Despite mainstream declarations of obscurity, Armstrong is the most prominent and well-documented figure in Melbourne’s audio community and in recent years has been recognised with a number of prestigious awards. A combination of his passion for music, technology and a savvy business sense helped Armstrong establish one of the most significant studio networks in Melbourne to date. Armstrong’s monopoly of the recording market in the early years of popular music releases earned his studios the local ‘Hit Factory’ label and comparisons to Abbey Road studios. His studio complex output export quality production of Australian music to international audiences and was important in the development of Melbourne’s audio community. Armstrong’s provided a hub of learning for production personnel, pioneering a new industry who continue to work in all areas of audio and production today. He is one of the founders of the local audio industry who personally witnessed and contributed to significant technological changes in Melbourne.

At the age of 19, he was recording friends’ jazz bands using his bedroom as a control room at the family home at 100 Darling Road, East Malvern. This was the beginnings of his journey of a lifetime centring around music and technology. By the following year in 1949 he was ready to upgrade and improve the quality of his recordings and purchased a Pyrox wire recorder made in Melbourne, to take out on location to jazz gigs. He recorded the 1949 Jazz convention at the Prahran town hall and cut acetate copies for musicians who wanted to purchase a copy. His interest in superior audio quality is a theme that resonates throughout his career. Armstrong was at the forefront of ensuring Melbourne’s recording technology was at an international standard and later after setting up his own studios, was responsible for providing the first 8-track machine to Australia. This offered unprecedented creative possibilities for musicians and the recording engineers.

1950s-1960s: Pre-Hit Factory; Radio, introduction of television, Melbourne Olympics coverage

By 1953 Armstrong had started his own record label, Paramount. Noting the reluctance of radio stations to play Australian original music, he focused on promoting the work of local artists who were severely underrepresented. He also released records under the labels, Danceland and Magnasound. This support of local artists by audio technicians and studio owners is a common theme in the development of the Australian recording industry and in documenting Melbourne as a music city and will be explored further in this paper.

Armstrong gained his first professional audio experience in the 1950s when working for radio station 3UZ where mono recording onto tape and disc was the initial format. He also worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Melbourne studios as a music producer where he would record the dance band, operate live-to-air broadcasts and a variety of other music from Broadcast House, 458-502 Lonsdale St in the city, which was at that stage operated by the Postmaster General Department (PMG). Armstrong also worked for 3UZ radio station in 1954.

The 1950’s was an active time for recording and broadcast technology with the arrival of two commercial television stations set up in time for broadcast of the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne. These were GTV 9, and HSV 7, (that sprang from the 3DB radio station now part of the Channel 7 television network). Through McCrae, Armstrong secured a role as one of the engineers for the Olympic Games and operated audio for the main stadium. Television became an important promotional tool for music as variety shows featuring music performance became enormously popular.

Early recordings with Armstrong included young radio star Graham Kennedy who would go on to become a television celebrity, and the Graeme Bell Original Jazz Band. In the 1960’s hit songs by the Seekers and the Loved Ones, ‘The Loved One’ would be recorded at the studio under the studio management of Ron Tudor. W&G Records maintained operation until1974 when the company decided to discontinue record production after relocating to Reservoir.

Telefil recording studio (currently live music venue Memo music Hall) St Kilda

In 1961, Armstrong was asked to supervise the sound production for a company called Telefil Pty Ltd to establish a new studio at the Hoyts Memorial Theatre on Acland Street in St Kilda. Telefil had bought out Planet Records, a city-based label established by Jump Men frontman Bob Crawford with sound engineer and technician Marcus Herman in 1951. Telefil studio was large enough to fit a full orchestra and was the recording location of choice for HSV 7. Stars of the weekly variety program Sunnyside Up, including Olivia Newton-John, pre-recorded audio at Telefil for live-to-air broadcasts of the show. The Channel 9 Big Band also recorded at Telefil due to its size and acoustics. Armstrong managed technical operations at Telefil from 1961 to 1965 before starting his own studio. The controversial hit single that was initially banned for anti-religious lyrical content, Normie Rowe’s version of the Gershwin tune, It Ain’t Necessarily So, released in 1965 was recorded at Telefil by Armstrong. This song became the first number one record in both Sydney and Melbourne, by a Melbourne-based artist. Armstrong’s experience was mostly with recording jazz and orchestras so he was quick to recruit other talents to fill in his lack of confidence in recording the new rock ‘n’ roll and pop music styles that were sweeping the city. A new influx of audio talent arriving in Melbourne after post-war immigration changes provided an opportunity to lift the standard of Australian recordings through capitalising on a new skill-base that was mostly arriving from Europe.

