RECORDING STUDIO

A state of the art recording facility combining the latest digital technology with some of the best classic analogue equipment to have been developed over the last 30 years. Built by industry veteran Malcolm Toft responsible for the Trident sound of the 70's & 80's this studio gives you the warmth you remember music having, with the flexibility of modern recording.

Including

Classic MTA Analogue Console Full fader Automation Mackie HDR24/96 Recorder Live Room & Drum Booth High Quality Microphones Great Outboard equipment Production Facility Available Mobile Facility Available 30 Years Industry Experience Professional Friendly staff

Just Off Abbey Road is a new, state of the art, 24 track recording studio located close to the centre of Torquay. It is owned by Malcolm Toft who has an impressive history in the recording industry. In the late 1960's he was a recording engineer at the legendary Trident Recording Studios in London's Soho. This was the studio used by The Beatles to record their biggest selling single 'Hey Jude' and Malcolm was the mixing engineer for the session. He also engineered David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' album as well as three albums by T-Rex, James Taylor's first album and records by Joe Cocker, Jeff Beck and Peter Frampton among many others.

In the early seventies he founded a company called Trident Audio to design and produce mixing consoles. Just about every major recording artist from Stevie Wonder to Dire Straits has used his equipment since then. Recently his consoles have been bought by Radiohead to record their platinum album O.K. Computer and also Robbie Williams producer Steve Powers. Malcolm is still actively involved in the design of professional audio equipment and in October will be in Los Angeles to launch a range of signal processors under the name of 'Toft Audio Designs'.

He moved to Torquay eighteen months ago and decided to fulfil an ambition to actually use one of the consoles he has designed! Consequently the studio is equipped with a forty channel version fitted with twenty four moving faders. The studio is designed to work with real musicians and is fitted with a separate drum booth plus facilities for up to eight musicians in the recording room. The spacious control room has lots of outboard equipment, a Mackie HDR 24/96 twenty four track recording system and superb monitoring facilities. Only the very best condenser microphones are used and consequently the studio produces an excellent drum sound. Just off Abbey Road Studios can produce finished recordings ready for release by any major record company.

Day to day running of the studio is left to Tim Powell-Morris who himself is an excellent drummer and keyboard player. Tim is also making a name for himself as a producer/engineer and has been working with a number of local artists on their projects. Malcolm and Tim realise that recording can be a daunting experience for bands who are not used to the process. For this reason everything is done to put the client at ease, including fresh coffee and a separate bar where they can smoke a cigarette, have a drink and look out over the magnificent views of Torbay. There are also many local bed and  breakfasts within walking distance of the studio should a client wish to travel from outside the area to record. Malcolm and Tim are more than happy to invite prospective customers over to the studio to listen to their work and discuss any projects they may want to record.

The Story Of Malcolm

Malcolm started his career as a recording engineer in the mid 1960's and joined Trident Recording studios when it opened in 1968. As the first 8 track facility in Europe, Trident soon became the top London Studio. Consequently many famous artists either started their careers there or came to record.

Among those that Malcolm recorded were: David Bowie's first album ( A space Oddity), three albums for T-Rex, James Taylor's first album, Joe Cocker, Mary Hopkins (Those Were The Days, single and album) and he was the mixing engineer for the Beatles 'Hey Jude' single. This was the first time the Beatles had recorded outside Abbey Road studios and it went on to become their biggest selling single. Other artists who started their careers at Trident include Elton John, Genesis and Queen (who were actually discovered and managed by the studios).

In 1970 he became manager of Trident and in 1971 it was decided that a new recording console was required for the move to 24 track recording. Malcolm convinced the studio owners that they could in fact manufacture their own and was given the task of designing the systems and supervising the project. It soon became evident that other studios were interested in Trident's new console design and Malcolm suggested that a company should be formed to manufacture and sell the recording consoles. Trident Audio Developments was formed in 1972 and soon developed into an international multi-million pound business. In 1986 the company produced the first large scale digitally controlled analogue recording console the Trident Di-An, which became a benchmark in the field of recording console design. In 1988 Malcolm sold the business to a public company

In 1992 Malcolm went on to design a new recording console for clients in America and as a result founded MTA: Malcolm Toft Associates Ltd . MTA consoles are owned by among others: The Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA), Perth College, Carlton Television, Radiohead, Paul Weller, Stephen Hague (producer of the Pet Shop Boys), Terry Britten (writer of 'What's Love Got To Do With It' for Tina Turner), Radio Television Malaysia and various London film and television post production companies. Currently Malcolm is designing a new range of Pro Audio equipment set to hit the studios on both sides of the Atlantic in the very near future.

Special Deal For That Special Moment

For that special touch for your loved one, in association with Malcolm we can now offer the facility to record a special song for the one you love, experience the feel of a professional recording studio, No experience needed as we will provide over 3000 songs for you to choose from and display the words on a monitor, in the same way karaoke is displayed.

Malcolm and Tim will then edit, cut and master the recording onto a digital CD for you to present to your loved one.

All this for the amazing price of just

1 Track £50.00   2 tracks £75.00

For more tracks P.O.A.

For more details regarding this offer e-mail us

Track playing recorded in studio