| Since first opening his South Melbourne studios in 1965, Bill Armstrong's name has been synonymous with the Australian recording industry. Literally thousands of acts, both Australian and international have used our rooms in the 40+ years since then. With names such as Bowie, Farnham, Jagger and Meldrum, it's no wonder that we've remained a force in a difficult industry. The sixties and seventies saw Armstrong's build its reputation as the largest studios in the southern hemisphere. Over that period, 80% of hit records for EMI, RCA, Mushroom and Fable were recorded in our rooms. We saw The Aztecs, The Easybeats, The Masters Apprentices, and Russell Morris with engineers and producers including Ian 'Molly' Meldrum, Ern Rose, and Roger Savage. The eighties came and nothing slowed down. That was when our now chief engineer Doug Brady joined the crew. He started off with a bang, recording and mixing Australia's highest selling record of all time: John Farnham's Whispering Jack and went on to win ARIA engineer of the year three times. There was more to come, with U2, Paul McCartney, Madonna, Bob Dylan, Split Enz, and Australian Crawl all using the facilities. The late eighties also saw a brand change, as Ern Rose took over, and Armstrong's was renamed Metropolis. Over the past fifteen years we've seen acts including Nick Cave, Hunter's and Collectors, Delta Goodrem, Kylie Minogue and many, many more. And now, as we move into a new era, we return to the famed Armstrong's label. 
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"It was at Armstrong's that John(ny) Farnham, accompanied by the whirring vacuum belonging to the studio's cleaning lady, Mrs Cook, had his first hit Sadie the Cleaning Lady. It was here too that Ian "Molly" Meldrum chewed up a small fortune of recording company EMI's funds, producing the epic The Real Thing, with its added sitars, strings and multiple sound effects. The Easybeats came to Armstrong's to record the backing track to their first hit, She's So Fine." Gary Tippet, The Age
October 15, 2006 |
