Maida Vale Studios
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Maida Vale Studios is a complex of five BBC studios on Delaware Avenue, Maida Vale.
It has been used to record thousands of classical music and popular music sessions for BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 3 from 1946 to 2008.
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[edit] Early years
The site was built in 1909 as the "Maida Vale Roller Skating Palace and Club". It has been the home of the BBC Symphony Orchestra since 1934. Over a period of 15 months one hundred men reduced the skating rink to a shell, then rebuilt it. The arches at the doorway were preserved. For over 50 years the BBC Symphony Orchestra have given invitation concerts, usually free. As a schoolboy, Vernon Handley learned some of his conducting technique by watching Boult conduct the BBC symphony orchestra here. Studio 1 has room for an orchestra of over 150 musicians and an audience of over 200. An unusual feature of these concerts is that they were often recorded, which means that the orchestra sometimes had to do re-takes. It is the largest classical music studio in London.
The "Third Programme" was created in September 1946. By the fifties the Third Programme was frequently broadcasting concerts from here. Some premieres of British classical music were recorded here (in studio 1), including works by Robert Simpson, Bax, Maw, Rawsthorne and Bliss. Many of them later became available on vinyl or CD. Messiaen's Turangalila was rehearsed here, before its UK premiere at the Royal Festival Hall. In 1958 the BBC Radiophonic Workshop was created, and based here until it was closed in 1998. In the late 50s and early 60's the radio program "Movie-Go-Round" was broadcast from here. Peter Haigh played sound clips from major films. The Beatles used studio 5 several times in 1963 to record sessions for BBC radio
[edit] John Peel
From 1967 to 2004, "John Peel Sessions" were recorded in studio 4. From about 1987 to 2002 Andy Kershaw 's radio sessions continued along similar lines. Dozens, possibly hundreds, of John Peel sessions were recorded there - Led Zeppelin, The Smiths, Pink Floyd, David Bowie usually in studio 4. Speaking of the Clash Maida Vale sessions in an interview, Peel said "The Clash did half one, and then amazingly said that the equipment in the studio wasn't up to the standards that they'd expected so they couldn't complete the session. Which seemed to me to be unbearably pretentious of them". Some albums by The Fall were entirely recorded there. The last band to record a Peel session was Skimmer, at Maida Vale Studios on October 21, 2004.
Other BBC disc jockeys invited artists to perform at Maida Vale. Led Zeppelin recorded for Alexis Korner's "Rhythm and Blues" program in 1969. Walter Trout recorded for Paul Jones's R & B show. Marillion recorded for Radio 2 DJ Bob Harris. Jo Whiley invited "Hard Fi" to play here. The venue was also the home of the BBC Elstree concert Band. The Radio 3 "Jazz Line Up" sessions were recorded here.
In 1994 the Beatles album "Live at the BBC" was released. Most of the material was recorded here. Several other albums with the same title were recorded in studio 4. "Van Der Graaf Generator" released an album called "Maida Vale" in 1994. In 2006 the group "Hefner" released an album called "Maida Vale", which was recorded here. The White Stripes album "Elephant" was recorded partly at "Toe-Rag" and partly at the Maida Vale studios. In 2002 Andrea Bocelli's "Sentomento" was made here. The label "Maida Vale Records", a subsidiary of "Cooking Vinyl" has a policy of releasing material from various radio stations.
In July 2007 the BBC announced that the studios were "wholly unsuitable for the 21st century". It will be sold, probably in 2008 as part of cost-cutting measures.
[edit] Memories
When "The Cravets" recorded there, they remarked it was like stepping back into the 1940s: "blokes in brown stockmen's coats scurried around fixing stuff and plugging our gear in." When "Broadcast" made their Peel sessions, Trish Kennan wrote "There was a sense of initiation on entering the Maida Vale studios. ... we wandered through the corridors, peering through the windows of locked rooms, on a hunt for the Radiophonic Workshop. We came across abandoned tape machines and Shostakovich posters in the hallways... We hovered outside the locked Radiophonic room, a little disappointed by what we could see through the window. We contemplated unscrewing the Radiophonic Workshop name plate from the door and making off with it, but knew the stern-faced security guard from earlier would have been on to us." The doorway is a favourite place for paparazzi to lie in wait for recording stars.
