The recording was made in Studio 1 Pebble Mill. The piano pieces are,
“Aquarelle” by Edric Cundell.
“Rumores de la Caleta (Malaguena)” by Isaac Albeniz.
A Metamorphosis of a theme by Maurice Ravel.
Studio 1 was a large radio studio designed for classical music broadcasting. The acoustics were excellent but did suffer from low level traffic noise at rush hour. Many live Radio 3 lunch time concerts were broadcast there. It was originally equipped with a BBC “Type D” mixing desk. This became unreliable after many years use. And in 1992 it was replaced with a AMS Logic One digital mixing desk. This was semi-assignable and featured a “Audiofile” 8 track digital recording and editing system. This equipment was not very user friendly so I made my recording on a portable DAT recorder.
After the introduction of “Producer Choice” Studio 1 became too expensive for radio use. It was then used as a TV studio. The acoustics were then not ideal for speech based TV programmes. Midlands Today used Studio 1 when Studio B was being refurbished. And several viewers asked why it now had an echo!
Peter Poole
Studio 1 photo by Willoughby Gullachsen
The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook Group:
Harvey Pope: ‘Am I correct in remembering a Children in Need night being broadcast from there? I was sent to do warm-up at Star City with Denise Lewis!’
Pete Simpkin:’It was a terrific experience to visit Studio 1 in the great days and watch mighty orchestras…up to 70 or 80 players at work. Also many audience shows were taped there…. and who will forget the amazing staff meetings for things like the visit of the DG!!’