Shed Studios
Encyclopedia
Shed Studios was responsible for the production of hundreds of band recordings and a large body of music used for various advertisements and films in Rhodesia
, and later in Zimbabwe
, from 1975 until 2000 . The company "Shed Recording Studios (Pvt) Ltd" (now defunct) began as a collaboration between Steve Roskilly, Martin Norris and Neil Thain, all employees of Rhodesia Television, in 1975 in Salisbury, Rhodesia.
12:4:2 mixer. Mastering onto a Revox
A77. This outfit learned its trade by making a series of live recordings at various music venues, but soon found that the caravan was a restriction and a proper studio essential for progress.
The equipment was set up in one of Blackberry Productions' radio studios, and the company started making advertising jingles, children's story records, and a few private band recordings. As the advertising work increased, the partners lost Neil Thain, who moved to Johannesburg
, and in 1979 the business moved into a purpose built professional studio premises on the 4th floor of Park House, Park Street. With 4000 sq ft (371.6 m²) available, these were comparatively large studios, comprising 20 x 20 ft (6.1 m) control room
s and 40 x 25 feet (7.6 m) live rooms. Its first recordings were for the folk singer
and advertising Creative Director Clem Tholet
. Clem's album
Songs of Love and War was a chronicle of his early life. Clem Tholet became a good friend of the studios and brought a significant body of advertising work to it in the following years, as well as numerous privately produced singles
, albums and film tracks.
The studios by now were called simply Shed Studios. Martin Norris and Steve Roskilly then set about offering free studio production time to deserving artists in return for a percentage of any resultant incomes. A publishing company Shed Music (Pvt) Ltd was created to deal with the music rights. In 1980, as the country became Zimbabwe, success was had with predominantly two artists : David Scobie and The Bhundu Boys, though many others became household names.
Roskilly originally asked David Scobie, a 14 year old with a Neil Diamond
sound-alike voice, to sing on an advertising jingle. The jingle, commissioned by Nick Alexander, a copywriter for Matthewman, Banks and Tholet, won an award for best jingle. Martin Norris wrote a song called "Gypsey Girl" for Scobie to record. The released single shot straight up the record sales charts knocking Michael Jackson
's "Thriller
" off the coveted No 1 position. It was in the charts for 25 weeks, 9 of which were at No 1 position. Subsequently it peaked at No 5 in the South African charts, remaining for 19 weeks. Scobie was offered 2 TV shows on SATV as a result but despite further singles and several albums, his career didn't take off any further. When he left school, however, he joined Shed Studios as a trainee engineer, became a director, and finally left to start his own studio "Eibocs".
Meanwhile The Bhundu Boys were also having some success.
Another great friend of the studio was the Zimbabwean guitarist Louis Mhlanga
. He was a regular visitor to the studios, adding guitar parts to advertising works, and as session musician on a variety of albums. His last major work under his own name was Mukai and with Jethro Shasha Musik Ye Africa, before he moved to South Africa, where his career blossomed.
's band, was released, and resulted in interest by the radio DJs John Peel
, Andy Kershaw
and Charlie Gillet. Shed responded in 1986 by licensing a compilation of Zimbabwean Bhundu Boys
hits to Discafrique called "Shabhini", which took the UK world music public by storm. To the studio's disappointment, the band pulled out of the final months of their Shed contract when they were signed by Warner Bros.
. A second compilation of Shed recordings was released by Discafrique called "Tsvimbodzemoto", which also sold well, but that was the end of the recording careers of The Bhundu Boys at Shed Studios. Following his move to UK in 2000, Steve Roskilly collaborated with Gordon Muir, the Bhundu Boys' manager, to produce a final compilation double CD called "The Shed Sessions", which reawakened the classic Bhundu music on CD again, including previously unreleased tracks.
