Ladybird Studios goes back to its roots…..
At the age of 15 I made my first light show for our youth club disco. It comprised of four coloured lightbulbs and a Honeywell programmer that I acquired from a second-hand shop in Soho. Combined with 'twin decks' we were really rockin'.
Years later at work we used some seriously good recording equipment, and at home I was helping support bands with a mobile disco 3-4 evenings a week. I recorded many of those bands, and with the exception of a very big and heavy Vortexion high speed mastering recorder that we had, recordings were not particularly good by today's standards. Affordable video was rubbish - in fact professional VT was none too clever either back then. Look at the old TOTP footage!!
Moving on, audio recording became digital, as did video. More importantly, affordable computers could edit what had been recorded. My work gave me close contact with our broadcast and studio people so I knew what 'good looks like'. Socially I played guitar, some keyboards, and even a little singing in a few bands, plus some AmDram and film work. I know how good stage presentations work and I could see how so many local bands, including my own, missed a trick. So I got into stage production, in particular lighting, almost by accident.
However, stage lighting was never my passion and ironically supporting Glamstar in 2025 completed the circle. I started and finished with glam-rock. I've accepted that I'm getting older and have lost my head for heights, stages are getting bigger, so are the lights, and I now live a long way from where I started. I am not a trained lighting designer, although I have learnt a lot, so I am going back to my comfort zone - recording. Hopefully what I produce will not only provide historical records but also help events improve by providing unbiased feedback.
Keith
At the age of 15 I made my first light show for our youth club disco. It comprised of four coloured lightbulbs and a Honeywell programmer that I acquired from a second-hand shop in Soho. Combined with 'twin decks' we were really rockin'.
Years later at work we used some seriously good recording equipment, and at home I was helping support bands with a mobile disco 3-4 evenings a week. I recorded many of those bands, and with the exception of a very big and heavy Vortexion high speed mastering recorder that we had, recordings were not particularly good by today's standards. Affordable video was rubbish - in fact professional VT was none too clever either back then. Look at the old TOTP footage!!
Moving on, audio recording became digital, as did video. More importantly, affordable computers could edit what had been recorded. My work gave me close contact with our broadcast and studio people so I knew what 'good looks like'. Socially I played guitar, some keyboards, and even a little singing in a few bands, plus some AmDram and film work. I know how good stage presentations work and I could see how so many local bands, including my own, missed a trick. So I got into stage production, in particular lighting, almost by accident.
However, stage lighting was never my passion and ironically supporting Glamstar in 2025 completed the circle. I started and finished with glam-rock. I've accepted that I'm getting older and have lost my head for heights, stages are getting bigger, so are the lights, and I now live a long way from where I started. I am not a trained lighting designer, although I have learnt a lot, so I am going back to my comfort zone - recording. Hopefully what I produce will not only provide historical records but also help events improve by providing unbiased feedback.
Keith
Note: Throughout this site I intermix 'I' and 'we'. That is because I may call on help with some tasks.