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[[File:The former Trident Studios building, St Anne's Court, Soho, London 2018.jpg|thumb|The former Trident Studios building at St Anne's Court, Soho, London, 2018, with the David Bowie blue plaque ]] Trident Studios was a British recording facility, located at 17 St Anne's Court in London's Soho district between 1968 and 1981. It was constructed in 1967 by Norman Sheffield, drummer of the 1960s group the Hunters, and his brother Barry Sheffield.
"My Name is Jack" by Manfred Mann was recorded at Trident in March 1968, and helped launch the studio's reputation. Later that year, the Beatles recorded their song "Hey Jude" there and part of their self-titled double album (also known as the "White Album"). Other well-known albums and songs recorded at Trident include Elton John's eponymous second album, including the single "Your Song", David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Lou Reed's Transformer, Carly Simon's No Secrets, and Queen's albums Queen, Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack and A Night at the Opera.
Other artists recorded at Trident included the Bee Gees, Chris de Burgh, Frank Zappa, Genesis, Brand X, James Taylor, Joan Armatrading, Joe Cocker, Golden Earring, Harry Nilsson, Kiss, Tygers of Pan Tang, Peter Gabriel, Marc Almond, Marc and the Mambas, Smack, Soft Cell, Rick Springfield, the Rolling Stones, Rush, Free, Thin Lizzy, Tina Turner, T. Rex, Van der Graaf Generator, Yes, Black Sabbath and John Entwistle.
The Sheffield brothers had a relaxed working attitude, but also emphasised high standards of audio engineering. The studio's state-of-the-art recording equipment helped attract many major artists to record there.
The studios are still in operation, now specialising in post-production for TV and film.
While Abbey Road Studios still used only four-track at the time, Trident's Ampex eight-track machine drew the Beatles on 31 July 1968 to record their song "Hey Jude". Paul McCartney later said about recording the track at Trident: "Words cannot describe the pleasure of listening back to the final mix of 'Hey Jude' on four giant Lockwood / Tannoy speakers which dwarfed everything else in the room ..." The band also recorded some songs for their 1968 double album The Beatles (also known as the White Album) at Trident – "Dear Prudence", "Honey Pie", "Savoy Truffle" and "Martha My Dear" – and on February 22, 1969, they first recorded "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" there for the album Abbey Road. John Lennon and Yoko Ono later returned with the Plastic Ono Band to record "Cold Turkey" featuring Eric Clapton on lead guitar.
Many of the Beatles' Apple Records artists used Trident Studios, including Badfinger, Billy Preston, Mary Hopkin, Jackie Lomax and James Taylor. Part of George Harrison's triple album All Things Must Pass, containing the hit "My Sweet Lord", and Ringo Starr's "It Don't Come Easy", were also recorded there. Harry Nilsson recorded "Without You" at Trident, and portions of several of his 1970s albums.
The management at the time claimed the deal allowed the band full access to the studio's cutting edge facilities, and supported them by providing the best producers and engineers - so long as the foundations of the band's first album Queen were recorded 'off peak'. Roger Taylor later quoted these early off-peak studio hours as "gold dust".
After the album was completed the Sheffield brothers had great difficulty finding a record label to take on the album and release it. Finally, eight months later, the brothers decided to take on the risk and fund the release themselves and Queen released their self-titled first album under the Trident label in a license deal with EMI Records in the UK and Elektra Records in the US. Trident subsequently released Queen II and Sheer Heart Attack under this same arrangement. After the band left Trident, they signed directly with EMI and Elektra for A Night at the Opera .
Tony Stratton-Smith's Charisma Records was also one of the most regular clients of the studios during the 1970s. Genesis recorded several of their most renowned albums there, including Trespass (1970), Nursery Cryme (1971) and A Trick of the Tail (1976). The jazz fusion band Brand X recorded their debut studio album Unorthodox Behaviour here (1976). Other artists from the label who recorded at Trident were Van der Graaf Generator, Peter Hammill, Lindisfarne and Peter Gabriel. Charisma's first Van der Graaf Generator release, The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other, was recorded at Trident from 11 to 14 December 1969. Most of the album was recorded on eight-track, but the last song, "After the Flood", was recorded on 16. Trident was also among the first studios in the UK to obtain a 16-track machine.
"Though it had a very limited run, the Trident A Range console gained a reputation for its very distinct and pleasant sound with a very "musical" EQ section. Along with channel strips from early Neve and Helios consoles, original Trident A Range modules have kept a healthy resale value and are much sought after by engineers who like to combine old-school analogue gear with cutting-edge digital recording technology." Mix Magazine, 1 July 2001
The recording was done on Lockwood Tannoy speakers, and had to be equalized post-recording to fix the balance of high-end notes. The speaker drivers used were 15-inch dual-concentric Tannoy Golds, which had been newly developed, mounted in cabinets made by Lockwood, UK. They were black in colour and fabricated in Formica with a gold bezel. Two of the original loudspeakers still exist and more information can be found here at The Original Trident Studios monitoring Loudspeakers – A History
The original Trident mixing desk also survived, and was purchased in the early 1980s from the studio's owners by songwriter and former The Cure bassist Phil Thornalley. It is now housed in Thornalley's own recording studio, Swamp Studios in north-west London. The Swamp is actually centred on the Trident Tri‑mix desk.
Since 1981, the studios have changed name(s) and hands multiple times, with the original building remaining in situ.
! Artist !! Title |
| How Long (1974) |
| America (1971) |
| Whatever's for Us (1972) |
| "Hey Jude", "Dear Prudence", "Honey Pie", "Martha My Dear", "Savoy Truffle" (1968), "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" (1969) |
| Odessa (1969) |
| (1968), Unicorn (1969), A Beard of Stars (1970), T. Rex (1970), Electric Warrior (1971) |
| "I Don't Like Mondays" (1979) |
| Space Oddity (1969), The Man Who Sold the World (1970), Hunky Dory (1971), The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust (1972), Aladdin Sane (1973) |
| Far Beyond These Castle Walls (1974) |
| Spectrum (1973) |
| The Road Is No Place for a Lady (1972) |
| The Fool (1971) |
| Fire and Water (1970) |
| Peter Gabriel (1978 album, often referred to as Scratch) |
| Trespass (1970), Nursery Cryme (1971), Selling England by the Pound (1973), A Trick of the Tail (1976), Wind & Wuthering (1976), Seconds Out (1977), ...And Then There Were Three... (1978) |
| Moontan (1973) |
| Elton John (1970), Tumbleweed Connection (1970), 17-11-70, Madman Across the Water (1971), Honky Château (1972), Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player (1973), Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973), Rock of the Westies (1975) |
| Stained Class (1978) |
| "My Name is Jack" (1968) |
| All the Young Dudes (1973) |
| Queen (1973), Queen II (1974), Sheer Heart Attack (1974), |
| Transformer (1972) |
| "Midnight Rambler" (1969), Let It Bleed (1969) |
| Hemispheres (1978), Permanent Waves (1980) |
| No Secrets (1972) |
| Crime of the Century (1974) |
| James Taylor (1968) |
| Nightlife (1974) |
| Crazy Nights (1981) |
| High Energy (1984) |
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