, Roskilly was sent to London with a government minder in tow to buy the relevant necessary PA equipment. The gear was duly delivered to the stadium and the celebrations went ahead as planned. Subsequently, the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee pronounced that the government had not purchased the PA system in the laid down method, but Shed Studios was not held accountable.
in 1983, whilst Hughes left for South Africa
, Roskilly sold all the studio equipment to Gramma in order to pay off their shareholding, and Bothwell Nyamhondera was taken on by Gramma directly as their new engineer.
Roskilly, as Shed Studios, managed the new Gramma studios in return for a reduced studio hire rate, and continued to produce advertising jingles and film tracks. Business flourished, and as Scobie joined as trainee engineer, so did Henry Peters - a Bassist. As a threesome therefore the business continued to grow, and the studios developed to MCI 24 track capability.
Productions in London, and Neil Dunn, a friend of Roskilly’s, brought the offer of becoming promoter for a pair of upcoming concerts for Paul Simon
. The African Concerts were to be filmed as a promotional tool for the release of the “Graceland (album)
”. The project went ahead as planned, promoted by Shed Recording Studios. Acting as Technical Manager Roskilly went on to work with Dunn for a series of further concerts including the Reebok Sponsored HUMAN RIGHTS NOW Harare concert with Bruce Springsteen
, Tracy Chapman
, Sting, Youssou N’Dour,and Peter Gabriel
. Controversially, the PA for this concert came from Johannesburg in apartheid South Africa. Other concerts included UB40
, Eric Clapton
, and Randy Crawford
until 1989 when such concerts were then able to be performed instead in the new South Africa.
B16 half inch 16 track and A & H Saber mixer handled studio 1 band recordings, a C Lab Notator sequencing system with Soundscape SSHDR-1 harddisc recorder and A & H series 8 mixer handled the ad industry music in studio 2, and sponsored radio programmes were recorded by Cherry Productions in Studio 3, based on Revox recorders. During the move, Scobie pulled away to set up his own studio and Peters left for Germany. Two new shareholders came aboard in the shape of Benny Miller, Thomas Mapfumo
's preferred engineer, and briefly, Peter vanDeventer.
This was really the golden age of the studios. Benny Miller did many band recordings in studio 1 including some classic Mapfumo tracks and Kelly Rusike, another outstanding bassist, became engineer in 1990, handling the regular record company band sessions. Roskilly composed, performed and engineered advertising jingle productions in studio 2, and Sally Donaldson and Hilton Mambo operated Studio 3 as Cherry Productions, doing their sponsored radio programmes. When Bud Cockcroft put up some money to develop studio one to a Fostex G16, Shed gained another shareholder and longtime director. This was the setup for the next 5 years.
In 1996, Shed hosted an enthusiastic gap year student from Britain Chris Martin
. Martin was nephew to one of Roskilly's friends. They operated and developed the new PA company together for about 6 months, and worked in the computer studio producing jingles. When Martin went away to university, he then founded the supergroup Coldplay
.
Andrew McClymont replaced Chris Martin
in 1997, as Prosound became Pro-Active Audio Zim, becoming hire manager, and the company took off, handling all sound services for the extensive World Council of Churches
' 8th Assembly in 1998, led by general secretary Konrad Raiser
.
In early 2000 however, Steve Roskilly saw a downturn in Zimbabwe's advertising and disc business due to foreign currency cutbacks in the country, and the politically motivated farm invasions began in earnest against prime exporters. For Roskilly, the writing was on the wall for Zimbabwe's future, and he rapidly set about moving out of the country and back to UK. After an initial 2 years building a radio broadcast studio and then acting as station engineer, he joined CSS (Cheltenham Stage Services) as Managing Director. CSS being a live sound and lighting hire company for corporate and music events. He resigned at the end of 2008 and now is now director of Systech AV Ltd a sound and video equipment installations company, as well as a directorship in associate company - Production AV Ltd, a young dynamic High Definition video projection company.
