Shorefire Recording Studios

Shorefire Recording Studios Shorefire Recording Studios: "NJ's longest operating recording studio, PROUDLY since 1978!" Helios Console, Vintage Mics, Outboard, and Instrument’s Arctic
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In the 1960’s a gentleman named Dick Swettenham worked as a Service/Design engineer for Abbey Road Studios. In the early 1970’s he began to work for Olympic Studios where he controlled Design and Maintenance. He approached the owners of Olympic stating that if they allowed him to order the necessary parts, he could build a desk that was far more musical than anything available at the time. They ga

ve him the ok, once the desk was completed and commissioned most of the great rock musicians of the era which included Jimi Hendrix, started to book time at Olympic. Most British and some American recording artists were now using Olympic Studios so Chris Blackwell of Island Records decided that if he built a studio around a Helios console he would save money and also have his own studio busy with artists wanting to record on the Helios console. But he was a client of Olympic, it would be impossible for him to request that Dick Swettenham of Olympic to build a console that would be in direct competition with Olympic, so he put up the finance for Dick to go into business. And so Helios was born. Seven consoles were built for Island, which included mobile studios. At this time Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells was selling well for Virgin Records, so Richard Branson had Helios build three consoles one for The Manor Studios, one for the Manor Mobile, and one for Townhouse Studios. The Who built Ramport Studios, around a Helios, The Rolling Stones built the legendary "Rolling Stones Mobile", 10cc built "Strawberry Studios" and so the story goes on, even the Beatles built “Apple Studios” around a green Helios console. The Helios became known as the Musicians Choice of Recording Consoles!

1. Alvin Lee/Ten Years After
2. Apple Studios/The Beatles
3. ARC Studios
4. Ginger Baker
6. Barbarossa Studios
7. Berwick Studios
8. Erik Clapton
9. Dawbreaker/Seals and Crofts
10. John Entwistle
11. Folkwange Hochschule
12. Hansa Tonstudio
13. Harry J Studios
14. Island Studios, Studio 1 (Desk #1)
15. Island Studios, Studio 1 (Desk #2)
16. Island Studios, Studio 2
17. Island Studios, Hammersmith
18. Island Studios, Mobile Unit
19. KPM Studios
20. Ronnie Lane Mobile
21. Le Maison Rouge
22. Le Maison Rouge Mobile
23. London Weekend Television
24. Love Records
25. Mainos Television
26. Manor Mobile
27. Manor Studios
28. Manor Townhouse/Shorefire
29. Steve Marriott
30. Paul McCartney
31. Media NL
32. Musicland
33. Norway Radio/Trondheim
34. Olympic Studios 1 (Pre "Helios" Swettenham design).
35. Olympic Studios 2 (Helios #1)
36. PSC Canada
37. Ramport Studios/The Who
38. Release Records
39. Rolling Stones Mobile (Helios #3)
40. Leon Russell
41. Russian Hill Audio/Funky Features/Steve Miller
42. Strawberry Studios/10cc
43. Studio 70
44. Talent Studios
45. Telemetropole
46. Tempo Studios
47. Universal Sound
48. Webcapital Radio Music
49. Web Education/ CET Teheran
50. Ron Wood

FACT: Led Zeppelin, Alvin Lee, Bad Company, Bad Finger, The Beatles, Black Sabbath, Bob Marley, David Bowie, Deep Purple, Donovan, The Eagles, Eric Clapton, Faces, Fleetwood Mac, Frank Zappa, Free, Humble Pie, Jeff Beck, Jethro Tull, Jimi Hendrix, King Crimson, Leon Russell, Marc Bolan & T.Rex, The Moody Blues, Mott The Hoople, Nazareth, Paul McCartney, Peter Frampton, Queen, The Rolling Stones, Steve Miller, Stevie Winwood, Supertramp, Traffic, Uriah Heep, The Who, 10CC, and countless others all recorded on Helios consoles. Come to Shorefire and hear why, it's the sound of ROCK!

IYKYK, some 35 years ago, Skid Row invaded the second floor of this building to begin preproduction on “Slave To The Gri...
08/25/2025

IYKYK, some 35 years ago, Skid Row invaded the second floor of this building to begin preproduction on “Slave To The Grind”.

Great article on Steve! I had the pleasure to record and mix this one!
06/27/2025

Great article on Steve! I had the pleasure to record and mix this one!

New York songwriter Steven Keene challenges fans of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen to spot the lyrical allusions in his new song 'Thesaurus.'

Not only can he fix/build you an amp or guitar, but the man is a BEAST of a musician and scares the living $hit out of m...
04/28/2025

Not only can he fix/build you an amp or guitar, but the man is a BEAST of a musician and scares the living $hit out of me when he starts picking! The incomparable .penn and his GREAT band The Inside Drivers taking over Shorefire today and doing that Rockabilly thang!

A nice little shout out on Blabbermouth today about the new Biohazard record. I can say with 100% certainly, it’s a bang...
04/03/2025

A nice little shout out on Blabbermouth today about the new Biohazard record. I can say with 100% certainly, it’s a banger of an album!


Heard something about it being national guitar day? So in honor of that, here we go!
02/12/2025

Heard something about it being national guitar day? So in honor of that, here we go!

