is an independent recording company founded in london in 1965 by beatles producer sir george martin and his partner john burgess after their departure from emi . 1 the leading independent recording studio complex was founded in 1969 . since then air has operated its own professional audio recording facilities air studios . 1 contents 1 oxford street london 1970 1991 2 air montserrat montserrat island west indies caribbean sea mid 1970s 1989 3 air lyndhurst hall hampstead london 1991 present 4 references 5 external links oxford street london 1970 1991 edit air s first facility opened on 6 october 1970 . it was located on the fourth floor of 214 oxford street containing four studios and later a midi programming room . the facility included two large studios one 58 32 feet the other 30 28 feet and two small ones . the studios contained two b sendorfer pianos many soundproof booths and a 56 channel mixing console custom designed by neve to air s specification . 1 during 1987 they also purchased two fairlight cmi iii models at a cost of 35 000 each for the burgeoning midi suite . they also were early adopters of then new fully midi integrated atari stf for midi control and sequencing using the grand daddy of modern day cubase steinberg s pro 24 iii . this setup was used often as a stand in during the frequent fairlight cmi downtimes . air montserrat montserrat island west indies caribbean sea mid 1970s 1989 edit ruins of the air studio in montserrat may 2013 the company built another recording studio on the caribbean island of montserrat in the mid 1970s . in 1986 the facility was described as such recently refurbished control room now featuring 60 channels by ssl with automation and tr and 12 fully integrated channels by rupert neve of focusrite two 32track mitsubishi x850 digital machines and 24track studer a800 . digital mixing on two mitsubishi x86 . very comprehensive ancillary equipment list . jimmy buffett recorded volcano at the montserrat studio in may 1979 naming the album and its title song for the then dormant soufri re hills volcano on the island . elton john recorded three albums at the montserrat studio in the 1980s . dire straits recorded their successful brothers in arms album between 1984 and 1985 . other artists such as ultravox orchestral manoeuvres in the dark pre recorded junk culture paul mccartney rush the police ghost in the machine and synchronicity rolling stones pink floyd black sabbath midge ure little river band duran duran sheena easton luther vandross and supertramp have also recorded albums there . the first album cut in the newly opened studios was real to reel by the climax blues band in 1979 . in 1989 hurricane hugo devastated the island and the montserrat facility was severely damaged and thus forced to close . according to george martin 2 before we came to montserrat there was no western music to speak of on the island . building air meant that many leading recording artists came to stay . it cast its spell on them as they mingled with the local people . it was and still is a unique place ... after ten great years of recording there the music business had changed . the moguls running the business no longer wanted their artists miles away outside their control . that coincided with the devastation caused by the hurricane and sadly the studios had to close . the people of montserrat are still very proud of the work that was done at air studios . the buildings are still standing and their roofs are intact . the facility is now a modern ruin and is closed to the public . air lyndhurst hall hampstead london 1991 present edit in 1991 with the lease on the oxford street premises coming to an end air studios took over lyndhurst road congregational church a grade ii listed building designed in 1880 by victorian architect alfred waterhouse and located in the hampstead suburb of northern london . the space was revamped as a recording facility and opened for business in december 1992 . air lyndhurst is now a key london facility for classical and popular recordings as well as film scores television post production and dialogue sound effects and music for video games . references edit a b c air studios facebook page hastie paul 2014 03 27 . bbc news why do the children of montserrat sing about a volcano . bbc . retrieved 2014 07 25 . external links edit air studios website philsbook.com air studios video tour and producer interviews shot at air studios retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title associated independent recording & oldid 738461235 categories recording studios in londongeorge martincompanies established in 1965music production companies navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages catal deutschfran aisitaliano portugu ssvenska edit links this page was last modified on 9 september 2016 at 02 51 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view