thumb|right|An exterior view of the Olympic Studios on [[Church Road, Barnes|Church Road, Barnes, London, taken in 2008.]]

Olympic Studios was a British independent recording studio based on Church Road, Barnes, London. It is best known for its recordings of many artists throughout the late 1960s to the first decade of the 21st century, including Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Marc Bolan, Led Zeppelin, Ella Fitzgerald, Queen, Ray Charles, the Who, B. B. King, Traffic, Prince, the Eagles, Eric Clapton, Family, Adele, Björk and MIKA. It is often regarded as being as significant as Abbey Road Studios, and remains an important cultural landmark. The studio's sound mixing desks became famous when the technology and design they pioneered was manufactured commercially.

Although much of Olympic has returned to its original purpose as a cinema, it also still maintains a small recording facility, designed with the help of original members of the studio's staff, who are now also involved in the construction of a much larger studio, performance and teaching space, to run alongside Olympic's cinema at the iconic location.

First locations

The first home of Olympic Sound Studios was in Central London in the late 1950s. It was owned by Angus McKenzie, who had purchased Larry Lyons's Olympia Studio in Fulham. McKenzie then took on a lease for a derelict synagogue situated at Carlton Street, in London's West End.

In conjunction with Richard "Dick" Swettenham, McKenzie opened Olympic's Studio One, with a valve-based recording console from the Olympia Studio. The Rolling Stones recorded their first single "Come On" at the studio, and Dusty Springfield hits and the Troggs' single "Wild Thing" were also recorded at Olympic during the 1960s. Olympic was a preferred recording studio with A&R staff who worked for record companies including Decca, EMI, Pye and Philips. The studios also hosted London Weekend Television music recordings.

Relocation to Barnes

In 1966, after the lease on the Carlton Street premises was not renewed, McKenzie sold his share of the business to Cliff Adams and John Shakespeare, who moved the studios to Barnes, under the guidance of Keith Grant. Grant oversaw the development of the new studios, bringing in his father, Robertson Grant, as an architect. Between the 1930s and the post-Second World War era, it was once more a cinema. In the 1950s, the building became television production studios. Actors who played there included John Gielgud and Claude Rains.

Barnes studios recording history

As Grant added to and completed the studio, engineer Eddie Kramer recounted that in 1967 "Olympic Studios was at the cutting edge of technology. We were very innovative and of course we had [I think] the best console in England and possibly the world at the time". "We were ahead in terms of design."

The Rolling Stones were among the first clients of the new Olympic Studios in Barnes, consecutively recording six of their albums there between 1966 and 1973,

With both bands regularly sharing the studio in the summer of 1967, Lennon and McCartney joined the Rolling Stones recording of "We Love You".

Having moved to the UK in the mid-1960s, Jimi Hendrix also spent a significant proportion of his entire recording career at Olympic, recording large parts of his albums Are You Experienced (1967), Axis: Bold as Love (1967), and Electric Ladyland (1968) at the studio.

For his seminal recording of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower", Hendrix was joined by two other musicians regularly to be found at Olympic; Dave Mason of Traffic and Brian Jones, the original founder of the Rolling Stones. Hendrix returned to Olympic for sessions in 1969, and, having recently returned from the U.S., for the last time in the first few months of 1970.

In mid-1969, the Beatles were back again at Olympic, this time recording the first parts of "Something" and "You Never Give Me Your Money", as well as ideas for their planned Get Back album. With the band entering their final year and amid periodic disagreements, McCartney on occasion stayed behind on his own to record with other musicians to be found at the studio.

By now, Olympic had also already started being extensively used by Led Zeppelin, who recorded at the studio for all their 1969 debut Led Zeppelin, through to all their studio albums inclusive of Physical Graffiti in 1975, and extending to their single, "Kashmir", of the same year.

In 1969, Ella Fitzgerald arrived to record at the studio, and in 1971 B. B. King arrived to record his In London LP with some of the rock musicians regularly to be found at Olympic.

The Who came to Olympic for their albums Who's Next (1971), Quadrophenia (1973), and Who Are You (1978). Queen recorded part of their landmark album A Night at the Opera (1975), shortly after David Bowie had completed his album Diamond Dogs. Olympic also saw the production of numerous other landmark albums and singles, by the Small Faces, Traffic, Hawkwind, Deep Purple, Soft Machine, Blind Faith, the Seekers and the Moody Blues. Procol Harum recorded all tracks for their eponymous first album Procol Harum (1967) at Olympic, including the single "A Whiter Shade of Pale".

Virgin Music era

For many years, copyright problems with the use of the word "Olympic" prevented the history of the studio from being more widely promoted, which became an important factor in its arch-rival Abbey Road Studios attracting greater recognition, due to promotion by EMI.

In 1987, Virgin Music bought the studios and the property was refitted to a different practical and acoustic specification, further to consulting with Sam Toyoshima, a Japanese studio builder, who declared the studio "unfit to record music in". instructed that the master tapes of the studio's vast library of recording sessions be discarded. The disposal of these tapes was unsecured. They were put into skips outside the building, remaining there for days. Some were recovered by people unassociated with the studio, and ended up as highly sought-after bootlegs. The revamped studio continued to attract many leading artists during the period of the 1990s and 2000s, such as Adele and Björk.