One particular talent noted by Armstrong was that of Roger Savage, a Londoner who had worked at Olympic studios in London recording demos with Mick Jagger as well as Dusty Springfield. Savage had married an Australian girl and in January 1964 recorded a session at Telefil with Bobby and Laurie (Bobby Bright and Laurie Allen) for an original song called ‘I Belong With You’. This track topped the Melbourne music charts for two weeks and Armstrong claims it was a significant marker of when Australian recording had finally lifted its standard to rival that of international production. Prior to this, the quality of Australian recordings and record production was generally considered inferior. This shift in standard Armstrong attributes to the talents of Savage and the importation of his skill and knowledge of this new style of music recording to Melbourne.

Armstrong successfully attracted corporate clients for jingle production which provided the bulk of income for the business before music production took over. This included the Victorian Football League theme songs (many of which are still in use today). The small spaces in the townhouse could not accommodate an entire orchestra so orchestral parts had to be recorded in sections with each group arriving one after the other to layer over each section on the multitrack machines. Armstrong quickly recruited the talents of Roger Savage who eventually became a business partner. The combination of Savage’s international rock sensibilities and Armstrong’s industry know-how were a recipe for huge success. In its first year of operation, in March 1965, Savage recorded Sydney band the Easybeats on their first visit to Melbourne playing the backing track for She’s So Fine that was a nation-wide hit song. Armstrong also attributes Savage with contributing to the education of many engineers and producers to follow. Some of the early staff pool at Albert Road included engineers Allan Pay, Ernie Rose, John Sayers and Graeme Owens, and producers Ian “Molly” Meldrum, Howard Gable, Robie Porter and Ron Tudor, with many more to follow.

Armstrong’s became an appealing option for interstate producers as well as local productions for the unrestricted creative potential of the environment at a time when studio etiquette and work environments were still being established. EMI studios in Sydney at the time had volume restrictions where a bell would go off if the studio monitors were too loud.

The popularity of the studio meant that Armstrong’s required more space, and as neighbouring rental properties became vacant (owned by the same landlord), Armstrong would take over the lease and create extra rooms to record in. Eventually Armstrong’s on Albert Road occupied 5 townhouses and a custom-built studio in the back laneway. Illegally-run telephone lines over backyard fences between these rental properties created a studio network that would deliver some of Australia’s most well-recognised popular music of the time.

AAV days

Approached by the Age to set up a studio with the pending introduction of colour television, and the recording studios only taking up a third of the building space, Armstrong sold his share of the business whilst remaining a company director until 1974. With the concept of an audio-visual component of the business as a complementary addition to the recording business, Armstrong was closely involved with the transition of the studios into Armstrong Audio Visual (AAV) purchased by the Age newspaper group. Roger Savage also remained at AAV. By the early 70’s other recording studios had established themselves in the thriving music capital such as Television City Sounds at GTV9 in Richmond, Platinum Studios in South Yarra, and Richmond Recorders. Armstrong remained with AAV for the following 3 years and moved on to develop the new Radio station 3EA. This ethnic radio station, later became part of what is now known as Special Broadcast Services (SBS).
Armstrong had ambitions to start his own music-based studios again as he observed AAV management lose interest in the music department operations. He and a business partner purchased a vacant block of land in Bank Street with the idea of creating a “music farm”, similar to the way the old Armstrong’s had been run with a bustling complex of musicians and technicians. This was not to come to fruition due to the stock-market crash of the 1980s.

