Olympic Studios set to close

Typical. They shut the best studio in London and keep Shabby Road just because of the name.

having spent many, many long hours, both day and night in the king of recording studios, it is very sad to know that yet another major part of london's recording past is receiving exactly the same treatment as the musicians who played there. church road, barnes was/is as important as any other "road" in the city's musical history. this is simply more proof that real music, instruments and musicians are not required in the 21st century. Madeline Bell

I was very sorry to learn of the closing of Olympic Strudios. I worked, until his death, for Cliff Adams who owned the studios for many years. The studio was renown for the quality of the recording engineers, and in particular for Keith Grant the manager, whose name was a byword among artists and musicians. Among the many artists and composers who recorded there were; Barbara Streisand, Michel Legrand, Alan and Marylin Bergman, and Matt Monroe.

This will be a very sad occurence - I'm sure that many of my colleagues from the '70s, when I was there under the guidance of the wonderful Keith Grant, will have similar memories of some of the historic things recorded there. For my part, Won't Get Fooled Again - Honky Tonk Women - Brown Sugar and many many others such as the first R Whites Lemonade jingle for which I was engineer, plus loads of other adverts and film music - Cavatina springs to mind. Hopefully EMI might, with the profits they are still making elsewhere, throw a party in celebration of one of the best Studios in the world - Olympic Sound. PS - there are some memories on a radio interview from 10Radio in Somerset - for more visit http://lavernock.supanet.com/

Wonderful memories of recording there with the legendary engineer, Keith Grant. A sad day. But there you go, most days are filled with the demise of great music venues, and great music. X factor still goes on.............what's the good news? Laurie Holloway

As a ex member of the staff at Olympic I am sad to hear of its demise. At one point in the early 70s it had a turnover in excess of 4 million, and was a center of exellence in musical audio engineering, with two wonderful rooms where history was made. The Eagles "Desperado" was engineered and produced there by Glyn Johns; the film score for Ghandi, Matt Monrow, Bowie, Tony Bennett, even the Beatles, and of course the Stones; the list of successful talent through the doors is astounding. A tribute to the legendry Keith Grant, & Anna Menzies who ran the show, and all the producers and mixers who were industry frontrunners in what was an international export business. Many's the wonderful & mad times were had by all. The dissolution of a business which over it's 48 years of focused creative energy delivered so much wonderful musical sounds to the world is a moment to feel sad that it is not possible to save in some way. Adios Amigo. .

I was a professional singer for many years and for 13 years a member of "The Breakaways" vocal Group. We recorded on many occasions at Olympic Studios, where they employed staff of the highest calibre. It was always a pleasure to work there and excellent work was produced. I am therefore very sorry to hear that EMI is considering closing the studios. I understand that there is a Worldwide Financial Recession, as there has been in the past. It will eventually recover, and it would be very sad if EMI have lost one of the iconic British recording studios. Artists from all over the world have come to Britain for the purpose of recording in these studios. They are a major part of Music History in London and I hope that EMI reconsider their decision.

Tragic, what can i say. Olympic Studios is THE rock temple of UK music. We (Easy Tiger) recorded our 2nd album there in 2006. Totally self funded, we could have gone anywhere. Just a tremendous facility with "staff to die for". What we got is what we came for -: the room, the vibe, the SOUND. More history down the toilet. Ho Hum.

I had spent many wonderful years mixing and recording at Olympic and thou I am saddened to see it turn into luxury flats no doubt, I am not at all surprised that EMI has chosen to shut it down. This is again another sign of the diminishing music industry that studios like Olympic were part of. It is no longer necessary to have such flamboyant studios, when most songwriters and producers have their own facilities. They were always trying to accommodate a client that wasn't there any more.

How sad....when I first started doing sessions Olympic studios, was the best studios around, I made many albums there, working with my sister irene,with great musicians and Olympics great engineers, it does seem that EMI is closing a studio that was part of many musicians, singers, composers and producers lives for so many years, it still is an amazing place to work. they should re-think about their decision, think about the big picture, not the small one.

