Advision Studios


Advision Studios was a recording studio in Fitzrovia, central London, England.

Origins

Founded in the 1960s by Guy Whetstone and Stephen Appleby, Advision originally provided voiceovers and jingles for television advertisements. The studio was initially located at 83 New Bond Street, but moved to 23 Gosfield Street in 1969. The studio complex was built to be able to house a 60-piece studio orchestra and had a 35mm film projector screen for synchronizing with motion picture images. Producer Martin Rushent began his career as a projectionist at Advision.

History

By the mid-1960s, Advision had become one of the top London studios for rock and pop music. The Yardbirds recorded their 1966 album Roger the Engineer at Advision on a 4-track machine. The Move recorded some of their early hits at Advision, engineered by Gerald Chevin, including Flowers in the Rain in July 1967. In early 1968, Advision became the first studio in the UK to obtain a professional 8-track machine, which was built in the United States by Scully Recording Instruments. Among the first artists to use the 8-track machine were T. Rex, The Who, and Caravan. In 1970, the studio used a custom 24-channel desk with an 8-track recorder. Advision was also among the first studios in the UK to install 16- and 24-track recorders in the early 1970s. The Natural Acoustic Band recorded "Learning to Live" there in 1971, produced by Milt Okun.
In 1971, a 20-channel Neve console was added to the mixdown suite. During the 1970s the studios' focus moved toward Progressive rock music, and the company began producing music for bands such as Yes, Gentle Giant, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Premiata Forneria Marconi, as well as Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds.
A 1974 re-fitting gave the studio a console built in California by Quad-Eight Electronics for quadrophonic mixing, and the UK's first computer-aided mixdown desk. Producers and engineers to have worked at Advision include Eddy Offord, Eddie Kramer, Martin Rushent, Paul Northfield, and Hugh Padgham.
The Gosfield Street location has been occupied since 1993 by a studio called The Sound Company.

Partial discography

The following is a partial list of work either recorded, mixed or mastered at Advision Studios between 1966 and 1986, taken from .
ArtistTitle
Alexis KornerJust Easy
David BowieThe Man Who Sold the World
BuzzcocksLove Bites
Cat StevensBack to Earth
David EssexRock On
Emerson, Lake & PalmerBrain Salad Surgery
Elton JohnCaribou
Gentle GiantThe Power and the Glory
Jeff WayneThe War of the Worlds
John MayallEmpty Rooms
John's ChildrenOrgasm
Kate BushThe Dreaming
Mott the HoopleThe Hoople
The MoveShazam
OsibisaOsibisa
Pet Shop BoysPlease
Public Image Ltd
QueenFlash Gordon
SladeWhatever Happened to Slade
Soft MachineFifth
T.RexMy People Were Fair
YardbirdsRoger the Engineer
YesYes, The Yes Album