserrat studio in the 1980s. Dire Straits recorded their hugely successful Brothers in Arms album at the studio between 1984 and 1985. [12] Other well-known studio clients at AIR Montserrat included the Police ( Ghost in the Machine and Synchronicity ), Earth, Wind & Fire, [13] Ultravox, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (pre-recorded Junk Culture ), Paul McCartney, Gerry Rafferty, Rush, the Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Midge Ure, Little River Band, Duran Duran, Sheena Easton and Luther Vandross.
By 1986, the studio equipment list read, in part:
Recently refurbished control room now featuring 60 channels by SSL with automation and TR and 12 fully integrated channels by Rupert Neve of Focusrite, two 32-track Mitsubishi X850 digital machines and 24-track Studer A800. Digital mixing on two Mitsubishi X86. Very comprehensive ancillary equipment list.
In 1989, shortly after the Rolling Stones had recorded their Steel Wheels album there, Hurricane Hugo devastated the island. While the Montserrat studio facility sustained only minor damage, it was never reopened, mainly due to changes in the recording industry. According to George Martin, [14]
Before we came to Montserrat there was no western music to speak of on the island. Building AIR meant that many leading recording artists came to stay. It cast its spell on them as they mingled with the local people. It was, and still is, a unique place... But after ten great years of recording there the music business had changed fundamentally. The moguls running the business no longer wanted their artists miles away, outside their control. That happened to coincide with the immense devastation caused by the hurricane and sadly the studios had to close. The people of Montserrat are still very proud of the work that was done at AIR Studios.
The abandoned studio buildings were still standing as of 2021, but have been long neglected and have fallen into dereliction; their roofs are failing, leading to extensive damage to the floors of the accommodation area and the inner part of the studio complex, making them unsafe to walk on. The facility is now a modern ruin and is closed to the public. Olveston House operates as a guest house. [10] [15]
The 2021 Australian documentary film Under the Volcano interviews more than a dozen major artists and technicians who worked in the studio during the 1980s, and also includes archival narration and commentary by George Martin. [16]
Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler, David Knopfler, John Illsley and Pick Withers. They were active from 1977 to 1988 and again from 1990 to 1995.
Communiqué is the second studio album by British rock band Dire Straits, released on 5 June 1979 by Vertigo Records internationally, Warner Bros. Records in the United States and Mercury Records in Canada. The album featured the single "Lady Writer," which reached number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 51 on the UK Singles Chart. The album reached number one on album charts in Germany, Spain, New Zealand, and Sweden, number 11 in the United States and number 5 in the United Kingdom. Communiqué was later certified gold in the United States, platinum in the United Kingdom and double-platinum in France.
Brothers in Arms is the fifth studio album by the British rock band Dire Straits, released on 17 May 1985 through Vertigo Records internationally and Warner Bros. Records in the United States. It was the first album in history to sell over one million copies in CD format.
On Every Street is the sixth and final studio album by British rock band Dire Straits, released on 9 September 1991 by Vertigo Records internationally, and by Warner Bros. Records in the United States. The follow-up to the band's massively successful album Brothers in Arms, On Every Street reached the top of the UK Albums Chart and was also certified platinum by the RIAA.
Alchemy: Dire Straits Live is the first live album by the British rock band Dire Straits, released on 16 March 1984 by Vertigo Records internationally, and by Warner Bros. Records in the United States. Recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon in London on 22–23 July 1983, the double album features songs from the band's first four albums, the ExtendedancEPlay EP and Mark Knopfler's Local Hero soundtrack. Many of the songs have reworked arrangements and extended instrumental segments. The album cover is taken from a painting by Brett Whiteley.
Power Station at BerkleeNYC is a recording studio at 441 West 53rd Street in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It was originally founded in 1977 as Power Station and known as Avatar Studios from 1996 to 2017. Renowned for its exceptional acoustics, the studio has been the site of hundreds of gold, platinum, and Grammy Award-winning recordings.
The Hit Factory is a recording studio in New York City owned and operated by Troy Germano. Since 1969, The Hit Factory recording studios have existed in six different locations in New York City as well as facilities in London and Miami. Today the studios are located at 676 Broadway in the Noho neighborhood of New York City.
