ABOUT ME!
Geoff Frost
Geoff Frost
“If Liverpool can produce The Beatles, then maybe there are some other great groups playing the clubs there, just waiting to be discovered?”, so argued Oriole Records A&R man, John Schroeder, back in 1963.
Once I had completed my National Service in 1957, I spent two years at the BBC working as a Vision Mixer. Then, in 1959, I was offered the job of Chief Engineer at Levy's Sound Studios in New Bond Street, London.
A young man in 1959
(and I still smoke!)
(and I still smoke!)
Now at 75!!
Levy's control room in 1961
Levy’s was owned and run by brothers Maurice and Jacques Levy and most of the sessions I presided over were for the company’s own Oriole Records imprint and their budget Embassy covers label. I have to say that I enjoyed my time at Levy’s and, in addition to recording work, also began building mixers and various other pieces of outboard equipment. They were a good company to work for and, significantly, it was there that I met both John Wood and A&R man John Schroeder, who are both still close friends. In 1964, I left Levy’s - after they were taken over by CBS - and John Wood and I started our own studio: Sound Techniques, in Chelsea.
I had already designed an eight input (valve/tube) stereo mobile desk, and a prototype mic amp. George Balla (my assistant who went on to be Chief Engineer at Levy’s when I left in 1964) organised the metal work and wired up the desk. George’s finished mic amps were a joy of miniaturisation to behold! So, armed with the desk, JS and I set off for the ‘Pool. JS had booked the Rialto Ballroom for a week and - using the reception area as the control room - we set up the dance floor as the studio. In came an endless stream of mostly brilliant bands. They were so good, in fact, that we returned to London with two full albums of material! The best band, in my view, was Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.
This Is Mersey Beat, Oriole Records, 1963
For a detailed look at the history of Sound Techniques, please go back to the ‘Home Page’, and click on the relevant links, depending on whether you’re interested in our desks and/or the Chelsea studio.
Our computer room in 1974
Levy's rack with TR90s
1st UK magistrates system in 1976
When the Sound Techniques studio closed its doors in 1976, the manufacturing division - which was now based in Mildenhall, Suffolk - diversified into computer software. We soon got a contract to install the first computer system dedicated to Magistrates’ Courts software. This went live in 1976 with 16K (yep, that's kilobytes!) and 5MB of disk space. Since then, the main company, STL Technologies, has continued to grow and still specialises in the development of law enforcement systems and software. I remain Chairman and major shareholder but appointed a new Managing Director in 2004, enabling me to concentrate on my television production company, STL Television.
STL TV's 'news' studio
EMI mixer, looking into the studio
John Wood, blowing swaff up a tube!
Over the past few years, many of my friends have been nagging me to start making Sound Techniques mic-pres and EQ strips again and their enthusiasm (and the perceived market potential) has won me over.
Valve/tube two track mobile mixer, built for Merseybeat
My 'home made' Pultec. Inductors were trial and error and would on a hand drill
These records were titled "This is Mersey Beat" and both albums sold very well. What’s amazing today is that Volume One regularly changes for hands for several hundred pounds!
Volumes one and two - Geoff Frost and John Schroeder in Liverpool
Neumann cutting lathe
A film made by Peter Hiscocks in 2004 to celebrate our 40th anniversary
My current projects include restoring and installing an old 1966 'A' Range Sound Techniques desk (ex-De Lane Lea, Dean Street) in a new combined television and music recording studio in West Norfolk, and designing and manufacturing strips again, based on my original 1960s designs!
Th1s desk preceded the EMI one at the top of the page and in the cutting to the right. It was built by either Guy or Andy Whetstone (I can't remember which) who used be at Advision Studios just up the road.
From a press release! Kindly posted by Phil Burns. Thanks Phil
It's worth mentioning that when I joined Levy's in 1959 the control equipment consisted of two Vortexion 4 way mixers, a passive two way mixer, an EMI BTR2 and a Tannoy 15" dual concentric speaker in a Lockwood cabinet. I seem to remember pointing out to Maurice and Jaques Levy that there wasn't much to be a chief engineer of! They agreed and said that was why I'd been appointed. As the years went on so the amount and quality of equipment grew. I can't remember any of my requests for new equipment being turned down.
