Olympic Studios was a renowned independent commercial recording studio located at 117 Church Road, Barnes, London SW postcode area England The studio is best known for the huge number of famous rock music and popular music recordings made there from the late 1960s onward. The building which housed the studio was constructed in 1906 as a theatre for the Barnes Repertory Company. Guild TV purchased it in the late 1950s and converted it into a film studio. In 1965 it was purchased by Olympic Sound Studios. The conversion from film to recording studio was undertaken by architect Robertson Grant and the acoustics were completed by Keith Grant and Russel Pettinger.lt;/ref> The Olympic mixing desks were a creation of the maintenance staff and were custom built for the studios. They became known as Olympicdeskslt;/ref> and were developed by Dick Swettenham Keith Grantand later, Jim McBridein conjunction with Jim Dowler Swettenham later started to manufacture the consoles commercially as Helios desks. The first desk of this type was commissioned by Grant as Helios onefor Studio two Olympic desks and their Helios offspring are highly regarded for their sonic qualities today.lt;/ref> Amongst other accolades, the studios won Music Week Magazine Best Recording Studio five times. However, after forty years of renowned recording history and a succession of owners, the studio facilities were closed down by the merged EMI and Virgin Group in 2009. The studio has since been sold and newspaper reports suggest that the building may be converted into a Cinema.

History

The original Olympic Sound Studioswas established in central London in the late 1950s and was owned by Angus McKenziewho had bought Larry LyonsOlympia Studio in Fulham McKenzie then took a lease on a derelict synagogue in Londons West End of London In conjunction with Richard Swettenham McKenzie opened Olympics Studio Onewith the tube desk from Olympia. Keith Grantjoined the company in 1958 from IBC Studios as music engineer. Swettenham designed the first professional transistor sed desk in the world, which was installed into Studio Oneduring 1960, along with the first Multitrack recording recorder in England. Studio Onewas used by many influential British people groups including, The Yardbirds The Jimi Hendrix Experience Alexis Korner and Graham Bond The Rolling Stones lt;ref name"Olympic Studios, Scenta">lt;/ref> recorded their first single "Come On" at Olympic a number of Dusty Springfield hits and The Troggs successful single "Wild Thing (Chip Taylor song) , were also the result of recording sessions at Olympic during the forty year history of this studio. Olympicwas a popular studio with Decca Records EMI Pye Records and Philips recording A&R staff, as well as hosting London Weekend Television s music recordings.lt;/ref> When the lease expired in 1965, the studio was bought from McKenzie by Cliff Adams and Keith Grantand they moved it to Barnes, London a year later. The Rolling Stones were among the first clients of the new Olympic Studios in Barnes, recording six consecutive albums between 1966 and 1972. The Beatles worked at the studio to record the original tracks of "All You Need Is Love and "Baby, You're a Rich Man . The Who recorded their classic albums [[Whos Next]] and [[Who Are You]] It was used extensively by Led Zeppelin who recorded tracks there for all of their studio albums up to and including [[Physical Graffiti]]in 1975. In the same year Queen (band) used the studio for their ground breaking album [[A Night at the Opera (Queen album)|A Night at the Opera]] The studio saw the production of many other landmark albums and singles by artists such as The Small Faces The Jimi Hendrix Experience Traffic (band) Hawkwind and Procol Harum s "A Whiter Shade of Pale . During the 1970s Grant commissioned his father Robertson Grantto re-design Studio Two as the now working and successful studio was causing problems with sound transmission to Studio One, who might be recording music by Elgar whilst Studio Twowas running sessions with The Rolling Stones Robertson Grant successfully innovated a completely floating space weighing seventeen tonnes, which was supported by rubber pads. The original album version of the rock musical [[Jesus Christ Superstar]](1970), many film scores and orchestral works were recorded during this period. The studio also produced film music for [[The Italian Job]](1969), the movie version of [[Jesus Christ Superstar (film)|Jesus Christ Superstar]](1973) and [[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]]was recorded in Studio twoin 1975. At this time Mick Jagger became involved with the charge of decor and furnishing and produced a contemporary design. Later, Grant added probably the first Instant acoustic changeusing rough sawn wooden slats, to cover or reveal absorptive panel behind, thus changing the acoustics. This made the room suitable for the recording of both rock and orchestral music, at the pull of a cord. In 1987, Virgin Music bought the studios. After consulting with Sam Toyoshima a Japanese studio builder, the property was refitted to a different practical and acoustic specification. Barbara Jefferies then Studio manager for Virgin Music at Olympic Studioslt;/ref> instructed that the master tapes of the studios vast, historic library of recording sessions be discarded.lt;/ref> The disposal of these tapes was unsecured as they were put into skips outside the building and left for days and were pillaged by hordes of freeloaders and some of these are thought to have been sold for large sums of money as bootlegs In December 2008, rumours began to circulate that the studios would be closed and the Virgin Music EMI]] group announced that the Studios would be closed.lt;/ref>lt;/ref> In February 2009, the Olympic Studioswebsite stated that the studios were closed for businesslt;/ref> and later the site only displayed allied services.lt;/ref>