Cherokee Studios is a recording studio facility in Hollywood founded in 1972 by members of 1960s pop band The Robbs. Cherokee has been the location of many notable recordings by such artists as Steely Dan, David Bowie, Journey, Toto, Michael Jackson, Van Halen, Guns N' Roses, The Cars, Foreigner, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Hall and Oates, Devo, Queens of the Stone Age, X, Mötley Crüe, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Dokken, John Mellencamp, Melissa Etheridge, and The Replacements.
The Neve 8078 was the last of the "80 series" hand-wired analogue mixing consoles designed and manufactured by Neve Electronics, founded in 1961 by the English electronics engineer Rupert Neve, for high-end recording studios during the 1970s. Some were custom built for major studios like CBS Sony.
Basing Street Studios was a recording studio in a former 17th century chapel at 8–10 Basing Street, in Notting Hill, London, England. Originally established in 1969 as Island Studios by Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records, the studio's location also housed the offices for Island Records from 1969 until 1973, and was renamed Basing Street Studios in 1975. Island/Basing Street Studios produced many notable recordings in the 1970s from artists including Bob Marley and the Wailers, Led Zeppelin, Roxy Music, Jethro Tull, Traffic, and Dire Straits. In 1982, the studios were acquired by Sarm Studio owners Jill Sinclair and her husband, producer Trevor Horn in 1982, and renamed Sarm West.
Rockfield Studios is a residential recording studio located in the Wye Valley just outside the village of Rockfield, Monmouthshire, Wales. It was founded in 1963 by brothers Kingsley and Charles Ward.
Wessex Sound Studios was a recording studio located at 106a Highbury New Park, London, England. Many renowned popular music artists recorded there, including King Crimson, Queen, Sex Pistols, the Clash, Pete Townshend and the Pretenders. The property was sold to a residential development company in 2003.
Sarm Studios is an independent recording studio in London. Originally founded in east London in 1973, the studio's original location was renamed Sarm East Studios in 1982 when Jill Sinclair and Trevor Horn purchased Basing Street Studios from Island Records and renamed it Sarm West Studios. Sarm Studios original locations were eventually succeeded by the Sarm Music Village complex.
Music for Montserrat was a benefit concert held on 15 September 1997 at the Royal Albert Hall. The event was organised by Sir George Martin, former producer for The Beatles and founder of Associated Independent Recording, to raise funds for the Caribbean island of Montserrat after a major volcanic eruption by the Soufrière Hills volcano earlier that year.
British Grove Studios is a recording studio located at 20 British Grove in Chiswick, West London, and owned by musician Mark Knopfler.
Paul Moak is an American producer, engineer, mixer, and multi-instrumentalist currently residing in Nashville, Tennessee.
Quad Studios Nashville was a four-studio recording facility established as Quadrafonic Sound Studio in 1971 on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee, US. The studio was the location of numerous notable recording sessions, including Neil Young's Harvest, Jimmy Buffett's "Margaritaville", Joan Baez' "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", and Dobie Gray's "Drift Away". The studio's location has been the home of Sienna Recording Studios since 2014.
Neil Dorfsman is an American sound engineer and record producer, best known for his work with Dire Straits, Bruce Hornsby, Mark Knopfler, Paul McCartney and Sting. He won Grammy Awards for Best Producer for Bruce Hornsby's Scenes from the Southside (1988) and Sting's ...Nothing Like the Sun (1987), a Grammy Award for Best Engineer for Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms (1985), as well as a nomination for Best Engineer for Dire Straits's Love Over Gold (1982). Further, he recorded two tracks on Sting's Brand New Day (1999), which won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Album. He mixed the East Village Opera Company's Olde School, which received a Grammy Nomination for Best Classical Crossover Album in 2009. In 1988 and 1998, Dorfsman won a TEC Award for Engineer of the Year.
Salem is the most populous town in Montserrat, a British overseas territory in the West Indies, situated on the western coast of the island, in St Peter Parish.
Under the Volcano is a 2021 music documentary film by Australian filmmaker Gracie Otto. Centered on a 1980s recording studio on the Caribbean island of Montserrat, the film features renowned 1970s–80s musicians such as Sting, Nick Rhodes, Jimmy Buffett in his final film, Verdine White, Tony Iommi and Stewart Copeland.
