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Maida Vale Studios is a complex of sevenBBC sound studios, of which five are in regular use, in Delaware Road,Maida Vale, westLondon.
It has been used to record thousands ofclassical music,popular music and drama sessions forBBC Radio 1,BBC Radio 2,BBC Radio 3,BBC Radio 4 andBBC Radio 6 Music from 1946 to the present. On 30 October 2009, BBC Radio 1 celebrated75 Years of Maida Vale by exclusively playing 75 tracks recorded at the studios over the years.Snow Patrol played a live set from the studio withFearne Cotton to celebrate 75 years of live music from the venue.
In June 2018, the BBC announced the closure of the studios.[1] In May 2020,Historic England designated it as a Grade IIListed Building.[2] The BBC plans to vacate the premises by 2025,[3] moving into a new development which is part of theOlympic Park, offering high-tech facilities and two spaces for public concerts.[4]
In August 2023, the studios were sold to a partnership betweenTim Bevan &Eric Fellner, andHans Zimmer & Steven Kofsky.[5]
The complex was built in 1909[6][7] as the Maida Vale Roller Skating Palace and Club.[8][9][6][10] Over a period of 15 months in 1933/1934, one hundred men reduced theskating rink to a shell, then rebuilt it as a BBC facility.[11][12][self-published source?] The arches at the doorway were preserved. It was one of the BBC's earliest premises, and was the centre of theBBC News operation duringWorld War II.
It has been the home of theBBC Symphony Orchestra since 1934,[13] where the orchestra has given invitation concerts, usually free. As a schoolboy, conductorVernon Handley learned some of his technique by watchingSir Adrian Boult conduct the BBC Symphony Orchestra here. Studio MV1 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 in later years the orchestra was sometimes able to do re-takes. It is the largest classical music studio in London.[11]
TheBBC Third Programme (which becameBBC Radio 3 in 1967) was created in September 1946. By the 1950s, it was frequently broadcasting concerts from this venue, including the first broadcast performance ofCarl Orff'sCarmina Burana, given by the resident orchestra with theGoldsmiths Choral Union and soloists. Some premieres of British classical music were recorded in studio MV1, including works byRobert Simpson,Arnold Bax,Nicholas Maw,Alan Rawsthorne andSir Arthur Bliss. Many of them later became available on vinyl or CD.Olivier Messiaen'sTurangalîla-Symphonie was rehearsed here, before its UK premiere at theRoyal Festival Hall.
In 1958, theBBC Radiophonic Workshop was created, and based at Maida Vale Studios until its closure in 1998; the pioneering Delaware synthesiser made byEMS takes its name from the studios' address. The workshop's rooms are now used as a small TV studio for theFilm programme, audio archiving facilities, engineering workshops and office space. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the radio programmeMovie-Go-Round was broadcast from here, in whichPeter Haigh played sound clips from major films.The Beatles used studio MV5 several times in 1963 to record sessions for BBC Radio. The sessions forJohn Peel's BBC Radio 1 programme as well asPeter Clayton'sSounds of Jazz (broadcast on Sunday evenings using the BBC Radio 2 VHF transmitters) were also recorded at Maida Vale.[14]
The studios have been under regular threat of closure by BBC management: the building is in need of constant maintenance and due to its location in a residential area there are limits to the hours of operation and access. In July 2007, the BBC announced that the studios were "wholly unsuitable for the 21st century", and it was reported that it would be sold to property developers as part of cost-cutting measures.[15]
On 5 June 2018, the BBC announced that the studios would close by 2023.[1] The intention is for the BBC's live music base to be relocated inStratford, east London.[16] It plans to move staff to a new development inStratford by 2025.[17] The decision drew criticism fromGeoff Barrow ofPortishead andRadiohead producerNigel Godrich.[18]
TheCOVID-19 outbreak led to the BBC closing the building temporarily, with effect from 27 March 2020. The building has since been re-opened.
