Morgan Sound Studios was founded in 1967 by
Barry Morgan, Monty Babson, Jerry Allen, and
Leon Calvert, who were operating a jazz record label at
Lansdowne Studios and wanting dedicated office space for their label. Upon securing a location at 169–171 High Road, in the
Willesden area of northwest London, the musicians decided to also build a recording studio. They hired ex-
Olympic Studios engineer Terry Brown to manage the studio, who appointed another Olympic Studios alumnus,
Andy Johns as chief engineer.
Roy Thomas Baker, who would later achieve fame as an engineer and producer at
Trident Studios, also worked at Morgan in its early years as an assistant engineer. Studio manager Terry Brown knew that Clive Green was designing a new
mixing console for Lansdowne Studios, and he asked if he could buy the design. Green instead chose to build the console himself, resulting in the founding of mixing console manufacturer
Cadac Electronics. The first Cadac console - a custom, hand-wired, eight-channel split-console desk with transformerless balanced inputs and outputs - was installed at Morgan Studios. The studios initially operated with a modestly sized, 20 x 20 foot live room and a 17 x 10 ft control room with a
Scully 1-inch eight-track recorder, as well as
Ampex two-track and four-rack recorders. In 1972, Morgan opened a significantly larger Studio 3 on the ground floor of a building across the street, outfitting it with a 24 x 24 Cadac console and a 3M M79 24-track recorder. In 1974, Morgan purchased another property around the corner to open Studio 4, Morgan's largest studio space yet. Outfitted with a 28 x 24 Cadac mixing console, Studio 4 also had the distinction of being the recipient of the first Ampex 24-track tape recorder in England (although it was later replaced by a Studer A80). Each of Morgan's control rooms had three
EMT plate reverbs, two Pye limiters, and two
UREI limiters. Morgan's studios also used
Neumann U47 and U67 microphones. ==Successors==