If you have recently read reports suggesting that Mickie Most is about to become a tax exile, forget it. Nothing could be further from the truth. The stories stem from the fact that the man is buying a villa near Cannes in the South of France, but what they didn't tell you was that he intends to turn the building into a recording studio. The same reports also forgot to mention that Most is extending his recording studio complex in Charlbert Street, St John's Wood, north London. You can understand Mickie being more than a little bit upset by the reports when his current investment in the record company/recording studio building stands at £600 000. I would guess that by the end of this year the figure could touch the cool million mark.

Studio One opened in October 1977, but the story really goes back around five years. At that time Rak studio manager Doug Hopkins started Team Recording with what is now the Rak Mobile. He was the prime motivating force behind the venture with financial backers as partners. Most was one of the Mobile's more frequent users and eventually Doug put it to him that it wouldn't be such a bad idea if he took over the vehicle instead of spending considerable amounts of money hiring it for his Rak Records productions.

He did, and the Hopkins/Most relationship worked well for around 18 months. Then, one day, Mickie asked Doug to have a look around London for premises to open a stationary studio.

Doug explained, 'The next logical extension was to move into studios as we already had the mobile working successfully.' The hunt for premises led them to Charlbert Street. The building had previously been used as television rehearsal rooms for about 18 years. As the area is residential (to put it mildly) the first and probably the hardest step was to get all the necessary planning permissions. Personally, I wouldn't have even attempted it in the face of guaranteed resistance from the local wealthy populace. Obviously that is not the attitude that got Mickie Most where he is today.

There was a public planning appeal to stop Rak opening as a studio. There were several objections raised, but the main one was against the anticipated noise leakage. However, Rak's surveyors Alan Lane, Bridge and Partners were way ahead of everyone with what can only be described as a fait accompli. They managed to secure the services of Rupert Taylor (of Rupert Taylor & Partners) who is, among other things, regarded as something of an expert on environmental matters relating to noise problems. He is recognised as an authority on such matters at a parliamentary level, having worked on the Archway noise-abatement scheme. He is also the person usually called in by the local authority covering the St John's Wood area as their adviser on enquiries such as the Rak one. Alan Lane simply got him first. The situation therefore was that if Rupert Taylor was satisfied that the noise could be contained within the building and the exterior appearance of the same maintained, the local authority could offer little in argument as they frequently built cases around Taylor's expertise. Game, set and match. The postscript to the story is that Rak have improved the building's exterior appearance so that it is the most attractive premises in Charlbert Street by far — and they still get one or two local people knocking on the door each week to thank them for tidying the place up!

Taylor's role did not by any means end there. Most and Hopkins decided not to seek the services of one of the established recording studio acoustic designers. They also decided they were not willing to sacrifice large amounts of space for bass traps and the like.

Doug explained, 'I personally feel there is a certain amount of myth about acoustics. I certainly don't believe in people going round clicking their fingers and saying you've got to have this and that and using certain equations that state you must lop off a certain amount of your room to get certain effects. Personally I think that is a load of rubbish. There are of course rules which you must apply. Assuming that you have a room which is nice for musicians to play in and that you can also get the results in terms of microphone technique and everything else that is needed, your ultimate concern must be the control room. We gave equal consideration to the working environment, equipment and acoustics.'

Through working in studios successfully for many years Mickie had pretty positive ideas on how he wanted his studio to be. Doug also had the experience in particular of mobile work and having to achieve a good sound at times in the most adverse of conditions. They did a lot of research with Rupert Taylor still playing a major role. For instance they made a list of the successful major studios they liked and Taylor went round them taking sound measurements. They took an average and that was the basic curve they aimed for. They also considered the factors that made those studios popular with both musicians and producers.

The net result was that their first studio users were Gallagher and Lyle, closely followed by Wings, Yes (for Tormato), Steve Howe (for his upcoming solo album), The Jam and The Who. Some of those acts actually stopped or cancelled sessions in other studios to go to Rak after seeing the studio.

As you enter Studio One control room the first impression is a feeling of spaciousness and light. The room is 16 x 25ft which is fairly large by most standards. Three tall windows dominate the wall behind the mixing desk. Famous persons, or those not wishing to lose their subterranean studio tans, can close the room to the outside world at the touch of one button which operates a row of curtains between double glazing. The decision to keep the windows was made to maintain the exterior appearance of the building and was Mickie's own personal choice. He said, 'Let's keep 'em.' The architect and the designers said, 'What about the sound leakage problems?' Mickie said, 'Let's keep 'em.' The arguments went on for about a week at the end of which Mickie said, 'Let's keep 'em.'

