Rolling Stones mobile studio

[MK2VR6]

Just watching a programme on Rolling Stones. Turns out they had a custom built recording studio, which survived for years, and was used by them and various bands to record albums.

Can't seem to find what's happened to it now though.... Anyone know?

Anyway, here's some info on the BMC van they used (taken from the net)

What sort of van contained MRU?

The recording unit is mounted on a BMC (British Leyland Laird )

The Rolling Stones had the option of mounting the recording unit on a Mercedes for 5000 pounds or a BMC for 2000 pounds. They went for the BMC because they thought the truck would only do about 10,000 miles but it ended up travelling over 100,000 miles.

The studio itself was specifically designed on the systemused at Olympic. It had a Helios console. These were highly regarded because the electronics were simple, and everyone loved the clean sound that came from tghe desk. The monitors were four whopping Tannoy speakers, each about four and a half foot tall, situated in the very narrow width of the truck. Nowadays only two tend to be used unless it's for Dolby Stereo. The console had only twenty channels as opposed to more than 100 used now for top level live recording. A special type of tape-recorder, a Unitrack, was being built and had been sold to the Stones, but it never appeared and so they put in a 3M machine instead. The sixteen-track machine was used for Exile, along with an eight track Ampex. this was later upgraded to a dual 24-track system.

Information taken from Mick McKenna - Exile by Dominique Tarle.

[suterman]

Thats great but why is there a polar bear eating Micks foot?

[retrowagen1234]

lol, i spent ages looking at that pic then just clicked how big that truck actually is... when you compare him stood next to it , its as big as if not bigger than a 7.5 tonner today, but that box is absolutely huge..... i mean they look tiny up on top...


wonder what it was like to drive tho.... todays trucks arnt to clever i hate to think how epically slow that was haha....

[e21meister]

It's probably still lost in the jungle.

[30psi]

Cool info there.

Judging by smoke on the water, Deep Purple must have recorded in the van or 'Rolling truck stones thing' as they called it

[soundhog]

Nobody recorded in the van, there wasn't any room! Purple did indeed use it for Machine Head, and aside from that probably the most notable use were a ton of Led Zeppelin sessions, which appeared on albums from IV to Physical Graffiti.

It was bought in the mid '90s and shifted to New York for a while, now it resides somewhere in Canada in a museum, never to travel again by the sounds of it. The BMC cab got ditched in favour of a DAF in the late '70s.

[hughjass]

May 24, 2010 7:14:58 GMT suterman said:

Thats great but why is there a polar bear eating Micks foot?

I thought it was Keith. ;D, i saw the show last night..good too

[Brian Damaged]

May 24, 2010 7:35:33 GMT @retrowagen1234 said:

wonder what it was like to drive tho.... todays trucks arnt to clever I hate to think how epically slow that was haha....

They were dreadful. I think the Stones mobile was one of the better ones (IIRC the Laird had the Perkins 6.354 oil-burner under the cab), but the BMC-powered ones were truly hideous. ;D

The Austin/Morris 'FJ' series was introduced in 1964. Produced at Bathgate, Scotland (hence the name 'Bathgate Cab' as they were known), they originally had canted headlights like this one:

In 1968 the cab had a minor redesign (including- as can be seen on the Stones Mobile- deleting those stylish headlights, unfortunately) and was henceforth known as the 'Pilot' series. From '68-'70 they had BMC badges but from 1970-75 they were badged as Leylands.

In 1975 the cab had yet another revision. I'm sure loads of RR members will remember these being a common sight on Britain's (and NZ's, as they always enjoyed healthy sales over there) roads:

This was known as the G-Series and stayed in production right up until 1984 when they were replaced by the Leyland Roadrunner (non-HGV) and Freighter.

They were very rough and ready, and built down to a price. As a result most of them were sold to parcels distribution/spot hire/municipal utilities companies, and as a consequence, led VERY hard lives. That probably explains why virtually none have survived into preservation. I hesitate to say 'unfortunately' because right at the start of my driving career I had the dubious pleasure of driving a Leyland Terrier (which was the 7.5t model). Looking back it's a wonder I ever decided that driving trucks was the career for me after that experience. They were known with absolutely no affection whatsoever as the 'Leyland Terror'. Never has a name been more apt!

[Team Blitz]

That is all....

[MK2VR6]

Some good info there Soundhog and Briandamaged. I found this picture of it on it's way to the US of A, and couldn't get me head around why it looked like a totally different van. Guess it's the replacement cab then? Just looks waaay bigger than the original.
This is what whackypedifile says:
"In 1996 The Mobile, still in its original form, was purchased and brought to the states by Loho Studios in New York City. After a bit of technical service, it was put into action in the underground music scene in New York; making recordings including: live performances of Patti Smith; The Ramones, and nearly 30 other bands were recorded live at the Continental for the "Best of NYC Hardcore" album; Matador record's retained The Mobile for its 10th anniversary party in 1999, including many Matador alumni, held at Irving Plaza. It remained in service in NYC until late 2000.

Eventually the unit was sold through auction at Bonham’s and is currently owned by the Cantos Music Foundation in Calgary, Alberta, Canada."