Vinyl Icons

Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox initially had a small studio in Chalk Farm, but moved in 1982 into a church in Crouch End, North London. Their new space was initially rent-free and was situated in a ground floor cloakroom, and here they finished recording 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)' using an 8-track Soundcraft desk. They were offered a larger upstairs room, traded in their old desk and acquired a 24-track Soundcraft desk and started working with the engineer, Jon Bavin. Touch took only three weeks to record over the summer of 1983.

Among Stewart's studio hardware was a Bel noise reduction unit to compress Lennox's vocals, a Roland Space Echo and a Klark Teknik DN50 spring reverb. He also spent £2000 on a rare Mk I Movement Systems MCS Percussion Computer (only around 30 were ever built). This could also be hooked up to a Roland SH-101 synth to sequence bass lines. Other analogue synths that Stewart used included the Oberheim OB-X, a Juno 60 and that staple of bedroom synth players, an EDP Wasp.

Space was still limited when arranger Michael Kamen and the string players from the British Philharmonic Orchestra turned up to record their parts for 'Here Comes The Rain Again'. Stewart had forgotten to tell Kamen that they only had four mics and there was a problem accommodating the musicians with any sort of separation. Eventually the cello players were stationed in the toilet and the violins in the corridor, with Kamen conducting from a spiral staircase. The tracks were mixed down to mono, but, in Stewart's words, 'It sounded bloody incredible'.