In December 2008, the Virgin EMI group announced that the longstanding studio facilities would be closed, which occurred the following February. After four years of closure, Olympic Studios re-opened on 14 October 2013 as a cinema with two screens, a café with dining room and a recording studio. The conversion of part of the original building to a small recording studio was undertaken by architect Robertson Grant and the acoustics completed by original studio designer Keith Grant and Russel Pettinger. The new studio facility operates alongside the building's historical role as a cinema using Flare Audio cinema sound.

Associations

Olympic Studios is known for the quality of the recordings produced in its studios, and as a training ground for many successful producers, technicians and engineers, such as:

  • George Chkiantz, who is credited with inventing the technique of phasing, on the Small Faces' song "Itchycoo Park".
  • Glyn Johns and his brother Andy Johns, best known for their association with the Rolling Stones.
  • Eddie Kramer, Olympic staff engineer who recorded Jimi Hendrix, and is still involved with the post-production of his work.
  • Chris Kimsey, best known for his work with the Rolling Stones as producer, and now back at Olympic Studios.
  • Jimmy Miller, producer of albums and singles by Family, Traffic, Blind Faith and the Rolling Stones.
  • Dick Swettenham, best known for his Olympic console design.
  • Roger Mayer, best known for his guitar pedals.
  • David Treahearn, Assistant Engineer, now Songwriter, Mixer & Producer with DNR and half of electro duo the Slips.
  • Denis O'Regan David Bowie's most prolific photographer, whose first offstage images of the superstar were taken as a teenager outside Olympic Studios during the recording of Diamond Dogs
  • Toby Alington, who now has Richmond Studios Productions as his organisation.
  • Gerry O'Riordan, best known for his recording and editing skills.
  • David Hamilton-Smith, best known for his association with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.
  • Terry and Phill Brown, producers of the Who's song "Substitute", and Bob Marley's song "I Shot the Sheriff".
  • Paul PDub Walton, best known for work with Björk.
  • Doug Bennett, best known for his work with the Stranglers.
  • Phil Chapman, film and theatre audio producer.
  • Laurence Burrage, producer for XTC.
  • Alan O'Duffy, best known for his work with the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton and Rod Stewart.

Artists at Olympic Studios, 1966–2009

  • 808 State
  • Roger Alborough
  • Babyshambles
  • Corinne Bailey Rae
  • Shirley Bassey
  • The Beatles
  • Tony Bennett
  • Elmer Bernstein
  • Björk
  • David Bowie
  • The Buzzcocks
  • David Byrne
  • John Cale
  • Lee Towers
  • Nick Cave
  • Ray Charles
  • Eric Clapton
  • Joe Cocker
  • Elvis Costello
  • The Cult
  • The Cure
  • Sammy Davis Jr.
  • Deep Purple
  • Depeche Mode
  • Donovan
  • Dr. Feelgood
  • Duran Duran
  • The Eagles
  • The Electric Blues Company
  • Sophie Ellis-Bextor
  • Eric Flynn
  • Fairport Convention
  • Marianne Faithfull
  • Family
  • Bryan Ferry
  • Ella Fitzgerald
  • Focus
  • Peter Frampton
  • Robert Fripp
  • Funkadelic
  • Peter Gabriel
  • Goldfrapp
  • Delta Goodrem
  • Johnny Hallyday
  • Hawkwind
  • The Jimi Hendrix Experience
  • The Hives
  • Hole
  • Edmund Hockridge
  • Humble Pie
  • INXS
  • The Jam
  • Jethro Tull
  • Quincy Jones
  • Judas Priest
  • Kaiser Chiefs
  • Berwick Kaler
  • The KLF
  • Alexis Korner
  • King Crimson
  • Kissing the Pink (KTP)
  • Jason Kouchak
  • Led Zeppelin
  • Love
  • Kirsty Maccoll
  • George Martin
  • Massive Attack
  • Paul McCartney
  • MIKA
  • Steve Miller Band
  • The Mission
  • The Moody Blues
  • Van Morrison
  • Morrissey
  • Mott the Hoople
  • The Move
  • Motörhead
  • Michael Nyman
  • The O Band
  • Oasis
  • Andy Panayi
  • Pink Floyd <!-- Recorded the soundtrack to their film "La Carerra Panamericana" in 1991. -->
  • Placebo
  • Robert Plant
  • Iggy Pop
  • Billy Preston
  • The Pretenders
  • The Pretty Things
  • Alan Price
  • Primal Scream
  • Prince
  • Procol Harum
  • The Rolling Stones
  • The Seekers
  • Sham 69
  • Showaddywaddy
  • Slade
  • Small Faces
  • Spandau Ballet
  • Spice Girls
  • Soft Machine
  • Squeeze
  • Cat Stevens
  • Stiff Little Fingers
  • The Stranglers
  • Barbra Streisand
  • Suede
  • Supertramp
  • Bill Tarmey
  • Ten Years After
  • Thin Lizzy
  • Traffic
  • Pete Townshend
  • The Used
  • U2
  • The Verve
  • Scott Walker
  • Paul Weller
  • The Who
  • Roger Waters
  • Stevie Wonder
  • Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club
  • The Yardbirds
  • The Zombies
  • Matt Zimmerman
  • The Zutons

References

  • – official site

Complete articles

  • Recording
  • Obituary for the 'AWSoP' engineer, Keith Grant