Why is a stately home considered of enough cultural importance that governments will slap a protective listed building sticker on them but our still living and breathing musical heritage like Olympic Studios are fair play to be sold broken up and probably converted into yuppie flats or a Tesco ? A space where Zeppelin, Hendrix, Clapton et al created masterpieces isn't as important as Abbey Road ? We can spend £80000000 of the nations money on 2 paintings what price our musical heritage? We don't actually have many of these studios left anymore, history was and up until a week ago was still being made there by some truely skilled British professionals. Was it really loosing money or does a venture capitalist need to raise some cash in a hurry? These live rooms do something unique to a record that no plug in technology can recreate, it's just a shame the bean counters at record labels forcing down the rates or juggling the books don't understand that magic enough. Like many things in life we shrug our shoulders and say "oh well" but only in few years when Abbey Road has probably been turned into the highly profitable "Beatles Museum Experience" will we realise just what these places did for our Country and it's musical heritage. Just what does this country export anymore and with the pound reaching parity with the Euro and getting close with the dollar, surely it was about to become a very attractive proposition to overseas artists again? It seems short sighted in the extreme. Me and a few friends will drink a few beers tonight and toast that live room because having stood in it I can safely say it was the stuff of dreams and very soon will be just a memory. A sad day.

shame to see it go. Abbey Road is the better studio - if only because it's one of the few places I can still record orchestra! I've worked in Olympic quite a few times, it is sad to see it go, but unfortunately it exists in a time that no longer has any use for it. EMI have no choice.

As yet another ex-Olympic engineer who owes his entire career to the peerless training I received under that master of the recording art Keith Grant, I too must add to the general feeling of disbelief and sadness that such a great example of the recording art as Olympic Studios should be allowed to fade away into silence. So much superlative music of all genres by many of the supreme luminaries of the industry has been recorded there over the years. It seems hardly credible that, despite this aggressive recession, a way cannot be found to establish a future for Olympic. It was not only the best studio to record any type of music from rock to orchestral (and I include the moptops venue Richard!), it was also simply magnificent fun to work there, thanks to Keith Grant's philosophy and influence! The fondest memories I have from my time in the business all come from the people I was fortunate enough to work with at Church Road and the incredible sessions in which I played a small part. Shutting Olympic is not progress; it is a massive, retrograde step. It sends an appalling message as to the state of our industry to aspiring music makers who have ambitions beyond home-studio recording. A very sad day indeed. David Hamilton-Smith.

Having spent probably the most enjoyable six years of my working life at Olympic and only having recently left to start a new life in the country, I was deeply saddened & shocked to hear that this great icon of the International Recording industry is to close. Rumours of its closure had been abound for ages even when I was there (I left in 2006) and it was a bit of an 'in' joke to all of us, that yet another chinese whisper was doing the rounds again. But now it seems that in EMIs ne Terra Firmas infinite wisdom those rumours have regerttably come true. As a building, in my opinion, it was second to none with Studio 1's cavernous live room more than capable of holding a 60 piece orchestra (are you reading this Richard Aiken?). Then to the excellent vibe of Studio 2 in conjunction with all the other rooms, it is the sort of studio that once worked in you could never forget. When anyone works in a place for any length of time a certain amount of themselves becomes a part of that and I am no different. So on hearding the tragic news that this wonderful Studio was to close, I guess a part of me will die with it. However, my real sympathies and heart go out to the very brilliant and dedicated staff who work there - you know who you are and I still love and miss you guys very much. My only hope is that you can now find the strength to pick yourselves up and move on and to feel proud, as do I to have once been part of this true and enduring legacy of music history. A sad day indeed, Il Salute Amigos.

Some of the happiest memories of my time in the music biz happened at Olympic. Working with great musicians, singers and engineers . I too, think there should be a grand party where we can weep for the heady, wondrous times of yore ! Clare Torry

Like most true professional recording people, I too, am sad to hear of the closure of Olympic. I had the privilege of managing IBC studios, who, at a critical time in the growth of 'real' studios, eg. Olympic-CTS-Lansdowne- Decca, etc. supplied many of the staff of these studios. Indeed, many of the names that have been mentioned, were trained at IBC. It has been a great experience to learn of the success of these people, and in a way, share in their achievments. As a matter of interest I also became general manager of EMI Abbey Road, but I always felt that the engineers that came from IBC and then spread themselves around the business, here and around the world, were better in many ways, than most that I worked with at Abbey Road. Maybe it was the CIvil Service attitude that made Abbey Road different !! Maybe the great higher management team at EMI, will, one day decide that they will make a more regular income when they decide to demolish the studios, and build up market apartments. We shall see. It is a great shame that we have to say goodbye to Olympic Studios. Fortunately, Olympic will live on, even if only in the memories of engineers and musicians who worked and played there.

The good news, Laurie, is that people still care to write these letters, that Keith still has no sense of humour or taste for wine, that sometimes we still play live, whether kneeling on the floor in a pub in West Clanden or pretending to be the Beatles' orchestra at the Albert Hall, because it beats the hell out of playing along with oneself at home for library tracks. The bad news, of course, is that we miss the feeling of being amongst others that the larger studios engendered. Tempora mutantur, but we DON'T change with them. A glass to Olympic.

