Pathway Studios, London?

[Mattsson]

Whuiie!

I asked earlier about the recording of Elvis Costello's Brutal Youth. However, I also looove the sound of Costello's first album, My Aim is True (containing Alison)!

I managed to figure out that it was recorded during 1977 in a studio called Pathway Studios, a studio in north London. However, I have not been able to find any info about the Studio as it seems to be no longer around.

But does anyone know anything about Pathway Studios, and what console they were using back in those days?

Any info would be greatly appreciated! Just trying to figure out what gear was behind that sound...

/R

[nobtwiddler]

Elvis will be at Piety Street Studios in New Orleans next week....
Send them an email, they could always ask him for more info?

Ya never know.
Straight from the horses mouth!
Paul

[Tim Crowther]

The studio closed a few years ago. I am a guitarist and I recorded three albums there in the early 1990s, one with my power trio Groon, the others with Geoff Serle and King Crimson violinist David Cross. The studio was owned by Mike Finesilver and the engineers we used were Justin Underhill and Jim Coustance. It was a very low key place, a bit cold and damp with a unique sweet musty smell that clung to your clothes and equipment for days afterwards. The studio was very small, about 8 x 8 metres with a 2 x 2m control booth in the corner and an upright piano next to it. You could just squeeze three people into the control booth! The tape deck was a Brennell 1 inch 8 track. The monitors and desk were custom made, and they had a pair of Auratones as well, fed from Quad power amps. The desk was quite small, pushed hard against the front wall with the custom monitors hung above and the Auratones on the meter bridge. Outboard was very basic: a Bel delay line, an Alesis digital reverb and Drawmer gates, but they had a nice plate reverb in a cupboard in the office upstairs. I can't recall all the mics but they were the industry standard stuff. We got big warm sounding mixes and despite the cramped conditions the mixing process seemed effortless compared to the difficult digital learning curve I have been on in the last two years.

Tim Crowther
http://www.visionlogic.demon.co.uk/

[The Press Desk at Gearslutz.com]

I think madness did their first singles there..

[JTR]

try another approach;

Nick Lowe

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=...e+Search&meta=

[Tim Crowther]

I spoke to Geoff Serle and he also thinks that the desk was custom made for Mike Finesilver, possibly by an ex-BBC engineer. It was physically a very small item, I think about 4ft x 18 inches. Sorry I can't remember the channel configuration. Geoff also remembered that they had an Eventide Harmoniser and a Yamaha D1500 delay.

[Mattsson]

Wow!

Thanks Tim and everyone else...very helpful and interesting info!

It seemed to have been a very simple studio, not to, mention the small spaces But the recordings I've heard that were tracked at Pathway still sound amazing!

Wish someone had some photos or more info about that console though...;=)

Many thanks!

/R

[Bazza]

Originally Posted by Mattsson

Whuiie!

I asked earlier about the recording of Elvis Costello's Brutal Youth. However, I also looove the sound of Costello's first album, My Aim is True (containing Alison)!

I managed to figure out that it was recorded during 1977 in a studio called Pathway Studios, a studio in north London. However, I have not been able to find any info about the Studio as it seems to be no longer around.

But does anyone know anything about Pathway Studios, and what console they were using back in those days?

Any info would be greatly appreciated! Just trying to figure out what gear was behind that sound...

/R

In case you didn't get any info on Pathway (aka Pathditz / Electric Landlady - a joke from Jake Riviera, from which Kirsty McaColl got the title of her Album) I built the desk for Mike Finesilver and Peter Ker back in 1974 or 5. It was a bit bigger than one of the contributors mentioned but not much - ther wasn't room in the contol room. The desk was 16-input with transformer coupled mic amps designed by David Robinson and descibed in his series in Studio Sound Magazine. EQ was originally from the same source and was based on an LCR network and used dicrete transistors. These were later replaced by a more controllable (but in my opinion not as interesting) IC based design.
I did a lot of the engineering at Pathway and did almost all of the early Stiff repetoire, including "My Aim Is True". Most of the distinctive sound on that album is achieved through the use of a single, fixed delay from the sync head of the multi-track, which I suggested to nick Lowe as an option and which he subsequently stuck on just about everything!
Great record, wonderful musicians.
If you want anymore infor, drop me an email and I'll try and dig out some details.
(by the way, I never worked for the BBC).
regards, Bazza

[studiochap]

Just noticed this thread now, so I thought I would add that their were 2 Audio and Design limiter/compressors at Pathway. I know because I recapped them for Mike Finesilver in the '90s...

Trivia: Mike (BTW an extremely nice guy....) co-wrote "Fire" for The Crazy World of Arthur Brown" ...

Cheers,

Gwyn