Talk:Basing Street Studios

Why so Thin?
It would be good to get this article bulked out; Sarm has a great history. I've chucked in a coule of things I have first hand experience of, but there's lots more that's now only a dim memory which someone else might be able to fill in (not least because I'd POV it!)? e.g. The piano in Studio 2 was always said to be Noel Coward's, and apparently had been there since the days when it was the Decca(?) studio when he supposedly recorded 'Mad Dogs & Englishmen' et al. I have no idea whether it's true or apocryphal (particularly as that would have been the forties), but it brings up another issue on timing - I don't think Sarm was called Sarm way back in 1970, when the discography in this 'Sarm' article starts, so the LedZep etc stuff probably shouldn't be in - or should a discography go right back to its first use as a studio, in which case there's a lot pre-1970 that's missing? My view is that it should only be listed from when it was sold to Trev/Jill (start of the 80's?). And Sarm only became Sarm West when they later opened Sarm East (Aldgate area - has it now closed?). Also there's a LOT of great albums missing from the discography - Grace Jones springs to mind, as does ABC, Yes 90125, Art of Noise. I think Jill's accident is also very relevant (because she was the powerhouse of Sarm/ZTT et al), but I don't know enough to know how that should be written up. Little grape (talk) 15:56, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

Picking up on what the studio was called when... The facility opened in 1970 under the name "Island Studios". It was renamed "Basing Street Studios" in 1975 when Muff Winwood was put in charge. In 1982 the studios were purchased by ZTT and renamed Sarm West. It closed in late 2014. I was there in the early 70s until Muff took over FWIW, but an authoritative reference for the above would be "The Great British Recording Studios", Howard Massey, pp261-265 (Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 978-1-4584-2197-5). A bit pushed for time or I would write this up myself... Richard E (talk) 11:51, 31 August 2021 (UTC)


 * I've done some work on this article and the Sarm East article, but there is still more work to be done. I wonder whether the subjects would be better served by splitting Island Studios to its own article, then merging the Sarm East and Sarm West articles into one Sarm Studios article. I just acquired my own copy of the Massey book, so I'll use that to expand further. synthfiend (talk) 14:51, 3 December 2021 (UTC)

Wrong redirect
If "SARM Studios are formerly known as SARM West Studios" as the article says, then Sarm Studios should be the title of the article, with SARM West Studios a redirect to Sarm Studios. This is the exact opposite of what we have now, thus the need for rectification.werldwayd (talk) 08:38, 3 January 2012 (UTC)
 * See proposal below. SilkTork (talk) 12:33, 4 November 2022 (UTC)

Was? Were?
The article begins with a "was" statement, the next sentence is a "were" statement. Did they close? If so, when? 2602:306:CD9B:E9A0:5560:1889:FD95:84E (talk) 18:07, 16 April 2017 (UTC)ES

Proposal
I agree with synthfiend that it would be more appropriate and less of a confusion if Sarm West Studios was merged with Sarm East Studios to create a Sarm Studios article, and Island Studios/Basing Street Studios had its own article. I landed here from a Basing Street Studios redirect, and there was a moment of uncertainty as its not until the third line that Basing Street Studios is mentioned. My instinct is that Island/Basing Street is the most notable and well known incarnation of the building, which was originally a church, and is currently residential and office space, though there are, apparently, still two studios there. There is a Blue plaque for recordings by Bob Marley when it was still Basing Street Studios. So a standalone article for Basing Street Studios seems relevant. However, Sarm is notable for being the studio used for "Do They Know It's Christmas?", so it does have continued notability - though that feels appropriate as part of an article on Sarm Studios as a whole, which would include Sarm Music Village, which was later acquired by Three Six Zero. Various other sources that came up on a quick search: Muzines, Sarm Studios history, BBC Radio documentary on Basing Street Studio, BlackCabLondon.

Unless there is an objection, I propose to rename Sarm East Studios to Sarm Studios, redirecting searches for Sarm West Studios, Sarm East Studios and Sarm Music Village to Sarm Studios, and rename Sarm West Studios to Basing Street Studios, redirecting Island Studios to that title. The two articles - Basing Street Studios and Sarm Studios - would be rewritten to focus on the recordings, history, and activities related to each, though with appropriate mention of each other, and links where relevant. SilkTork (talk) 12:33, 4 November 2022 (UTC)


 * I think the split worked very well - thank you!! I just finished re-writing the Basing Street Studios article, and will work on improving the Sarm Studios article sometime in the future. synthfiend (talk) 21:11, 18 November 2022 (UTC)