4. Morris Dolby- Studio Manager


 Confessions of a Studio Rat

One mans journey through a world of recording studios and musicians in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s – without a net!

LONDON (1975-76?): Back in the day, there was a studio named Basing Street Studios in London. If memory serves, it was owned by Island Records. There were two great sounding recording rooms, and featured wonderful “wraparound” Helios consoles. I loved the place, and would work there whenever I could. I remember at the time the studio manager was Muff Winwood (Stevie’s brother), who was a great guy and went on to do great things in the business.

Someone in the organization thought it would be a great promotional gimmick to award the Studio Manager title to the studio cat, named Morris Dolby. They even went as far as to produce a glossy full color studio brochure featuring Morris on the front. According to the brochure, Morris would hang out with you in the studio during the session, digging the vibe, but if he left the room, you may as well pack up and go home, as your efforts were doomed. We all thought the whole thing was great fun, but there’s a twist in the tale.

One night we were hard at work behind the console (“desk” if you’re English). I can’t remember the project, but it could very well have been a reggae session. Morris made himself comfortable on top of the meter bridge over the desk and had a nap. We were all smoking copious amounts of “I have no idea what”, and exhaling the smoke directly into the poor cat’s face. He seemed to not be bothered by this (I suspect he liked it!), until eventually he just fell off the meter bridge backwards onto the floor. It was like a cartoon, and we were falling about laughing as poor Morris made his way to the door for some fresh air.

Morris got his own back on us though. He made his way into the air conditioning plant room and had a pee right in the air conditioning system. The rooms all reeked!

 


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