Jul 6: Recording Studios: AIR on Montserrat

Another post in a series of posts on recording studios which have a bit of 'history' to them as well as being geographically interesting.

AIR studios - which still exists at its London venue.

AIR stands for Associated Independent Recording.

It was created by the Beatles' producer Sir George Martin.

From the AIR studios website:

In 1977 George Martin fell in love with the island and decided to build the ultimate, get-away-from-it-all recording studio. Opened in 1979, AIR Studios Montserrat offered all of the technical facilities of its London counterpart, but with the advantages of an exotic location.

For more than a decade, AIR Montserrat played host to recording sessions by a who’s who of rock and pop. More than 70 albums were recorded there in ten years, including Hot Hot Hot by Arrow, Dire Straits’ Brothers In Arms, Ghost in the Machine and Synchronicity by The Police, Elton John’s Too Low for Zero and Steel Wheels by the Rolling Stones. Duran Duran, Ultravox, Lou Reed, Black Sabbath and Eric Clapton all passed through the idyllic Montserrat studio.

Then, in 1989, disaster struck when Hurricane Hugo hit the island, destroying 90% of its structures. 

The building and its equipment were irreparably damaged, and, perhaps aware that record labels wanted their stars closer to home, George Martin called it a day. 

His love for Montserrat never faded and in the wake of a later devastating volcanic eruption his fundraising efforts went a long way towards putting the island back on its feet.

Hurricane Hugo (1989) caused major damage to the studios, which now lie derelict.