Savage departed AAV in the early 1980s to freelance in film production, working on the Hollywood film Return of the Jedi. Savage’s development of film audio production techniques and during the pre-digital era after starting his own company Soundfirm in 1983 saw the development of innovative timecoding techniques that contributed to a more efficient workflow for film audio post production. His business has produced continuous award-winning soundtracks. Six of the top ten grossing Australian films of all time have soundtracks completed at these studios which has expand to three different locations currently operating from Melbourne, Sydney and Beijing.

The AAV company was less interested in the music recording department which was not attracting the income of other areas within the business and artists began to record at competing studios. The priority for the company had become corporate gigs and the lesser-paying music gigs were of little interest to the corporation. Gear had not been as regularly updated as when Armstrong was involved, and the community atmosphere was shifting as the company focused more on film and television services. The studio was to undergo another major business change with the sale of the AAV music department in the mid-1990s.

Engineer and producer Ernie Rose who had started his career at the Albert St complex with Armstrong had moved across to manage Flagstaff studios in 1974 (former W&G in West Melbourne). Platinum in South Yarra had also started to produce competitive quality product. Tom Giblin who took over as manager of Audio and Operations at AAV from 1975-79 described it as a time when competition really started to heat up.

Metropolis days

When directors decided to sell the music department at AAV it gave Ernie Rose the opportunity to return to 180 Bank St from his role at Flagstaff Studios and revive the music department which had been suffering due to fierce competition and a lag in equipment updates. Rose and former Armstrong’s peer Ian McKenzie who at that stage had bought into Platinum studios at 643 Chapel St (see Sing Sing– chapter 4), partnered in this venture and renamed the business Metropolis which continued on in the 180 Bank St building within the AAV complex. AAV eventually acquired Flagstaff Studios (former W&G) which was recording mainly jingles at the time and relocated it from West Melbourne to the Bank St AAV facility. Doug Brady also came across from Flagstaff to Bank street and would go on to produce numerous award-winning albums including the major hit, Whispering Jack by John Farnham and open his own studio Furstock that is still in operation.

Despite management and business restructuring, the 180 Bank Street complex consistently output a considerable amount of commercially successful music in the 40 years of its operation as a music studio. The success of Armstrong’s/AAV/Metropolis was based on the community spirit and professional development of engineers and producers in custom-designed spaces with continually updated modern equipment attracting artists, producers and engineers from all over the country and around the world. Such recognisable talent and ground-breaking work has come out of Albert Rd and 180 Bank Street and permeated mainstream Australian culture that is difficult to deny contribution this community and space has contributed to the identity of Melbourne as a music hub.

Bill Armstrong’s activities in the audio industry including the foundation of his studio and the impact that his work and the subsequent businesses stemming from this have made a significant contribution to the Melbourne recording industry and its identity as a music city. This studio complex is one of the significant spaces in Melbourne where engineers and studio owners would support new music creation through discounted rates for off-peak use. Engineers would also donate their time and energy to projects with minimal budgets to help facilitate the creation of new music recording projects.

An engineer-producer with an expansive international career, James “Jimbo” Barton describes his early career days in the Bank St complex as some of his most memorable. Thrown in the deep end by Savage who must have believed in the potential of the young teenage apprentice, under the pretence of having to leave in an emergency, Savage left Barton to find his feet to record a multi-tracked full-piece orchestra. Little did Barton realise that Savage had been keeping an eye on the young producer-in-the-making from the upper level office above the tracking space. Stories such as these indicate that Bank Street provided a significant training ground for engineers and producers. This is also emphasised by the fact that most reputable studios in Melbourne following have had a strong connection, if not direct relationship to this network. Hundreds of staff worked in the hive of activity in this building and some have gone on to also contribute significantly to the development of formal audio education in Melbourne, contributing to the identity of Victoria as an ‘Education State’ as well as Melbourne as a music city.