Baker at work in cellar
DOWN IN the cellar something is stirring… From outside appearances, the Essex home of Adrian Baker is nothing out of the ordinary. But inside, Adrian has converted the large cellar into a fully-fledged 16-track recording studio (See picture, above).
The studio is no makeshift affair. A year in the making, it is approached down a steep flight of stairs from a small door in the kitchen and is split into two fully soundproofed sections — a bar and listening area complete with soft lights and the studio proper.
Adrian bought the house because of the cellar. It used to belong to John Richardson of the Rubettes who used the facility as a rehearsal room. He began conversion work in November 1976 and worked at it full-time through to December 1977.
“I modelled the studio completely for my own requirements,” explains Adrian, “And did all of the conversion work myself except for cutting a large hole in the hall to get the bulkier equipment in. The desk is a Cadac, eight-track which I converted to 16. It’s very old, but has a lot of modifications.”
And the total cost of the project? “Difficult to assess, but I should say around £25,000.”
Signed to MCA, Adrian has released his first single for the label, I’ll Keep You Satisfied, and is working on an album. He writes, arranges, engineers, produces and plays all the instruments on his songs.
Interested in music from an early age, Adrian enjoyed major chart success in July 1975 when his version of the Four Seasons’ classic, Sherry, reached number ten in the British charts. After this success, he became in demand as a writer of music for jingles — notably Radio One (Noel Edmonds’ breakfast show in particular) and ads for various products including Crown Paint.
He now divides his time between jingles and developing his own songwriting and recording career. The instruments he plays on his recordings are acoustic and electric guitars, bass guitar, cello, acoustic and electric pianos, organ and synthesizers. He could also play brass instruments and drums were it not for the fact that it would be impossible to monitor the sound at the same time.
Adrian Baker can boast that not only are his records all his own work, but his studio as well.
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