Olympic Studios

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, Led Zeppelin, Ella Fitzgerald, Queen, Ray Charles, the Who, B.

[2][3] The studio's sound mixing desks became famous when the technology and design they pioneered was manufactured commercially.

[4] 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,[5] 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.

[1] Swettenham designed the first professional transistorised desk in the world, which was installed into Studio One during 1960, along with the first four-track tape recorder in England.

John Timperley's assistant was Roger Savage, who quickly gained a reputation as a good sound balancer.

In 1962, Terry Allen joined the company as an electronic engineer, assisting Dick Swettenham with his new transistorised sound desk.

Studio One was used by many influential groups, such as the Yardbirds, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Dave Mason, Alexis Korner, the Seekers and Graham Bond.

[12] 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.

[18][19] With both bands regularly sharing the studio in the summer of 1967, Lennon and McCartney joined the Rolling Stones recording of "We Love You".

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.

[24] 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.

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.

Robertson Grant successfully innovated a completely floating space weighing seventeen tons, supported by rubber pads.

[1] By the turn of the 1970s, many orchestral works and film scores, such as the original album version of the rock musical Jesus Christ Superstar, were also being recorded at Olympic.

In December 2008, the Virgin EMI group announced that the longstanding studio facilities would be closed, which occurred the following February.