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 synchronising 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 four-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 one of the first studios in the United Kingdom to obtain an eight-track machine, a Scully imported from the United States. Among the first artists to use the eight-track machine were T. Rex, the Who and Caravan. In 1970, the studio had a custom 24-channel desk, still recording to eight-track tape. Advision was also among the first studios in the UK to install 16- and 24-track machines in the early 1970s.
In 1971, a 20-channel Neve console was added to the mixdown suite. During the 1970s the studios' focus moved towards 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 quadraphonic mixing, and the UK's first computer-aided mixdown desk. Producers and engineers who 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 & PalmerTarkus, Trilogy, Brain 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 LtdPublic Image: First Issue
QueenFlash Gordon
RushA Farewell to Kings
SladeWhatever Happened to Slade
Soft MachineFifth
T.RexMy People Were Fair
Wham!Last Christmas
YardbirdsRoger the Engineer
YesYes, Time and a Word, The Yes Album, Fragile,''Close to the Edge
Rory GallagherRory Gallagher
Gerry RaffertyCity to City
Jimmy SomervilleRead My Lips''