Shed Productions, the jingle operations company was sold to Kelly Rusike, Shed Recording Studios which owned all the equipment was sold to Keith Farquharson, and Roskilly Enterprises which owned the premises was eventually sold to a new record company. Shed Music, the publishing company was retained by Roskilly.
Shed Studios was a pioneer in the development of the music industry in Zimbabwe, taking its place on the Zimbabwe Music Industry Association board, and as chair of the Production House Association of Zimbabwe. From 1975 to 2000, its activities saw substantial competition from many other music studios and production houses, of which none survived. As an independent production company it was an essential tool for emerging bands in the 80s and 90s, where contractual relationships with the record companies was not an option.
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
, and later in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
, from 1975 until 2000 . The company "Shed Recording Studios (Pvt) Ltd" (now defunct) began as a collaboration between Steve Roskilly, Martin Norris and Neil Thain, all employees of Rhodesia Television, in 1975 in Salisbury, Rhodesia.
The beginning
Initially housed in a converted caravan, the first studio was based on a half inch 8 track Itam 805 tape recorder and series 2 SoundcraftSoundcraft
Soundcraft is a British manufacturer of mixing consoles and other professional audio equipment. It was founded by sound engineer Phil Dudderidge and electronics designer Graham Blyth in 1973.-History:...
12:4:2 mixer. Mastering onto a Revox
Revox
ReVox is a brand name of Swiss audio equipment created by Studer on March 27, 1951.The ReVox brand name was spun off into Studer Revox AG in 1990. During Studer's acquisition by Harman International Industries, Revox was sold separately to a group of private investors...
A77. This outfit learned its trade by making a series of live recordings at various music venues, but soon found that the caravan was a restriction and a proper studio essential for progress.
The equipment was set up in one of Blackberry Productions' radio studios, and the company started making advertising jingles, children's story records, and a few private band recordings. As the advertising work increased, the partners lost Neil Thain, who moved to Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, and in 1979 the business moved into a purpose built professional studio premises on the 4th floor of Park House, Park Street. With 4000 sq ft (371.6 m²) available, these were comparatively large studios, comprising 20 x 20 ft (6.1 m) control room
Control room
A control room is a room serving as an operations centre where a facility or service can be monitored and controlled. Examples include:*in television production, the master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations, television networks...
s and 40 x 25 feet (7.6 m) live rooms. Its first recordings were for the folk singer
Folk Singer
Folk Singer is a 1964 album by Muddy Waters. Waters plays acoustic guitar, backed by Willie Dixon on string bass, Clifton James on drums, and Buddy Guy on acoustic guitar...
and advertising Creative Director Clem Tholet
Clem Tholet
Clem Tholet was a Rhodesian folk singer who became popular in the 1970s for his Rhodesian patriotic songs. He reached the height of his fame during the Rhodesian Bush War....
. Clem's album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
Songs of Love and War was a chronicle of his early life. Clem Tholet became a good friend of the studios and brought a significant body of advertising work to it in the following years, as well as numerous privately produced singles
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, albums and film tracks.
The studios by now were called simply Shed Studios. Martin Norris and Steve Roskilly then set about offering free studio production time to deserving artists in return for a percentage of any resultant incomes. A publishing company Shed Music (Pvt) Ltd was created to deal with the music rights. In 1980, as the country became Zimbabwe, success was had with predominantly two artists : David Scobie and The Bhundu Boys, though many others became household names.
Roskilly originally asked David Scobie, a 14 year old with a Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....
sound-alike voice, to sing on an advertising jingle. The jingle, commissioned by Nick Alexander, a copywriter for Matthewman, Banks and Tholet, won an award for best jingle. Martin Norris wrote a song called "Gypsey Girl" for Scobie to record. The released single shot straight up the record sales charts knocking Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
's "Thriller
Thriller (song)
"Thriller" is a song recorded by American recording artist Michael Jackson, composed by Rod Temperton, and produced by Quincy Jones. It is the seventh and final single from his sixth studio album Thriller. It was released on January 23, 1984 by Epic Records...
