Sugar Ray’s Vintage Recording Studio, set in a garden centre in Wickford, Essex, just north of London, is the brainchild of Pat Reyford aka ‘Sugar Ray Ford’, Dean Amos and Dave Privett. This trio of rock’n’roll artists who had participated in the rockin’ scene since the 1970s had felt nonplussed at the results which modern recording studios achieved and were inspired around 2011 to recreate a 1950s recording studio in the tradition of Norman Petty’s studio in Lubbock Texas, Sam Phillips’ Sun studios in Memphis and Cosimo Matassa’s studios in New Orleans. Paul Waring explained in Kustom in 2014 that : “If you go to any rock’n’roll record hop or band night, you will often hear a stark difference between the original discs our deejays play on the rockin’ scene and the sound of both the newer recordings and the stage performances of the current bands which play in a rock’n’roll style. That is the gap the folks at Sugar Ray’s are trying to close.”
Sugar Ray’s Studio was operational by 2013 after two years of an enormous undertaking which had many ups and downs along the way, mainly sourcing equipment and shipping it from the USA with endless air-miles and finding parts for 60-70-year-old equipment. Also most importantly getting the right technicians to repair and setup everything to work together and work as it should do. A further four-year field-testing of the equipment and ironing out technical problems before those involved felt they had achieved their aims of recreating the American recording environment of the 1950s.
with the correct Sound Proofing, Acoustic Screening, and Decor to suit, including a Chillout Green Room complete with Genuine 1950s Furniture. Dean’s attention to detail was un-compromised, and it shows in Sugar Rays.
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