This photo obviously has nothing to do with Shorefire, other than we have four modules from the Helios console that was ...
02/07/2025

This photo obviously has nothing to do with Shorefire, other than we have four modules from the Helios console that was there at the time, but thought I’d share it. This is Musicland in Munich, 1974, where all the hard rock bands of that era recorded (Led Zeppelin, Queen, Deep Purple, The Rolling Stones) to name just a few. Deep Purple recording Stormbringer and I dig the live vibe and the two U67’s (one for Hughes, one for Coverdale?) And what about the Tele leaning on the wall, who knew Blackmore played a Tele in the studio, but it certainly is no surprise that he used multiple guitars! #1974

IYKYK
02/01/2025

IYKYK

Found a remnant of tenure here at Shorefire. Although the date is May 1990 and I’m still a little fuzzy of Garry‘s time...
01/22/2025

Found a remnant of tenure here at Shorefire. Although the date is May 1990 and I’m still a little fuzzy of Garry‘s time here, but I believe he had left at that point. Also in photo two, look at how much BIGGER the magazine was, certainly isn’t like that anymore! And here’s an album that was recorded and mixed here under his watchful eye!

We’d like to wish all of our friends a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and a Wonderful and Healthy Holiday Season! As ...
12/23/2024

We’d like to wish all of our friends a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and a Wonderful and Healthy Holiday Season!

As 2024 comes to end and we begin our 47th year in business, I’d like to say thank you to all of our clients both past and present for your support! Wishing everyone much success and prosperity in 2025 and beyond!!!!

JDM

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182 Broadway
Long Branch, NJ
07740

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+17328701918

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In the 1960’s a gentleman named Dick Swettenham worked as a Service/Design engineer for Abbey Road Studios. In the early 1970’s he began to work for Olympic Studios where he controlled Design and Maintenance. He approached the owners of Olympic stating that if they allowed him to order the necessary parts, he could build a desk that was far more musical than anything available at the time. They gave him the ok, once the desk was completed and commissioned most of the great rock musicians of the era which included Jimi Hendrix, started to book time at Olympic. Most British and some American recording artists were now using Olympic Studios so Chris Blackwell of Island Records decided that if he built a studio around a Helios console he would save money and also have his own studio busy with artists wanting to record on the Helios console. But he was a client of Olympic, it would be impossible for him to request that Dick Swettenham of Olympic to build a console that would be in direct competition with Olympic, so he put up the finance for Dick to go into business. And so Helios was born. Seven consoles were built for Island, which included mobile studios. At this time Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells was selling well for Virgin Records, so Richard Branson had Helios build three consoles one for The Manor Studios, one for the Manor Mobile, and one for Townhouse Studios. The Who built Ramport Studios, around a Helios, The Rolling Stones built the legendary "Rolling Stones Mobile", 10cc built "Strawberry Studios" and so the story goes on, even the Beatles built “Apple Studios” around a green Helios console. The Helios became known as the Musicians Choice of Recording Consoles! 1. Alvin Lee/Ten Years After 2. Apple Studios/The Beatles 3. ARC Studios 4. Arctic 5. Ginger Baker 6. Barbarossa Studios 7. Berwick Studios 8. Erik Clapton 9. Dawbreaker/Seals and Crofts 10. John Entwistle 11. Folkwange Hochschule 12. Hansa Tonstudio 13. Harry J Studios 14. Island Studios, Studio 1 (Desk #1) 15. Island Studios, Studio 1 (Desk #2) 16. Island Studios, Studio 2 17. Island Studios, Hammersmith 18. Island Studios, Mobile Unit 19. KPM Studios 20. Ronnie Lane Mobile 21. Le Maison Rouge 22. Le Maison Rouge Mobile 23. London Weekend Television 24. Love Records 25. Mainos Television 26. Manor Mobile 27. Manor Studios 28. Manor Townhouse 29. Steve Marriott 30. Paul McCartney 31. Media NL 32. Musicland 33. Norway Radio/Trondheim 34. Olympic Studios 1 (Pre "Helios" Swettenham design). 35. Olympic Studios 2 (Helios #1) 36. PSC Canada 37. Ramport Studios/The Who 38. Release Records 39. Rolling Stones Mobile (Helios #3) 40. Leon Russell 41. Russian Hill Audio/Funky Features/Steve Miller 42. Strawberry Studios/10cc 43. Studio 70 44. Talent Studios 45. Telemetropole 46. Tempo Studios 47. Universal Sound 48. Webcapital Radio Music 49. Web Education/ CET Teheran 50. Ron Wood FACT: Led Zeppelin, Alvin Lee, Bad Company, Bad Finger, The Beatles, Black Sabbath, Bob Marley, David Bowie, Deep Purple, Donovan, The Eagles, Eric Clapton, Faces, Fleetwood Mac, Frank Zappa, Free, Humble Pie, Jeff Beck, Jethro Tull, Jimi Hendrix, King Crimson, Leon Russell, Marc Bolan & T.Rex, The Moody Blues, Mott The Hoople, Nazareth, Paul McCartney, Peter Frampton, Queen, The Rolling Stones, Steve Miller, Stevie Winwood, Supertramp, Traffic, Uriah Heep, The Who, 10CC, and countless others all recorded on Helios consoles. Come to Shorefire and hear why, it's the sound of ROCK!