" off the coveted No 1 position. It was in the charts for 25 weeks, 9 of which were at No 1 position. Subsequently it peaked at No 5 in the South African charts, remaining for 19 weeks. Scobie was offered 2 TV shows on SATV as a result but despite further singles and several albums, his career didn't take off any further. When he left school, however, he joined Shed Studios as a trainee engineer, became a director, and finally left to start his own studio "Eibocs".
Meanwhile The Bhundu Boys were also having some success.
Another great friend of the studio was the Zimbabwean guitarist Louis Mhlanga
Louis Mhlanga
Louis Mhlanga is a South African based Zimbabwean award-winning guitarist and producer. Mhlanga taught himself playing the guitar at a tender age and is considered one of the best Southern African guitarists....
. He was a regular visitor to the studios, adding guitar parts to advertising works, and as session musician on a variety of albums. His last major work under his own name was Mukai and with Jethro Shasha Musik Ye Africa, before he moved to South Africa, where his career blossomed.
Shed record label
The "Shed" record label was launched and vinyl was pressed under licence by Gramma Records in Zimbabwe. There were a succession of hit songs and several albums. In 1985 the studios were approached by Owen Elias of Discafrique Records in the UK, to release a selection of African band music. A compilation of The Bhundu Boys and African Herb, an offshoot of Thomas MapfumoThomas Mapfumo
Thomas Tafirenyika Mapfumo is a Zimbabwean musician known as "The Lion of Zimbabwe" and "Mukanya" for his immense popularity and for the political influence he wields through his music, including his sharp criticism of the government of President Robert Mugabe...
's band, was released, and resulted in interest by the radio DJs John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
, Andy Kershaw
Andy Kershaw
Andy Kershaw is a British broadcaster, known for his interest in world music.His shows feature a mix of country, blues, reggae, folk music, spoken word performance from the likes of Ivor Cutler, and other music from around the world.- Early Life :Kershaw and his sister, fellow broadcaster Liz...
and Charlie Gillet. Shed responded in 1986 by licensing a compilation of Zimbabwean Bhundu Boys
Bhundu Boys
The Bhundu Boys were a Zimbabwean band that played a mixture of chimurenga music with American rock and roll, disco, country, and pop influences...
hits to Discafrique called "Shabhini", which took the UK world music public by storm. To the studio's disappointment, the band pulled out of the final months of their Shed contract when they were signed by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
. A second compilation of Shed recordings was released by Discafrique called "Tsvimbodzemoto", which also sold well, but that was the end of the recording careers of The Bhundu Boys at Shed Studios. Following his move to UK in 2000, Steve Roskilly collaborated with Gordon Muir, the Bhundu Boys' manager, to produce a final compilation double CD called "The Shed Sessions", which reawakened the classic Bhundu music on CD again, including previously unreleased tracks.
Independence celebrations
Back in 1981 Shed Studios was commissioned by the Zimbabwe Government to provide live sound for the first Independence Celebrations at Rufaro Stadium. With no PA system available in HarareHarare
Harare before 1982 known as Salisbury) is the largest city and capital of Zimbabwe. It has an estimated population of 1,600,000, with 2,800,000 in its metropolitan area . Administratively, Harare is an independent city equivalent to a province. It is Zimbabwe's largest city and its...
, Roskilly was sent to London with a government minder in tow to buy the relevant necessary PA equipment. The gear was duly delivered to the stadium and the celebrations went ahead as planned. Subsequently, the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee pronounced that the government had not purchased the PA system in the laid down method, but Shed Studios was not held accountable.