They eventually replaced the existing windows with 1in thick plate glass fitted in mock frames to look the same as the originals, the bill for glass amounting to around £1000 a window; ¼in laminated glass was fitted for the internal skin and that was the end of that problem. The original ceiling was too high to give true acoustics for monitoring and playbacks but the existing window line had to be unaltered. The answer was to have a false ceiling which slopes down from the top of the windows to a much lower point on the opposite wall. This also provided a space to accommodate two tons of lead to halt vertical sound leakage and also provided room for the air conditioning. The API mixing desk is elevated to give a clear view of the large control room, and the by no means small main studio which measures 27 x 40ft. When they first saw the building this room had a heavy pine partition dividing the area into two sections. They liked the idea of being able to use the whole area for orchestras with the alternative of closing off a section to give smaller groups a more intimate atmosphere. So the studio has a new partition now which can be folded away into the wall as and when required. The existing sprung wooden dance floor was restored and refinished, again in an effort to retain the building's existing attractive features wherever possible. One corner is supported by concrete platforms as a drum or piano area if required.

Doug explained, 'For strings the polished wooden floor is marvellous. String players love it because they say they can hear themselves for a change and they like the sound in there. Rock players also like to play live and hear themselves sometimes. Presuming you can get over the live acoustics problems in terms of miking then everybody seems to be happy. When musicians are happy in the studio you've overcome 50% of the problems.' All moveable screens, by the way, are supplied by Audio Kinetics.

There is a Yamaha grand piano for general use and, tucked away in the far corner, the Yamaha GX1 synthesiser, the most sophisticated keyboard instrument made. Although it has been hired by some studio users (at £150 per day) it's not really for general use. Most acquired the instrument mainly for Rak artists' recordings. In any case you only need one hand to count the people in this country with knowledge of how to pre-program the presets; this requires training from Yamaha's own technicians from Japan. Session player and film score composer John Cameron is one person with the training who was in the studio using the synthesiser on a Bonnie Tyler session. However the demands on his time are colossal. Talk about using the GX1 and you're in the realm of having to make people offers they can't refuse.

Moving back into Studio One control for a look at the recording equipment, firstly there is the increasingly popular Lyrec TR532 24-track tape machine with its distinctive remote control unit. Rak was the first studio in the UK to use the machine and had to bear the brunt of the early teething problems. Of course the recorders have been updated now and Rak have bought a third machine which can be shunted between Studio One and Two in order to give either a 46-track capability. The slaving system they use is Maglink which works on the following basis: A code of set pulses is recorded simultaneously on one track of each multitrack machine. One machine is used as a master to which the second machine is slaved. Press the Maglink Master Play button and then the Slave Play button and the tape machines will be in perfect sync. The Maglink will also make any further adjustments should the machines show any sign of drifting apart during any recording or playback. The mobile has the same facility. Interestingly enough no-one has yet requested more than the 24-track set-up.

I found it hard to argue with the logic behind Rak's decision to stay with 24-track as the basis for their systems. Doug explained his feelings on the matter to me. 'I think it was a more sensible way to go than a new format, particularly with the state of flux in digital recording at the moment. I feel it's better to try to keep to standard formats and then make a complete change when a new entity comes in, ie digital. I don't think 32-track on 3in tape or 32-track on 2in tape will become a widely accepted medium because it is far too great a change for all the smaller studios. There is so much passage of tapes between studios that I don't think a commercial studio can afford to cut itself off and shoot all the other studios down in flames.'

As a reinforcement of his point Doug gave me the following example. A producer can start off recording backing tracks for an album at Rak on 24-track. Using Maglink a rough mix copy can be made on to the second Lyrec and taken to any 24-track studio. (This could be to meet a personal preference for a particular studio for overdubs, or perhaps for a touring band in another country to finish off urgent recording.) A return visit could then be paid to Rak and, with the two Lyrecs, overdubbing, mixing or whatever can continue. That is one example. A little thought and one can see the permutations are endless. If for instance you were working at a 24-track studio and found yourself running out of tracks, all you need to do is stop at 23 and move to Rak. Doug concluded, 'The system therefore does not preclude a producer or band's right to use any studio they like at various stages of recording.'

The 46-track capability explains the size of the API desk. Doug said, 'The choice of API was the result of having had one in the Mobile for four years and never losing a track due to a desk fault. If you talk to American-oriented producers like Glyn Johns I don't think you'll find one with a bad word to say about Automated Process's eq. Assuming that a desk does everything that is wanted in terms of routing, grouping and all that, the two important things are equalisation and reliability. Some people will disagree but that's the way I feel.'

As with the desk in Studio Two there is a comprehensive patch-in bay allowing virtually any combination of add-on equipment. The decision to go with Dolby noise reduction was once again the result of having been pleased with the equipment's performance in the mobile and the desire to be as comparable as possible within the industry. If someone does book in with dbx tapes the studio can hire units to plug in to the Dolby rack at very short notice.

And the Tannoy HPDs in Lockwood cabinets for monitors? 'That's a difficult one to answer. I think most of Mickie's experience had been in studios using them and they act as a reference point for him. They're also true and unflattering.'

The original concept for Studio Two was to have just an identical control room to One for mixing, possibly with a small booth for limited overdubs and tidying up recordings. Eventually Mickie decided to go for two complete studios, feeling that the smaller one would be more appealing to groups. With this in mind and also considering the limited space they got together with the architect and decided to build the control room on a second level with part of the studio actually underneath. There are few 90 degree angles in the design apart from the outer walls. This is partly to give as much visual communication as possible between control and studio, as well as to give a pleasing aesthetic effect.

