Berwick Street Studios
Play Studios
8 Berwick Street London
Berwick Street, Soho, during the 60s and 70s, wasn't just any ordinary locale; it was a pulsating epicenter of creativity, a haven for artists, and a playground for those seeking the unconventional. Amidst this vibrant backdrop, Berwick Street Studios emerged as a natural fit, a recording haven with a shop front that seamlessly blended into the bustling street market scene.Despite the area already being well-served by studios, Berwick Street Studios quickly carved out a niche for itself by offering a unique blend of top-notch equipment and a welcoming atmosphere.
Helios Desk
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Established in 1974 within a five-story terraced building at number 8, Berwick Street initially focused on film score production under the guidance of Sue Manning and Don Boyd.
​Its trajectory shifted in December 1976 with the installation of a Helios 28 into 16 console and a Studer A80 24-track recorder and two 2-track models.
The studio also featured JBL 4333 monitors, Universal Audio and Neve limiter/compressors.
The performance area was designed to accommodate around fifteen musicians, with separation booths to achieve different sound textures and a 1920 model Steinway grand piano added a touch of elegance.
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Engineer Gwyn Mathias played a pivotal role in the studio's early success, installing equipment,enginerring artists and ensuring smooth operations until 1980.
1982
“We recorded ‘Rip It Up’ at Berwick Street Studios in London during the album sessions in 1982. It was Malcolm Ross on guitar, David McClymont on bass, Zeke Manyika on drums – and me on guitar. We were all excited to start the record. We were in Soho, Berwick Street Market was outside. Every day I loved getting into the studio. This was the happy time, before the problems developed!"
Edwin Collins - Orange Juice
In 1988, a new chapter unfolded as Rod and Helen Gammons acquired Berwick Street Studios. Recognising the evolving landscape of music production, they embarked on an extensive rebuilding and refurbishment project, using Andy Munro of Windmill Munro Designs to create a state-of-the-art keyboard production studio that would resonate with modern producer/engineers.
The revamped studio was based around a DDA AMR24 desk, Munro Dynaudio M2 monitors, and a range of outboard gear including Neve, Massenburg, and Focusrite.
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2000 Onwards at the Berwick Street by James Pryce
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I worked for a film and TV music label called Fireworks Music straight out of Uni from 2000-2002 as studio manager and in-house engineer. We mostly supplied KPM with production music but also produced film scores with Richard Harvey, (composer) at the helm.
We bought Berwick Street Studios in around Nov/Dec 2000 from a chap called Ko Barclay (I think he was an investor) as Richard and the other directors had a desire for a W1 address and the creative director needed a studio that had a DDA AMR 24 (very specific, cos that's all he'd ever worked on!)
The building at the time had two studios and offices on the second floor. The main studio in the basement had the aforementioned DDA with Uptown Automation which was very nice and pretty rare in its day. I was constantly worried though that the computer was going to fail and render the whole thing useless. Outboard wise we had the wish list (I remember this because Audio Media ran an article at the time about the most desirable bits of kit and we had most of them!) H3000, Pultec EQs, 1176s, a Panscan, DBX 160 compressors, Tubetech, GML, Massenberg etc... We added a fully loaded Pro Tools rig, to go with the MTR 90 and RADAR, and monster Quested HQ210s.
The live room at Berwick Street was quite small so mostly we used the place for mix work and overdubs. The main tracking work was done at Snake Ranch in Chelsea (also owned at the time by Richard) and overseas in Bulgaria.
On the ground floor was the kitchen / lounge area, the machine room for the basement studio and at the front was a small office. We converted the office into an edit suite into which we put a basic Pro Tools rig and Quested V2108 monitors.
On the first floor was the second of the original Berwick Street Studios which had a smaller DDA console and an AKAI DR16. This didn't get much use and so was ripped out to create a listening room and offices.
The second floor office was then sub-let to an architecture firm.
In 2002 Fireworks Music launched the West One Music brand which still exists today and is based out of offices worldwide.
I left in 2002 and at some point shortly after they moved to Percy Street, taking most of the outboard and the Questeds with them but leaving the DDA.
Not sure who owned it next but at some point it was leased by Play Studios and Downtown Artists, The edit suite on the ground floor is now also a shoe shop. Sad, but that's the way Berwick Street died.
James