Studio Developments
In 1981, Shed's session drummer Bothwell Nyamhondera joined the company to become a studio engineer, as a second studio was opened at Park Street. Steve Hughes invested some capital to assist this move, and became a director alongside Roskilly and Norris, managing disc releases. Nyamhondera's talents soon saw him the engineer of choice for the local record companies Gramma and allo (later ZMC) and so when Martin Norris left for a new life in BrisbaneBrisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
in 1983, whilst Hughes left for South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, Roskilly sold all the studio equipment to Gramma in order to pay off their shareholding, and Bothwell Nyamhondera was taken on by Gramma directly as their new engineer.
Roskilly, as Shed Studios, managed the new Gramma studios in return for a reduced studio hire rate, and continued to produce advertising jingles and film tracks. Business flourished, and as Scobie joined as trainee engineer, so did Henry Peters - a Bassist. As a threesome therefore the business continued to grow, and the studios developed to MCI 24 track capability.
Stadium Concerts
In 1987, Andy Zweck from Harvey GoldsmithHarvey Goldsmith
Harvey Goldsmith CBE is a British performing arts promoter. He is best known as promoter of rock concerts, charity concerts, television broadcasts for the Prince's Trust and more recently the Teenage Cancer Trust shows at the Royal Albert Hall.During early 2007 he appeared on the Channel 4...
Productions in London, and Neil Dunn, a friend of Roskilly’s, brought the offer of becoming promoter for a pair of upcoming concerts for Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
. The African Concerts were to be filmed as a promotional tool for the release of the “Graceland (album)
Graceland (album)
Graceland was Paul Simon's highest charting album in the U.S. in over a decade, reaching #3 in the national Billboard charts, receiving a certification of 5× Platinum by the RIAA and eventually selling over 14 million copies, making it Simon's most commercially successful album...
”. The project went ahead as planned, promoted by Shed Recording Studios. Acting as Technical Manager Roskilly went on to work with Dunn for a series of further concerts including the Reebok Sponsored HUMAN RIGHTS NOW Harare concert with Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
, Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her singles "Fast Car", "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution", "Baby Can I Hold You", "Give Me One Reason" and "Telling Stories". She is a multi-platinum and four-time Grammy Award-winning artist.-Biography:Tracy Chapman was born in Cleveland,...
, Sting, Youssou N’Dour,and Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
. Controversially, the PA for this concert came from Johannesburg in apartheid South Africa. Other concerts included UB40
UB40
UB40 are a British reggae/pop band formed in 1978 in Birmingham. The band has placed more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. One of the world's best-selling music artists, UB40 have sold over 70 million records.Their hit singles...
, Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
, and Randy Crawford
Randy Crawford
Randy Crawford is an American jazz and R&B singer. She has been more successful in Europe than in the United States, where she has not entered the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist...
until 1989 when such concerts were then able to be performed instead in the new South Africa.
More Studio Developments
In 1989, the company pulled out of the Gramma building and constructed 3 studios in the basement of 123 Robert Mugabe Way. A FostexFostex
Fostex is a Japanese manufacturer that is one of the largest transducer and OEM speaker makers in the world, founded in July 1973 by Foster Electric Co. Ltd.-Company history:Fostex , founded in July 1973 by Foster Electric Co...
B16 half inch 16 track and A & H Saber mixer handled studio 1 band recordings, a C Lab Notator sequencing system with Soundscape SSHDR-1 harddisc recorder and A & H series 8 mixer handled the ad industry music in studio 2, and sponsored radio programmes were recorded by Cherry Productions in Studio 3, based on Revox recorders. During the move, Scobie pulled away to set up his own studio and Peters left for Germany. Two new shareholders came aboard in the shape of Benny Miller, Thomas Mapfumo
Thomas Mapfumo
Thomas Tafirenyika Mapfumo is a Zimbabwean musician known as "The Lion of Zimbabwe" and "Mukanya" for his immense popularity and for the political influence he wields through his music, including his sharp criticism of the government of President Robert Mugabe...
's preferred engineer, and briefly, Peter vanDeventer.
