Origins

Founded in the 1960s by Guy Whetstone and Stephen Appleby

Stephen Appleby

Stephen Villiers Appleby was an English pilot, and leading proponent of the Mignet Pou-du-Ciel "Flying Flea" aircraft.-Early years:...

, Advision originally provided voiceover

VoiceOver

VoiceOver is a screen reader built into Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X, iOS and iPod operating systems. By using VoiceOver, the user can access their Macintosh or iOS device based on spoken descriptions and, in the case of the Mac, the keyboard. The feature is designed to increase accessibility for blind...

s and jingle

Jingle

A jingle is a short tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. The jingle contains one or more hooks and lyrics that explicitly promote the product being advertised, usually through the use of one or more advertising slogans. Ad buyers use jingles in radio and television...

s for television advertisements. The studio was initially located at 83 New Bond Street, but moved to 23 Gosfield Street in 1969. The studio complex was built to be able to house a 60-piece studio orchestra

Studio orchestra

A studio orchestra is an orchestra that exists only in a recording, movie, or television studio. That is, it does not perform in public concerts or for audiences generally. They are typically run by movie and television studios to produce film and television soundtrack recordings. Nearly all...

 and had 35mm film projector screen for synchronicity. Producer Martin Rushent

Martin Rushent

Martin Rushent was an English record producer, best known for his work with The Human League, The Stranglers and The Buzzcocks.- Early life :Rushent was born on 11 July 1948 in Enfield, Middlesex. His father was a car salesman...

 began his career as a projectionist at Advision.

History

By the mid 1960s Advision had become one of the top London studios for Rock and Pop music. The Yardbirds

The Yardbirds

- Current :* Chris Dreja - rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Jim McCarty - drums, backing vocals * Ben King - lead guitar * David Smale - bass, backing vocals...

 recorded their 1966 album Roger the Engineer

Roger the Engineer

Roger the Engineer is an album by the English blues rock band The Yardbirds, released in 1966. It was produced by bassist Paul Samwell-Smith and Simon Napier-Bell. It was the only Yardbirds album with all original material...

at Advision on a 4-track

Multitrack recording

Multitrack recording is a method of sound recording that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources to create a cohesive whole...

 machine. The Move

The Move

The Move, from Birmingham, England, were one of the leading British rock bands of the 1960s. They scored nine Top 20 UK singles in five years, but were among the most popular British bands not to find any success in the United States....

 recorded some of their early hits at Advision, including Flowers in the Rain

Flowers in the Rain

"Flowers in the Rain" is a song by the sixties Rock band The Move. The song was released as a single and reached number two in 1967 on the UK Singles Chart....

in July 1967. In early 1968 Advision became the first studio in the UK to obtain a professional 8-track recorder, which was built by Scully Recording Instruments. Among the first artists to use the 8-track machine were T. Rex

T. Rex (band)

T. Rex were a British rock band, formed in 1967 by singer/songwriter and guitarist Marc Bolan. The band formed as Tyrannosaurus Rex, releasing four folk albums under the name...

, The Who

The Who

The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...

, and Caravan

Caravan (band)

Caravan are an English band from the Canterbury area, founded by former Wilde Flowers members David Sinclair, Richard Sinclair, Pye Hastings and Richard Coughlan. Caravan rose to success over a period of several years from 1968 onwards into the 1970s as part of the Canterbury scene, blending...

. In 1970 the studio used a custom 24-channel desk with an 8-track recorder. Advision was also first in the UK to install 16 and 24 track recorders in the early 1970s.

In 1971 a 20-channel Neve console was added to the mixdown suite. In the 1970s, the studios' focus moved toward Progressive rock

Progressive rock

Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

 music, and the company began producing music for bands such as Yes

Yes (band)

Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...

, Gentle Giant

Gentle Giant

Gentle Giant were a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. The band was known for the complexity and sophistication of its music and for the varied musical skills of its members. All of the band members, except the first two drummers, were multi-instrumentalists...

, and Emerson, Lake and Palmer, as well as Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds

Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds

Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds is a 1978 concept album by Jeff Wayne, retelling the story of The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. Its format is progressive rock and string orchestra, using narration and leitmotifs to carry the story via rhyming melodic lyrics that express...

.

A 1974 re-fitting gave the studio a console built in California by Quad-Eight Electronics for quadrophonic mixing and the UK's first computer-aided mixdown desk.

Producers and engineers to have worked at Advision include Eddie Offord

Eddie Offord

Eddy Offord is a former record producer and recording engineer, who worked on some of the most famous progressive rock albums of the 1970s, often at London's Advision Studios. He is especially well known for his work with the groups Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Yes. ELP wrote a tribute to Offord with...

, Eddie Kramer

Eddie Kramer

Edwin H. Kramer is an audio engineer and producer who has worked with, among others, Led Zeppelin, Triumph, Kiss , Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Spooky Tooth, Peter Frampton, Curtis Mayfield, Santana, Anthrax, Carly Simon, Loudness, and Robin Trower.-1960s:Eddie...

, Martin Rushent, and Hugh Padgham

Hugh Padgham

Hugh Padgham is a British record producer. He has won many awards, including four Grammys, with Producer of the Year and Engineer of the Year. A 1992 poll in Mix magazine voted him one of the world's Top Ten Most Influential Producers....

.

The Gosfield Street location has been occupied since 1993 by a studio called The Sound Company.

External links

• Photograph from Advision Studios in New Bond Street (Photo was taken December 1968. The Scully 8-track recorder can be seen in the background.)