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[Brian Kehew]

I just received news that Stuart Eltham - longtime Abbey Road engineer passed away this week.

He is not well-known, but should be; He was CERTAINLY George Martin's favorite engineer. It was only because the Beatles were an unknown Liverpool band making an unpleasant test, that Stuart was not involved with their session (and therefore the Beatles career).

Otherwise - Stuart did most of George Martin's recording sessions (including one of my favorite recordings ever - "Goodness Gracious Me"/Peter Sellars and Sophia Loren). However, as with most Abbey Road engineers, he was wonderfully talented. He was largely responsible for developing the famous echo chambers, testing and adjusting the chambers as an engineering project.

As he began in the 1950s when pop was first developing, he and Peter Bown created many of the techniques and directions used for the many Abbey Road hits of the 1950s and 60s...

[wwittman]

Sad.
I'm starting to feel really OLD.

[compasspnt]

Stuart was a wonderful, kind, generous and talented gentleman.

This is indeed a sad day for Engineering.

[thedoc]

Did he record Gerry and the Pacemakers?  Billy J with the Dakotas?

[Brian Kehew]

We are looking into more of his work - hoping to clarify who did what and when. Ken Townsend has just written me about this as well. He says Stuart was the one who would always say "Do you remember when WE recorded..." instead of "when I recorded...". Although Ken was often just assiting him, Stuart thought of it as a team always.

[Brian Kehew]

One more piece along these lines. Our "Recording the Beatles" book hoped to "share the attention" - as some names are ALWAYS known in Abbey Road circles, but many contributed. Like Stuart Eltham...

Two of the lesser-known (but brilliant) participants the EMI studios were Len Page and Mike Batchelor. Both designed and built much of the gear the studios had (consoles, effects, etc), with far-reaching implications. Equipment that any studio nowadays would kill to own.

Brian Gibson sent this in today:

Last night I went along to an evening with Rupert Neve, organised by The APRS (Association of Professional Recording Studios) and hosted by Dave Harries.

Rupert gave an interesting talk on his life, with a question and answer session. At one point in the proceedings he was talking about other consoles and designs that were around, and EMI desks were mentioned (not by me I hasten to add) and Rupert came out with the comment "I was in awe of Mike Batchelor" - which I considered to be praise indeed.

I spoke to Rupert afterwards and asked him how well he knew Mike. He said he'd met him a few times at design seminars and had been very impressed with Mike's knowledge and design approach.

Rupert Neve says "I was in awe of Mike Batchelor" must go down as a quote to remember.

Those of you using Chandler's modern TG-series equipment are enjoying Mike Batchelor's design work!