So Harry’s giving me a tour of Barnes.\u00c2\u00a0 His hood, as the homies would say.<\/p>\n
It’s just west of where Richard lives.\u00c2\u00a0 Across Putney Bridge.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s a main drag, or as they call it here, a HIGH Street, with an endless row off non-chain shops.\u00c2\u00a0 Even an electrical shop, where Harry had his Dyson fixed.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s kind of like Connecticut, or Westchester, but without any changes in topography, and more shops.<\/p>\n
And, in the middle of the ongoing commentary, Harry says Barnes is where OLYMPIC is!<\/p>\n
Check your albums.\u00c2\u00a0 You know you read the credits.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got them in your memory bank somewhere.<\/p>\n
So, we pull up right in front.\u00c2\u00a0 Olympic Studios is DIGNIFIED, not a San Fernando Valley concrete building bunker but a mini-temple, with the date of its erection, 1906, engraved in the facade.<\/p>\n
Parking alongside to get some "take away" from the Indian restaurant across the street, Harry suddenly got that gleam in his eye and asked me, did I want to go in?<\/p>\n
It’s almost 11 p.m., but there’s a receptionist inside the smoked doors.\u00c2\u00a0 At first I think it’s an illusion, but then I see him moving.<\/p>\n
Harry hits the buzzer, we’re let in, and then Harry asks if SPIKE is there.<\/p>\n
To his amazement, he is.<\/p>\n
And then an assistant engineer retrieves us.\u00c2\u00a0 And takes us downstairs.\u00c2\u00a0 To where many of the world’s most famous records are mixed.\u00c2\u00a0 By one Mark "Spike" Stent.<\/p>\n
Oh, there are endless Apple Cinema Displays.\u00c2\u00a0 A board with enough inputs for an orchestra.\u00c2\u00a0 Massive speakers in the wall.\u00c2\u00a0 And two sets of reference monitors atop the console.\u00c2\u00a0 This is where Spike works.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s his room.\u00c2\u00a0 This is where he mixes the likes of Madonna and Black Eyed Peas and Gwen Stefani.\u00c2\u00a0 RIGHT HERE!<\/p>\n
Oh, in the talk of MP3s, of a dying business, we’ve lost track of the pulse.\u00c2\u00a0 But in this dark room, near midnight, I was reminded of what got me into this business.\u00c2\u00a0 THE MUSIC!<\/p>\n
All the gear.\u00c2\u00a0 All the effects.\u00c2\u00a0 Raw creativity at one’s fingertips.\u00c2\u00a0 Adrenaline coursed through my body.<\/p>\n
As for Spike…\u00c2\u00a0 He had none of the attitude of a star, none of the airs of the successful, he behaved like the guy who lives next door, who you converse with over a beer.<\/p>\n
And once he found out I was a believer he wondered, did I want to go UPSTAIRS?<\/p>\n
And then he took us into Olympic 1.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, they’ve redone it.\u00c2\u00a0 The mixing console is no longer on the second floor, the cheap linoleum tile is gone.\u00c2\u00a0 But this is where they cut those Rolling Stones and Who records.\u00c2\u00a0 RIGHT HERE!<\/p>\n
I’m wandering around the room.\u00c2\u00a0 Looking at all the GEAR!\u00c2\u00a0 The raw materials of music.<\/p>\n
All the bluster about a shrinking business, theft of the music, it all fell away.\u00c2\u00a0 After all, you don’t focus on b.s. in the temple, you just soak up the religion.<\/p>\n
Right here, in this upscale bedroom community, was the birthplace of some of the greatest records in the history of rock and roll.<\/p>\n
It’s still standing.<\/p>\n
Just like those records.<\/p>\n
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So Harry’s giving me a tour of Barnes.\u00c2\u00a0 His hood, as the homies would say. It’s just west of where Richard lives.\u00c2\u00a0 Across Putney Bridge.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s a main drag, or as they call it here, a HIGH Street, with an endless row off non-chain shops.\u00c2\u00a0 Even an electrical shop, where Harry had his Dyson fixed.\u00c2\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business","category-the-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-2X","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}