Associations

Olympicbecame well recognised for the quality of the recordings which were produced in the studios. It was also a training ground for many successful producers, technicians and engineers, such as: *Gus Dudgeon who started as a tea boy and became producer for Elton John lt;ref name"Olympic by Nick Coleman" /> *Glyn Johns and his brother Andy Johns best known for their association with The Rolling Stones lt;ref name"Olympic by Nick Coleman" /> *Jimmy Miller producer of albums and singles by Family (band) Traffic (band) and The Rolling Stones *Roger Savage who recorded the first Rolling Stones hit "Come On", before moving to Australia, where he became a highly successful engineer, before moving into post production sound recording with his own three studios, Sound Firm,in Melbourne, Sidney, and Bejiing . *Toby Alington who now has award winning Richmond Studios as his organisation *Chris Kimsey best known for his work with The Rolling Stones as producer. *Gerry ORiordan, best known for his recording and editing skills. *David Hamilton-Smith, best known for his association with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice *George Chkiantz who is usually credited with inventing the technique of tape flanging first used on The Small Faces "Itchycoo Park *Eddie Kramer Olympic staff engineer who recorded Jimi Hendrix and is still involved with the post production of his work. *Terry and Phil Brown *Paul PDub Walton best known for work with Bjork and Madonna. *Richard Swettenham, best known for the Olympic Console design. *Roger Mayer (engineer) best known for his guitar pedals. *Doug Bennett, best known for his work with the Stranglers *Phil Chapman *Laurence Burrage *Alan ODuffy, best known for his work with the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton & Rod Stewart.

Artist roster 1966-2009

* The Beatles * Eric Clapton * Corinne Bailey Rae * Blind Faith * Dusty Springfield * Donovan * The Easybeats * Fairport Convention * Graham Bond Organisation * The Jimi Hendrix Experience * Procol Harum * Ella Fitzgerald * The Rolling Stones * Small Faces * Barbra Streisand * Traffic (band) * Scott Walker (singer) * Cream (band) * The Move * Spooky Tooth * Tony Bennett * Matt Monro * George Martin * The Troggs * The Yardbirds * The Zombies * Perry Como * Joan Armatrading * Barclay James Harvest * Bryan Ferry * Boxer (band) * David Bowie * Buckacre * The Buzzcocks * Pink Floyd * Deep Purple * Eagles (band) * Fairport Convention * Andy Fairweather-Low * Hawkwind * Humble Pie (band) * The Jam * Jesse Davis * King Crimson * Led Zeppelin * Mott the Hoople * The Pretty Things * Queen (band) * Squeeze (band) * The Stranglers * Thin Lizzy * The Tourists * The Who * Barbra Streisand * Elmer Bernstein * Tony Bennett * Sammy Davis Jr * The Cure * Bryan Adams * Chris De Burgh * Climie Fisher * Diesel Park West * Duran Duran * Fine Young Cannibals * Boy George * Level 42 * Nellee Hooper * Living in a Box * Paul McCartney * Kirsty MacColl * Chris Rea * Roxy Music * Spandau Ballet * Stiff Little Fingers * David Sylvian * Tears for Fears * Bobby Tench * The Cult * The The * T'Pau (band) * Transvision Vamp * Roger Waters * Paul Young * 808 State * Bad Company * Björk * Cast (band) * The Cranberries * Depeche Mode * Des'ree * The Electric Blues Company * Sophie Ellis-Bextor * James (band) * Jesus Jones * INXS * Alison Limerick * Morrissey * Michael Nyman * Oasis (band) * Beth Orton * Pet Shop Boys * Alan Price * Prince (musician) * Simple Minds * Suede (band) * Steve Adey * Terence Trent D'Arby * The Verve * Zucchero * Michael Nyman * Shed Seven * The Spice Girls * The Verve * The Rivitive * Gwen Stefani * Madonna (entertainer) * Badly Drawn Boy * Melanie C * Kaiser Chiefs * Arctic Monkeys * Placebo (band) * Kasabian * The Zutons * Goldfrapp * Björk * Jack Bruce * Babyshambles * The Pigeon Detectives * Delta Goodrem * The Courteeners * Connie Talbot * Keane (band) * McFly * Ignition (band) * The Hives * Josiah Leming (singer) * The Killers * The Operators * The Used * U2 * Asobi Seksu

Notes

External links

Complete articles * * * * * *http://www.olympiccinema.co.uk/ New Cinema publicity website] Category:Recording studios in the United Kingdom da:Olympic Studios fr:Studios Olympic hu:Olympic Studios ja:オリンピック・スタジオ