Footnotes

Provenance:
John Lennon's home music studio at Tittenhurst Park (Ascot Sound Studios) was commissioned in 1969 directly by Apple Corps.
The construction was authorised to Audiotek, with the studio equipment including this echo plate installed at Tittenhurst Park in 1970.
The present echo plate is recorded by its serial number 02802 on an Audiotek schedule from a shipping manifest dated 6th October 1972.
With Don Larking of Larking's List by March 2010.
Acquired from the above by the current owner.

The present piece of studio equipment is one of two important examples acquired by Audiotek, who installed it into the music studio in John Lennon's home at Tittenhurst Park. According to engineer Eddie Veale, the brief from Neil Aspinall was simply to "build a studio for John as good as Apple", and that it was believed to be the first professional home music studio in the United Kingdom. The use of two EMT 140 plates at Tittenhurst meant that Ascot Sound Studios was as well equipped as many of the major commercial studios for such equipment.

Although aspects of the studio were still a work-in-progress by the beginning of 1971, the echo plates would have been in use by John as early as February for the recording of the songs It's So Hard and Power To The People. The studio would have been fully ready when the majority of the album Imagine was recorded between the 24th and 28th May. Given the state of the world in 1971 and the present day, the lyrics of 'Imagine' remain a pertinent expression of John Lennon's philosophy, with the present Lot an important piece of studio equipment used to produce that album's message.

A 1972 shipping manifest from the UK to the USA suggests that John wanted to continue using these echo plates despite having left Tittenhurst and the UK for good the year before and the property was acquired by Ringo Starr in 1973. The only other echo plate from Ascot Sound Studios (serial no. 02824) resides at The Village Recording Studio in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The EMT 140 model was first produced in 1957, and was swiftly accepted as an essential component of a top recording studio. The unit comprises a large, thin sheet or 'plate' of steel held by springs within the frame and box. A transducer is mounted on the plate which then receives the audio signal, causing the sheet to vibrate for an artificial reverb effect of up to six seconds. As a stereo model, this unit would then pick up the reverberation through two transducers.

For more on the history of this equipment, see: https://www.solobeatlesstudios.com/recording-equipment-of-ascot-sound-studios

Please note that viewing for this Lot is available by appointment only from the Bonhams Oxford galleries. Please contact the Popular Culture department for more information.