Rolling Stones Mobile Studio

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help, get involved!)
Any material not supported by sources may be challenged and removed at any time. This article has been tagged since February 2007.

The Rolling Stones Mobile Studio
The Rolling Stones Mobile Studio outside Stargroves.

The Rolling Stones Mobile Studio is a mobile recording studio owned by the musical group the Rolling Stones. Numerous bands and artists have recorded music using it, including Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Bob Marley, Horslips and the Rolling Stones themselves.

1 History
2 Notable Rolling Stones Mobile Projects
- 2.1 Singles:
- 2.2 Albums:

[edit] History

The concept for The Rolling Stones Mobile Studio first came about in 1968 when The Rolling Stones decided they needed a new environment in which to record music. Tired of the 9-to-5 limitations of a regular studio, the Stones decided to use Mick Jagger's new country house (Stargroves) in England to record new music. All the necessary equipment had to be brought to the house, so the idea of putting a control room into a bus was brought up by Ian Stewart. Under Stewart's guidance, a variety of top engineers and producers, including Glyn Johns, were consulted in the project's creation, which was then taken to Dick Swettenham's company Helios Electronics. Known for making mixing consoles for some of the most exclusive studios of the time, the company then produced the first working version of The Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. Originally only intended for use by The Stones, the unit soon gained popularity among the likes of other classic bands, such as The Who, The Faces, and Led Zeppelin.

From the beginning the Mobile Studio was quite experimental. It was the first fully fitted mobile multi-track studio that adapted to whatever specifications the job required. When recording orchestral music for the Frank Zappa film “200 Motels”, problems arose when the silver aluminum body kept showing up in the background of the film. The entire unit was then painted with a camouflage color scheme to hide it in the trees. It sported this look for many years to come.

Originally the unit supported a maximum of 20 microphones and had an 8 track recording format. As the Mobile began to be used for live recording, the 8 track format quickly proved insufficient and an upgrade to 16 track took place.

A large amount of classic music has been the result of work in the Mobile Studio. The Rolling Stones recorded both “Sticky Fingers” and “Exile On Main Street” through use of the Mobile. The unit was even used in the production and recording of the legendary Rolling Stones Hyde Park concert. The unit was used in a large variety of locations, everywhere from halls to barns to even castles and the casino at Montreux, Switzerland. During the making of the third Deep Purple album (Machine Head) the Mobile nearly caught fire as it stood next to the casino which was set ablaze during a Frank Zappa concert. The Mobile was quickly moved and the incident became the inspiration behind Deep Purple's most famous song, “Smoke On The Water”. The song makes mention of the Mobile, referring to the "Rolling truck Stones thing".

During The Rolling Stones 1973 European Tour Mick McKenna joined the company, and working with Ian Stewart until his untimely death in 1984, undertook the future development of the unit to suit the changing patterns of work. The next couple of years saw a great deal of re-building and general upgrade to the Mobile. The 16 track was upgraded to a 24 track, 12 new outputs were added to the existing 20, and a large amount of work was done to improve the acoustic environment of the unit.

In 1979, the Mobile went all the way to the USSR to record a performance of the Katchaturian ballet “Gayaneh” performed by the Latvian company Ballet Riga. This performance was accompanied by a 72 piece orchestra and was later presented in movie theaters around the world. Later, the mobile would travel all the way to Greece to capture a concert at the Acropolis by Nana Mouskouri, who had recently returned to her homeland after being exiled twenty one years earlier.

By the 1980’s the pattern of work had shifted towards more broadcast oriented products, mostly for major UK clients such as LWT, BBC, Capitol Radio, Tyne Tees Television and others. This prompted the inclusion of a synchronizing computer in 1982. This computer enabled audio and video tapes to be run in perfect time, which allowed the Mobile to record a show and then provide finished audio ready for transmission. This feature made it possible to provide the entire sound for several TV series incorporating such artists as Miles Davis, Willie Nelson, Paul Young, and The Chieftains.

In 1987 Bill Wyman created the Ambition Invention Motivation Success project (or the AIMS project) which was a vehicle to give young bands all around the country a chance to work out of the Mobile Studio and produce a top quality demo. Producer Terry Taylor & Mick McKenna worked on about 60 tracks during the course of the project, which culminated with a final show at the Royal Albert Hall in February 1988. The blue livery and yellow sign writing were applied as the colors of the project’s sponsor PERNOD.

Moving the mobile

The Mobile was subsequently returned to the commercial marketplace which had become extremely competitive, both financially and technically. It remained in operation until its closure in April 1993. The last recordings made by it, somewhat ironically, were with Chris Jagger and his band Atcha at the units base in Pinewood Studios. Eventually the unit was sold through auction at Bonham’s and is currently owned by the Cantos Music Foundation in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.