This is sad...We mixed our 2nd record at Olympic with Spike Stent. What a warm and inviting place it was. Thank you for the great records and top shelf attitude. You made me feel like a member of your family.....You will be missed. Much Love, brendan b brown wheatus

Olympic was my second home in the late sixties and early seventies. I recorded the Would You Believe album and Love Songs album there. Immediate Records used it constantly for all of their artists. The Small Faces, The Nice, Del Shannon, To name just a few. So sad to see one of the best studios in the world close down.

Spent the happiest days of my life there...., with a 'Hell of a lot of help from my friends' (Apologies to L&Mc)

I am happy to see studios like these closing. They run out dated business models in an industry that has changed rapidly. The past has gone!! Long live the new producers and engineers who work from computer based set ups creating great material and at a price that is appealing.

Recorded there on and off for 15 years. Know all the staff very well. Is still the best studio in the UK and it will be very sad to see it go. It's a shame that the music in the UK all sounds like it is coming out of a game-boy and there is not enough demand to keep proper live studios open anymore.I knew it was all going wrong when I saw someone in Studio 1 with 2 faders up and a computer plugged in...............

I was introduced to the world of studio recording by the legendary Keith Grant, who was as enthusiastic in helping people find their way into the business as he was kind. Olympic was the first studio I ever visited. It was magical. The humour, friendliness, and sheer quality of it's product convinced me that being a studio player was a business I had to be in. There is absolutely NOTHING which can match the sound of a room full of musicians playing great music.The closure of Olympic is just another nail in the coffin of musical excellence and it will be missed by many. Thanks Keith for the memories,and the music. P.S. Would the last accountant to leave please turn out the lights.

It's such sad news. I booked my first session there so long ago and have had the privilege of working for many amazing artists and composers in that building. Eric Clapton, George Fenton, BB King, Oasis and U2, only last week. I have an abiding memory of a percussionist mistakenly letting go of a glass harmonica on the backstairs after a George Fenton session. The glass harmonica with its attached 50 wine glasses descended 2 flights of stairs unaccompanied - it was pre-sampling but it was a sound to die for. Even the stairs sounded good in that studio. My heart will skip a beat now every time I pass that place - the end of an era.

Bruce McGerry got it right... Loads of garages out there just eager to be filled with .....

It's just a building, the special 'vibe' is in your imagination. The equpment could be moved to another similar space and would sound just as good.

Y'know something..Bruce McGerry might be right, who needs real talent these days, just look around you and see all the stuff on the box which is enjoyed. I raise a drink to you Brucie, albeit in a McDonalds Styrofoam cup, preferable over that Waterfords Crystal crap.. K

I was very sad to hear the news. I worked at Olympic many times (though sadly not during the Keith Grant era). From full orchestral sessions, to string & brass overdubs, to round-the-clock keyboard sessions for more rock 'n' roll projects. A wonderful place to work. Whitfield St, Lansdowne, Townhouse, Olympic; not a great recent history for the UK music business. Where are the bands of the future going to record? Not many iso-booths in project studios last time I checked. Or properly designed live & control rooms either... It will be missed.

It's sad to see another great studio like Olympic is closing after so many years of producing excellent audio results. I think we must all be glad to have known and to have been involved in the great times that we all experienced when the UK studio business was at its height, I know I still miss those times. I first met KG at the "old" Olympic in 1960 and he must be close to, if not past, 50 years in the studio "game" so I reckon it's time somebody with "connections" saw to it that he received an award from HM one New Year for his services and contribution to the Recording Industry?? All the best to Keith and the staff of Olympic studios. Alan Florence.

You need a reality check....reality check......a vibe is not something you can just produce....a building and the staff and musicians create that and sometimes also the area the studio is located.

shame on the EMI!

I was lucky enough to have worked for Keith at Olympic, the studio and the man are legendary. As long as acoustic instruments need to be recorded in inspiring spaces there will be great studios needing engineers who have ears and personality. For now, I morn it's passing.. I can only hope that it will rise again.

And another thing... apologies to Laurie Holloway, the up side of X Factor is that 30 musicians get together in a room and actually play something scored. Sadly, it's something that happens less and less but if more people employed musicians rather than programmers we might not be having this grim discussion.

very sad... olympic is a mark of excellence and should be considered national interest at least... just like abbey road.

I grew up in the street that Olympic was on the corner of. It always felt great to walk past the building and know people were making music in there, like they had done for so long. Keith Grant was very kind to me when I went looking for my first job in music. All things change.....I guess. Thank you to all those who made Olympic what it was.

As a Led Zeppelin fan, I am very upset about this closing - after all, Olympic Studio is the place where this band recorded its debut album. If Ms Jean Ryder Hawker Westwood reads this message, would she contact me through this board? I have a very important question to ask her about her collaborations with Serge Gainsbourg. Thank you.