London’s AIR Studios under threat due to noise disruptions

The recording complex was founded by Beatles producer George Martin in 1965

London’s world-famous AIR Studios could be forced to close due to noise disruptions from nearby redevelopment work.

The recording complex was founded by The Beatles‘ producer George Martin in 1965 and relocated to its current home in Hampstead Heath, north London in 1992.

Now, its future is under threat because of planned building work next door to the studio. The private property plans to build a luxury basement complex which would include a swimming pool, gym, sauna and cinema, according to reports. It is feared that the noise pollution from the building work would interfere with the studio’s ability to record, leading to loss of income and potential closure.

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Oscar-winning film composer Hans Zimmer, who has recorded the scores for Interstellar and The Hunger Games at the studio, told the Evening Standard: “My movies have grossed more than $22billion dollars worldwide, and in no small part have the musicians and AIR Studios been a contributing force in this. I have made it a point of bringing the work from mainly American film studios back to the musicians and the studio on London.”

Zimmer continued: “This only works because there are two orchestral studios in London: Air and Abbey Road. You need both to be working to make London a viable destination. As soon as one has downtime, both will very quickly have to shut their doors permanently, and the film-scoring center that London so prominently occupies in the world will be, literally, wiped out – at not only the cost of AIR Studios, but by destroying the livelihood of all the musicians and orchestras that look to us for regular work.”

“If AIR studios even needs to shut its doors for a short period of time, the business will never come back.”

An online petition has launched attempting to save Air Studios, currently attracting over 3,000 signatures (correct at time of publishing).

The likes of Paul McCartney, Coldplay, Muse, The xx, Florence And The Machine and more have all recorded at the complex.

Meanwhile, The Beatles’ costume designer Julie Harris recently died, aged 94. Harris dressed the Fab Four for their 1964 film A Hard Day’s Night and Help! the following year.

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