Mayfair Studios

Mayfair Studios is a recording studio located in Primrose Hill, London, England. The studio was originally established in Mayfair, London in the 1960s thus giving the studio its name. Many notable artists and musicians such as Tina Turner, The Clash, Pink Floyd, Bee Gees, Nigel Kennedy and Kroke,^[1] and The Smiths have all recorded music at Mayfair.

Prior to 1975 the studio was called Spot Studios owned by Ryemuse Ltd and was located at 64 South Molton St, Mayfair above the chemist shop. John Hudson^[2] worked there as chief engineer joining the company from BBC TV where he was employed in Presentation broadcasting Live Sound for programmes such as Jimi Hendrix Color Me Pop and Match of the Day. Through the early 70’s John Hudson was the engineer on many, many hit records to come out of Mayfair Studios including “Vienna (Ultravox song)” by Ultravox,^[3] “Fade to Grey” by Visage featuring Steve Strange, “Shang-A-Lang” by Bay City Rollers produced by Phil Coulter. Full list of Mayfair's 30 years of hit records at John Hudson Mayfair.^[2]

In 1977 John Hudson and his wife Kate took over the management of the studio. They bought the old company in 1979. In 1980 they found a new site in Sharpleshall Street, Primrose Hill where they could relocate the studio as the property at 64 South Molton Street Mayfair was to be sold. The new studios were designed primarily by John Hudson with input from other studio designers such as Eddie Veale http://www.vealea.com/ and Ken Shearer acoustic consultant for the Royal Albert Hall. Jim Crockett of Crockett Associates calculated and planned the sound isolation for studio 1 and reception. Initially the new complex consisted of just two studios but this grew to 6 studios over the 30 years the business was to survive.

In the first week in its new location in April 1980 there were 5 records in the Music Week ^[4] charts that had been recorded by John Hudson at the old studios in Mayfair. That success carried over to the new studio complex at Primrose Hill and it was the beginning of a magical 30-year success story for the studios and all who recorded there. The business eventually expanded to become a 12,000 sq ft (1,100 m²) complex housing Mayfair’s famous Studio 1, Studio 2 and Studio 3, as well as 3 writing/production rooms. These rooms were occupied by writers, producers and artists such Matt Rowe Spice Girls, the writing/production team of Robbie Williams/Guy Chambers and Herbert Grönemeyer, a very successful German singer, actor and composer. A long list of hit records were recorded by a very impressive and extensive array of producers and artists over the years. There are far too many to list here but a complete list of hit records to come out of Mayfair can be viewed at John Hudson Mayfair http://www.mayfairstudios.com

The studios closed in December 2008. A book titled “What’s Mayfair got to do with It?”[3] has been written about the reasons behind the closure. Indicative of stories now rife worldwide regarding insurance companies not paying legitimate claims, lawyers and accountants not meeting responsibilities with the net result being chaos which subsequently brought about the closure of one of the planets most loved and respected recording studios^[5][6]

References

1. ^ Nigel Kennedy And Kroke Band, The - East Meets East (CD, Album) at Discogs
2. ^ ^{a b} [1]
3. ^ [2]
4. ^ "Music Week singles charts April 1980". Music Week. 16 April 2011. http://www.musicweek.com/. 
5. ^ prosoundneweurope.com
6. ^ recordproduction.com

External links

• Official website