History of The Lab Studios
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). Bill's tape machine from 1963 the one he started off with. 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.
The Lab version 2.00 above the Jansen factory Akipiro St just off Dominion Rd 1985 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.
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