This was really the golden age of the studios. Benny Miller did many band recordings in studio 1 including some classic Mapfumo tracks and Kelly Rusike, another outstanding bassist, became engineer in 1990, handling the regular record company band sessions. Roskilly composed, performed and engineered advertising jingle productions in studio 2, and Sally Donaldson and Hilton Mambo operated Studio 3 as Cherry Productions, doing their sponsored radio programmes. When Bud Cockcroft put up some money to develop studio one to a Fostex G16, Shed gained another shareholder and longtime director. This was the setup for the next 5 years.
Pro-Active Audio
In 1995, Roskilly started an offshoot called Prosound, which was to become a live sound production company. It took him away from the studios, and so Studio Engineer Kelly Rusike took over more of the computer studio work.In 1996, Shed hosted an enthusiastic gap year student from Britain Chris Martin
Chris Martin
Christopher Anthony John "Chris" Martin is an English song-writer, who is the lead vocalist, pianist and rhythm guitarist of the band Coldplay. He is married to actress Gwyneth Paltrow.-Early life:...
. Martin was nephew to one of Roskilly's friends. They operated and developed the new PA company together for about 6 months, and worked in the computer studio producing jingles. When Martin went away to university, he then founded the supergroup Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...
.
Andrew McClymont replaced Chris Martin
Chris Martin
Christopher Anthony John "Chris" Martin is an English song-writer, who is the lead vocalist, pianist and rhythm guitarist of the band Coldplay. He is married to actress Gwyneth Paltrow.-Early life:...
in 1997, as Prosound became Pro-Active Audio Zim, becoming hire manager, and the company took off, handling all sound services for the extensive World Council of Churches
World Council of Churches
The World Council of Churches is a worldwide fellowship of 349 global, regional and sub-regional, national and local churches seeking unity, a common witness and Christian service. It is a Christian ecumenical organization that is based in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland...
' 8th Assembly in 1998, led by general secretary Konrad Raiser
Konrad Raiser
Konrad Raiser is a former General Secretary of the World Council of Churches .Born in Magdeburg, Germany on 25 January 1938, Konrad Raiser studied spent his childhood in Schwerin, Göttingen and Bad Godesberg...
.
Final move and epilogue
Just prior to this event, Steve Roskilly bought a run down ex farmhouse in Harare’s Greendale district, on a 2 acres (8,093.7 m²) plot. The main house was converted to offices and PA storage, the cottage converted to 2 studios and a service area, and surroundings planted to provide a peaceful setting for some serious chillout for recording bands.In early 2000 however, Steve Roskilly saw a downturn in Zimbabwe's advertising and disc business due to foreign currency cutbacks in the country, and the politically motivated farm invasions began in earnest against prime exporters. For Roskilly, the writing was on the wall for Zimbabwe's future, and he rapidly set about moving out of the country and back to UK. After an initial 2 years building a radio broadcast studio and then acting as station engineer, he joined CSS (Cheltenham Stage Services) as Managing Director. CSS being a live sound and lighting hire company for corporate and music events. He resigned at the end of 2008 and now is now director of Systech AV Ltd a sound and video equipment installations company, as well as a directorship in associate company - Production AV Ltd, a young dynamic High Definition video projection company.
Shed Productions, the jingle operations company was sold to Kelly Rusike, Shed Recording Studios which owned all the equipment was sold to Keith Farquharson, and Roskilly Enterprises which owned the premises was eventually sold to a new record company. Shed Music, the publishing company was retained by Roskilly.
Shed Studios was a pioneer in the development of the music industry in Zimbabwe, taking its place on the Zimbabwe Music Industry Association board, and as chair of the Production House Association of Zimbabwe. From 1975 to 2000, its activities saw substantial competition from many other music studios and production houses, of which none survived. As an independent production company it was an essential tool for emerging bands in the 80s and 90s, where contractual relationships with the record companies was not an option.