Has anybody asked Peter freestone , did Freddie have a studio of some sort in garden lodge to record basic demoes or was everything worked on by the band together in the studio . Just curious to know , wonder what time of FM release is coming next year.
Well I do believe there are some demos with Montserrat (excercises in free love, / Ensueno) recorded at garden lodge, but i dont recall them being of a very high quality, which would suggest no.
I'm very confident Freddie had no equipment in his houses other than a guitar and piano, everytime he had an idea he would call the others and get them down to a studio, he did probably record the odd idea on cassette but that would be it, I think all three of the others had some form or recording equipment from fairly early on although I suspect Deakys was limited
I think I read somewhere, and I think it was from Peter Freestone (and sorry I can't link to source) that for Freddie home was home and work was work, and that he didn't have a studio at home (unlike Brian and Roger). The stuff recorded by Peter Freestone with Peter Straker and Mike Moran was just recorded on something very basic, as was the stuff with Montserrat in '87.
I read somewhere else, again I can't remember the source, that John Brough went round to Freddie's home to record the Slightly Mad convention message, but I can't tell you whether I read that everything was set up already or if he had to bring any equipment.
I suppose IF he had a home studio and did recordings in there that haven't surfaced, they'll probably never see the light of day unfortunately.
Prince of course had a home studio and worked obsessively, and I'm sure I heard Michael Jackson was similar in that respect, but Freddie seemed to be more relaxed about making music, perhaps going for a quality not quantity approach. I dunno, now I'm just bullshitting I think.
The garden lodge tape was recorded on a pretty basic tape recorder. I can imagine if Freddie had a load of his pals over (who he respected as performers) he'd have captured it on something a bit better if he could.
A tape recorder on his piano was all he needed for a 'memory jogger'. Brian and Roger, probably wanted to present a more complete demo - or would've worked out bass and rhythm parts for each idea because they always ad half an eye of completing their songs alone in the studio. Look at their Queen songs - they play almost everything on them
No descent equipment only one of those old vintage reel-to-reel recorders I am sure I read that in the many books etc Freestone saying he would be clicking the record button and I am sure Jim at times did also, Imagine had Freddie had a small studio built the crazy stuff he would of recorded when he was drunk or full of energy and full of ideas or even covers of other musician's.... Who knows.
Yeah, other than basic reel to reel and the occasional camcorder, I don't think higher quality formats were ever used by him at home. There are all these tapes and home demos that we know of, and pretty much all of them are rather poor sounding. It seems that's the way he used to work.
To be honest, I have no idea at all I also have recordings at home that I keep at home. I like to do this and therefore I installed special furniture at home, namely cube bookcase which was supposed to help me. I ordered on the site and if you are interested in check that and you will understand that the product is of high quality and the design of the product is also not bad. I advise everyone who wants to keep recording at home because it is very convenient.