An iconic piece of well-liked music historical past has discovered its method to a brand new residence on the opposite facet of the world.
the details:
- The REDD.17 console was developed at Abbey Street Studios and was used on The Beatles’ recordings
- Solely 4 of those had been ever constructed, permitting music engineers to experiment with sound extra simply
- It is likely one of the older items of kit out there to be used in a brand new studio situated inside MONA
The unique REDD.17 console, used to report and blend music at Abbey Street Studios, is the centerpiece of a brand new recording studio on the Museum of New and Previous Artwork (MONA) in Hobart.
The previous console, one in every of solely 4 ever made, was used to combine a number of Beatles albums and supplied the tape particular results on their 1966 music Tomorrow By no means Is aware of.
The console was purchased in 2014 by Australian entrepreneur David Roper who, together with others, penned the thought for the studio.
MONA FOMA Inventive Director Brian Ritchie developed the thought and introduced it to MONA proprietor David Walsh.
It’s now a part of Frying Pan Studios, which can develop into the primary museum-included recording studio in Australia.
David Walsh is not any stranger to accumulating cultural memorabilia, reportedly shopping for David Bowie’s handwritten lyrics to the traditional Bob Starman final yr for $339,000.
Named for its location reverse Frying Pan Island, the studio challenge might be managed by producer, studio designer and audio engineer Chris Townend.
Townend has labored with bands reminiscent of silverchair, Violent Femmes, and Portishead.
“It is not every single day that you simply get the chance to design a completely purposeful recording studio inside a museum,” he stated in an announcement.
“The Frying Pan artists will profit enormously from the ambient inspiration, absurd location, and abundance of kit, each historic and high-tech.”
A fancy of recording gear relationship again to the Nineteen Fifties, Townend can even usher in studio gear utilized by Motown and Capitol Information.
Walsh described the studio challenge as “the essence of MONA”.
“The music will, after all, be the primary product, however it will likely be made in an atmosphere that oozes ardour and daring.”
The console is a “inventive sport changer”
REDD.17 will sit alongside different classic recording gear, in addition to fashionable, high-end digital gear within the Frying Pan.
When it was first developed within the late Nineteen Fifties, the REDD. 17 was credited as a game-changer in music manufacturing, and was the primary era of desktop consoles customized and constructed by the report firm EMI for his or her Abbey Street studios.
REDD—standing for Recording Engineering Growth Division—was primarily used within the late Nineteen Fifties and early Sixties, and allowed music engineers to expertise “extra management than ever earlier than,” because the Abbey Street Archives notice.
On the Abbey Street web site, a veteran engineer talked about the variations between REDD.17 and one other within the collection.
“Sonically, the variations develop into extra pronounced by turning up the drive management and actually pushing the console. REDD.17 is the extra colourful and heavy of the 2—the overblown, out-of-control sound of Pink Floyd’s Piper on the Gates of Daybreak album involves thoughts.”
The REDD.17 and subsequent REDD.37 and .51 desks have been used to combine and grasp a handful of influential albums, together with choices from the Beatles’ and Pink Floyd’s first two albums, however it did not cease there.
REDD.17 was later transferred to Toe Rag Studios in Hackney, London the place it was used on albums such because the White Stripes’ Elephant and Tame Impala’s Innerspeaker.