Springvale Studios was established in 1986 and is a converted stables of a country house equipped with Protools TDM and a lot of old outboard tat like Gates, Lexicon, Neve, RCA, Urei, Vortexion and Microphones by Akg, Neumann, Sennheiser, Shure and Talking Dog.
The proprietor Mark Fairfax-Harwood following an angelic stint as a Choir Boy doubling oboe, double bass and the obligatory piano descended into the depths of depravity by becoming interested in electric guitars drum kits and the like.
So by the ripe old age of 19 had managed to form a band
that had signed the usual perfectly fraudulent recording contract in Germany.
This was called "Winston" and in a misguided and twisted sense of revenge (in part for the second world war) we toured extensively playing a set of heavy rock songs of a strong emetic character. (well every where we played smelt of sick, perhaps it was us)
Anyway to cut a long story short we decided after copious quantities of good german beer and naughty african cigarettes to return to good old Blighty to sign to Island records.
This was a big surprise to Island as the head of the um and argh department had not the slightest intension of us doing so.
I managed however to get employment in 1977 with Polydor records due to my engineering qualifications as a gopher/tape op and moonlighted to make my rent with
Tasco sound and light and anybody else who would pay me.
Before long Polydor recognized my obvious talent and sent
me to the far edge of the then pre M25 universe, in fact as far out as Woking where I personally discovered those quintessential new wave mods The Jam, the rest as they say is history.
Other than of course if like some you happen to be stuck in 1977, then of course its the future.
What happened between then and now has been for me a steady downward spiral of degradation and debauchery leading to Hardcore Punk via Hip Hop and finally Death Metal. Shall I now be denied the Kingdom of heaven?.
Rock and Roll takes its toll you know!.