Some of the team have been sharing their first studio setups. Mike Thornton started back in 1978, with the mixer and outboard designed and built by Mike to save money.
My first job was as a technician apprentice at Marconi Communication Systems Ltd. in 1976. For the first year, I lived in hostel accommodation provided by the company for apprentices. By January 1978, I had moved out into a residential caravan, as I couldn’t afford to buy a house on an apprentice’s salary in and around Chelmsford.
I started with a crude self-built mixer and Ferrograph Series 4 valve 1/4 inch tape recorders.
By 1979, this had improved. As you can see, space was at a premium; the studio was in the kitchen, occupying the space that would typically have a small dining table and chairs. Whilst still an apprentice, I was already involved in Hospital Radio Chelmsford, providing sound effects and show sound for the amateur dramatic and operatic societies in and around the Chelmsford area. My studio enabled me to prepare content for shows and events.
The mixing console was self-built to my own design, right down to the circuit design and I made my own printed circuit boards. In fact, the metalwork for the mixer was made from offcuts of double-sided PCBs soldered up to make the boxes with the front panels spray painted and everything labelled using Letraset. Most of the components, copper-clad printed circuit boards and specialised parts, including the PPMs, came from Redundant Stores at work, where you could buy redundant equipment and parts.
The two 1/4" tape recorders were Ferrograh Series 7s, and the turntables were Garrad SP25 Mk 3s. The mic was a Shure 545, a lower-cost SM57 bought secondhand.
I made the ‘cart’ machine on top of the mixer to the left using modified 8-track mechanisms. The cartridges were hand-wound using lubricated tape. I recorded the material using the Ferrographs before loading it into a cartridge. I looped it with a small section of aluminium foil, which triggered the mechanism to stop at the correct place, ready for replaying again.
The left-hand rack had a Leak valve FM tuner, which my dad gave to me when he upgraded his hi-fi setup, and a small jackfield (patchbay), which he again bought from Redundant Stores. The right-hand rack had a self-designed dual compressor limiter and digital delay unit.
At the time, the monitor speakers were a pair of Wharfedale Denton hi-fi speakers, but soon after these pictures were taken, they were replaced by my first pair of Rogers LS3/5a BBC monitors, which I continued to use for over 30 years.
For more details on the development of Mike’s studio over the years check out My Studio Then And Now - Mike Thornton which features this very studio and the development of Mike’s current studio.