The Lab Studios (A brief history from 1981 - 2006)

(Taken from an interview by Chris Gee with Bill Lattimer with some edited comments)

In 1960's England a 10-year-old boy saved up enough money from his paper round to buy a 2-track tape machine. (Incidentally, this machine is still in his possession). He soon discovered that by recording off his record player, then playing it back alongside his turntable and slowing it down with his finger, he could create some interesting phasing sounds and echo's as they went in and out of synch. That soundscape pioneer was none other than Bill Lattimer, one of the real characters of the NZ Music industry, and founder and co-owner of Auckland's seminal recording space, The Lab Studios. Bill immigrated with his wife Pam to New Zealand in 1970. I asked him why he left the UK and with a slight smirk he replied, "Well The Beatles had just broken up, hadn't they! And I always had this idea in the back of my head to be 'The Sun Records' of the South Pacific. You know just like a great place to be! " My analogy was sort of this image of all my influences like where the Delta, the Mersey and the Tyne meet. He brought his passion for music and experimentation with him.

In 1973 Bill found a rehearsal room in Otahuhu for his band, which he then started hiring out to friends and other bands. He bought his first four track recorder, a ¼" Teac tape machine in Fiji, on route to America where he and Pam lived and worked in the music scene over there. They then returned to NZ in 1979, and finally Bill, together with 'A little help from his friends', began building his own recording studio. Lab Studio was opened in November 1981, located in a basement on Fanshawe Street, Auckland.

Within a year or so such artists as The Double Happy's, The Chills, The Verlaines, Straight Jacket Fits, Sneaky Feelings, The Mockers, Exploding Budgies, The Downie Brothers, Shane & Murray H, (even the young Rus Le Roq was using the studio) along with a host of other alternative bands were recording their own style of innovative music at The Lab. Between 1981 - 1984 The Lab upgraded from 4 track to 8 track to 16 track and invested in a new desk which gave the large control room a much more professional look and sound. In 1985 The Lab moved to a temporary space above Jansen's Amp & Guitar manufacturing factory in Akipiro Street, where bands such as Look Blue Go Purple, The fold, Stonehenge and Goblin Mix all recorded there. Every space imaginable was used as a recording space, including the marble foyer, and Jansen's loading dock, plus the transit truck for vocals. It was about this time that Bill started his own music instrument shop, the now legendary 'Bungalow Bills Music Shop'. It was now time for a home for The Lab, and in 1986 a new studio was built in Symonds Street in the warehouse at the back of the shop. Here, Greg Johnson, Strawpeople, Chris Knox, ITV, Cosa Nostra, Rhythm Cage, Dribbling Darts, MC OJ and Rhythm Slave, Larry Killip, Hallelujah Picasso's, The Warner's, Urban Disturbance and a young Garageland came to make their history. Cliff and The Shadows made the most of their rehearsal time at The Lab while in NZ.

The addition of a large Soundtracks mixing desk in 1989 was a major purchase for The Lab. As was the 2' 24 track Otari machine in November 1994. Around that time we were also using Roland's first 8-track digital recorder. In 1991 Bill started his own record label that became known as Deepgrooves. Within 2 years he handed it over to the 2 guys he'd invited in to market and produce records. With the development of Symonds Street block to make way for development, The Lab was forced into a somewhat fortuitous move, the perfect space was found underneath The Crystal Palace Movie theatre in Mt Eden, and in 1998 Bill, his mate St. Brian Smith and a host of cool guys began the building of The Lab 4.0

A partnership between College Hill and Lab Studios arose in the year 2000, spawning a wealth of upgrades and improvements that have continued to this day. Today a simple unlabelled door belies the entrance to one of Auckland's premier studios, which is well equipped with the latest in digital and analogue format recording gear. The digital suite consists of a 24ch in/out Protools HD2 Accel system with apogee converters, allowing compatibility with other studios from around the world. For those preferring analogue recording an Otari mk2 2" tape machine is still on hand. The control room possesses an impressive array of outboard equipment including Lexicon and Yamaha reverbs, DBX and Drawmer compressors/limiters and 3 different Roland tape machines.

Many consider the 1050-ft² main recording room the best sounding room in the city. This warm and relaxing space gives a natural sound and reverb without strange flutter, echo's or room resonance due to its non parallel surfaces and beautifully polished wood floor allowing everything from drums to string sections to be recorded with ambient room mics. The 80-ft² isolation booth is a small, dampened and dry space ideal for that 70's drum sound, vocals or loud amps during live recordings. The Lab has an extensive kit of Neumann's, AKG, and Shure microphones to record with including some classic valve U67's. Any businesses prime asset will always be its people, and a studio is no exception. The Lab has had some of New Zealand's est sound engineers pass through its doors over the years, such as Mark Tierney, Chris Van Der Geer, Terry Moore, Larry Killip, Chris Tate, Tom Miskin, Mat Hiene Paul Crowther and a bunch of other cool guys who are now working overseas.

Today after a long career as a live sound and studio engineer in Christchurch, Olly Harmer holds the position of in-house engineer. Olly has been instrumental in bringing The Lab Studios to the high standard it achieves today. In the last few years the Lab has been the choice of artists as diverse as Trip to the Moon, Blindspot, Golden Horse, Billy Connolly, Brooke Fraser, Don McGlashan, Caitlin Smith, Deja Voodoo, Elememo P, P-Money, Pluto, Scribe, The Unusuals, Zed, The Void, One Million Dollars, The Larry Normans, Gasoline Cowboy, and is the regular haunt of legendary music producers such as Murray Grinlay, Paul Mathews, Nick Manders, Chris Van Der Geer. A competitive pricing plan places The Lab Studios still as the spawning ground for much of New Zealand's finest music and talent.

The Lab Studios will be 25 years old in November 2006.