Dean Street Studios Auctions 'Downtime' On Ebay

Dean Street Studios, which once belonged to legendary producer Tony Visconti, has become the first ever commercial recording studio to auction downtime on eBay.
Dean Street Studio's first auction took place in September and was so successful that the facility now plans to run this as a regular event. The offer includes the use of all the equipment in the studio, plus back-up from in-house engineers to help with the tricky technical stuff.
Recently re-opened under new management, Dean Street Studios is widely regarded as one of the finest studio environments in the UK. It also has an incredible history, not least as the place where Tony Visconti ran his famous Good Earth Studios for nearly two decades. Over the years many notable artists have recorded here, including Thin Lizzy, U2, Moody Blues, Adam Ant, Prefab Sprout and The Alarm.
This was also the studio where Dusty Springfield made her last ever recording and where Stephen Fry read the Harry Potter books for release on spoken word.
This rich pedigree is set to continue under the new management team, which consists of five partners, all with relevant media backgrounds. They include Jasmin and Suzanne Lee, respectively daughter and former wife of Alvin Lee from seminal rock band Ten Years After. Alvin, Suzanne and Jasmin used to live at Hook End Manor in Oxfordshire where Alvin built the studio that has now become SARM Hook End. In 1980, Hook End was bought by David Gilmore and the Lee family moved to Wheeler End Studios, which Jasmin and Suzanne still run as a successful residential facility.
The other partners are Brenda Rowe, who owns a documentary production company in Bristol and produces fly on the wall, investigative and factual programmes for ITV, C4 and C5; Ben Roulston, a recording engineer who has worked at many high profile studios and post production houses and Keith Mahony, a producer/engineer who is part of Cult London band Art Brut. Keith previously ran his own studio but joined forces with the rest of the team to create the new Dean Street Studios, bringing with him a fantastic selection of vintage recording gear.
Dean Street Studio's first eBay auction resulted in The Draytones, signed to indie label 1965 Records, picking up a day of studio time for less than £200. They used the time to record a cover of a Holy Ghost Revival track, which will be released as an AA limited edition single. Holy Ghost Revival, also signed to 1965 Records, is covering a Draytones track as the flip-side single.
"We plan to auction at least one day a month so that a wide variety of artists and bands, including those who are unsigned, can experience the history and vibe that make this studio so great," said studio manager Jasmin Lee.
"It's going to be a question of "watch this space" because we'll be putting time up for auction at short notice and it will go to the highest bidder. We think this will provide smaller bands with a great opportunity to make use of our facilities and get a professional recording."
Since opening in August, Dean Street Studio has recorded tracks for Kid Harpoon and Department S. Other projects have included an evening for the BT Digital Music Awards where The Hedrons and Lil Chris recorded and filmed live performances and interviews for screening on Channel 4.
(DS)