Doug continued, 'We wanted to make it more interesting visually than just having a box on top of a box. It was a complicated engineering and structural problem but it has worked. A few people found the idea of having mirrors everywhere a bit strange but again that is something we decided to try on the basis that if it worked we'd accept it and if not just try something else. The whole concept for both studios has been around this environmental approach.'

Studio Two once again has windows and much of the equipment is the same as One. The black-and-white colour scheme, mirrors and contemporary design tend to conceal the clever utilisation of space. The studio floor area is around 16½ x 17ft. The elevated control room is more or less L-shaped with access to and from the studio by means of an open staircase. The only problem when you get in the control room is a lack of space once the producer, engineer and a few other people are seated. If you can live with that you will be compensated by being able to use what is claimed to be the first fully computerised desk in commercial use in the UK. Although many throw their hands up in the air at the thought of such automation, a couple of producers I've spoken to have (in spite of being sceptical at first) ended up enjoying the process. The unit is once again manufactured by API with all facilities computerised: levels, eq, panning, echo, the lot. As in Studio One the tape machine is Lyrec 24-track, the monitors Lockwood/Tannoy and the two ¼in tape mastering machines Studer. Both studios can offer comprehensive harmonising, flanging, digital delay and various other equipment.

Finally I was taken to a locale 'somewhere in north London' to see the five-year-old Grand-daddy of Rak Studios, the Mobile. It's probably most famous for being used by Paul McCartney for Mull Of Kintyre. He's also been using the unit extensively for his soon to be released album, recorded partly on location at Lympne Castle, Folkestone.

When Doug Hopkins put the mobile together he had broadcasting work in mind, as well as multitrack recording for bands and the like. Smudger, the mobile's current guardian, had just spent a month in Gloucester recording the sound for Rolf Harris' TV serie.

The API desk has the same 46-track capability as the studio's. There are two 3M M79 24-track tape machines. The main reason for having two machines is for changing over during applause at live concerts when the reel of tape is running out. There are also two ¼in tape Studer 652 machines, one of which is portable. So for stereo broadcasts the same overlapping principle can be applied. There are Dolby units for all machines. The monitors are JBL 10s. They carry a Urei limiter, two Eventide Omnipressers (limiter/noisegates) and an Eventide ddl (digital delay). To give them some idea of what's going on during a live concert recording they have a video camera. Surprisingly for its size the mobile carries all its own gear and, unlike some others, does not need support vehicles. If the air-conditioning is not in use the mobile can function on the power supply from one 13A mains socket.

As you look around the vehicle Doug Hopkins' penchant for well thought out and practical design is once again evident, as illustrated by one particular feature that Smudger explained to me. 'All the equipment is connected in the Mobile with big multi-pin plugs. So everything can be taken out through the side doors in order to set up the control anywhere. That's what we did for McCartney's new album at Lympne Castle. We did the same thing at Paul's farm at Mull Of Kintyre.

'We also spend a month out of each year recording Opera at Walthamstow Town Hall which is famous for its fantastic acoustics for classical recordings. We de-rig there as well. That is for American RCA's top classical label, they send their top classical engineer over for the month.'

In the three days I'd spent checking out Rak, Doug had put forward some pretty convincing arguments and seemed to share a practical straightahead attitude with Most. The list of studio users is impressive and everyone appears to get the sounds they want down on tape. I thought it might be an idea to ask the producers using the studios why they go there. Firstly I spoke to Steve Wolfe who was co-producing Bonnie Tyler with Ronnie Scott (the other one).

'We've tried other studios. Mickie's got a lot of good gear and his experience has allowed him to bypass all the rubbish and come up with the best equipment. If we're working here we tend to stay put for the overdubs, mixing and everything. When we go home and listen to recordings on our own equipment it sounds the same. In other studios we've used in the past we have had problems, especially with the bass end. We can also go upstairs and listen to tapes on Mickie's own small system as a double check before we leave. The only problem is with Studio Two control room because you don't have that much room if you get a few people up there. Studio One is the one for me really, it's so relaxed.' Personally, I wouldn't mind having to squeeze past Bonnie Tyler in there — but there again I wouldn't mind squeezing past Bonnie Tyler anywhere.

So on to producer number two, New York's own Ritchie Gold who was at Rak working on singer/writer Ricky Lascelle. 'I have done work at Rak before and have always been happy with the results. I like to work in different studios which I feel suit the project; recently I've worked a lot in Eastlake rooms. When I've recorded here before I've always felt that the tapes I've taken away have been representative of what I've heard in the studios. It's not only the equipment but also the technical staff — and at Rak they are excellent. I have a great love for API desks and, though I'm not a great fan of Lockwood/Tannoy monitoring, it does seem to work here. More than anything else the atmosphere in Studio One is a major factor, you can work in there for hours without feeling tired.'

With regard to Rak's future plans, Studio Three is already under construction next door. The details have not yet all been finalised but it will basically be similar in size and concept to Studio One. There will almost certainly be facilities for work incorporating video, possibly with equipment for making promotional films for Rak artists.