On 5 May 2020, the studios were added to the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest byHistoric England.[2] In September 2020, it was revealed that the BBC were lodging an objection to the listing, reportedly so that it could sell off the property.[19] It was reported in February 2022 that the UK'sDepartment for Culture, Media and Sport had turned down the appeal.[20] The building isGrade II listed.[2]
In November 2022, the studios went on sale for over £10.5 million.[21] The studios were subsequently sold to a partnership between Tim Bevan & Eric Fellner, and Hans Zimmer & Steven Kofsky for £10.5 million.[5]
From 1967 to 2004, theJohn Peel Sessions were recorded in studio MV4. At first, a number of other venues around London were also used, such as thePlayhouse Theatre inCharing Cross, but as these ceased to be used by the BBC, the sessions increasingly centred on Maida Vale 4. Music sessions were once a mainstay of BBC Radio programming, as there were strict limits on the amount of commercially recorded music that could be aired, known asneedle-time restrictions, so the BBC regularly booked musicians to record music exclusively for broadcast. In the early 1960s, when the BBC began to give some limited coverage of pop groups such asThe Beatles, it was found that the sessions allowed up-and-coming bands to gain exposure, and for musicians and groups to try out new material, play covers they would not include on their albums, whilst also experimenting with different sounds and guest musicians.[citation needed]
With the introduction ofRadio 1 in 1967, programmes such asTop Gear embraced this concept, with sessions from such stars-in-waiting asDavid Bowie,Led Zeppelin andJimi Hendrix. When one ofTop Gear's presenters,John Peel, gained his own programme, specially commissioned recording sessions had a new outlet. Most of the artists were relatively unknown even to Peel's listeners: he and his producer would often invite bands on the strength of a rough demo tape or gig to hear what they could do, and for many of the bands it was their first experience of a professional recording studio, not to mention a much-needed boost to their finances. The format became standardised as a single session in the studio with a staff producer and engineer (or more latterly a producer-engineer and assistant), during which the artists would record four songs, but there were also some sessions which were either live to air, or pre-recorded as live with an audience. Other Radio 1 programmes and DJs adopted a similar system of Maida Vale sessions, such asJanice Long,Andy Kershaw, andThe Evening Session (whose former host,Zane Lowe, has nicknamed the studio 'Maida Vegas'), as well as the more direct inheritors of the Peel Sessions tradition,Huw Stevens,Rob da Bank andMike Davies.[citation needed]
Peel said "The Clash did half one, then amazingly said that the equipment in the studio wasn't up to the standards they'd expected so they couldn't complete the session. Which seemed to me to be unbearably pretentious of them".[22] Some albums bythe Fall were entirely recorded there. The last band to record a Peel session was Skimmer, at Maida Vale Studios on 21 October 2004.[citation needed]
Robin Dallaway ofThe Cravats remarked that recording at Maida Vale was like stepping back into the 1940s: "blokes in brown stockmen's coats scurried around fixing stuff and plugging our gear in."[23] WhenBroadcast made their Peel sessions, Trish Keenan 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 andShostakovich 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."[citation needed]
Other BBC disc jockeys invited artists to perform at Maida Vale:Led Zeppelin recorded forAlexis Korner'sRhythm and Blues programme in 1969,Walter Trout andRob Tognoni recorded forPaul Jones's R & B show,Marillion recorded for Radio 2 DJBob Harris andJo Whiley invitedHard Fi to play at the studios. The venue is also the home of the BBC Elstree Concert Band. The Radio 3 Jazz Line Up sessions were recorded here.[citation needed]
Bing Crosby did his last recording session on 11 October 1977 at Maida Vale. The last song of the session was "Summer Wind" and the last song on the album is "Once in a While."[24]
In October 1996,George Michael recorded a rehearsal for, what would be days later, his hit MTV Unplugged performance.
In 1994, the Beatles' albumLive at the BBC was released, with most of the material having been recorded at Maida Vale. Several other albums, sometimes named after the studios, were recorded in studio MV4.Van der Graaf Generator released an album calledMaida Vale in 1994. Portions of October 1990 and September 1991 sessions byNirvana were released in 2004 on the band'sWith the Lights Outbox set. In 2006, the groupHefner released an album calledMaida Vale, which was recorded here.The White Stripes included their version of theDusty Springfield classic "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself", recorded for The Evening Session in MV4 by Miti Adhikari on their albumElephant. In 2002,Andrea Bocelli'sSentimento was made at the studios. The label Maida Vale Records, a subsidiary ofCooking Vinyl, has a policy of releasing material from various radio stations.[citation needed] Radiohead recorded their 2011 live videoThe King of Limbs: Live from the Basement at Maida Vale.[25]
51°31′33″N0°11′25″W / 51.5258°N 0.1904°W /51.5258; -0.1904
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