Legendary Dublin studios remembered

THE legendary Dublin music studios where bands like U2, Clannad and The Waterboys recorded some of their iconic albums have been honoured with a new art installation as well as a series of live concerts.

Clannad singer Moya Brennan unveiled two installations featuring the sleeves of 21 of the most famous albums recorded at Windmill Lane Studios that now form a ‘Vinyl Walkway’ embedded into the pavement of the redeveloped Windmill Lane, in Dublin’s South Docks.

One of the installations is dedicated to the six U2 albums that included tracks recorded and mixed at the studios.

As well as where the Dublin band’s crucial first three albums – ‘Boy’, ‘October’, and ‘War’ – were recorded in full, much of the vital work on ‘The Unforgettable Fire’, ‘The Joshua Tree’ and ‘Achtung Baby’ was completed in the original studio building on Windmill Lane.

The studios, which are regarded as central to the development of an internationally successful music culture in Ireland, were also the recording location for albums by a string of international best-selling artists including Van Morrison and Kate Bush. 

James Morris, the founder of Windmill Lane Recording Studios, said the commemoration not only celebrates the musical heritage of Windmill Lane but also marks the extraordinary talent of those who worked there, in particular his former partner and co-founder of Windmill Recording Studios, Brian Masterson.

“It is appropriate that both they and all the musicians and artists who worked here will be permanently remembered through the artwork of their album covers in Windmill Lane,” he said.

Niall Stokes, editor of Hot Press, said that when Irish music really came of age in the late 1970s, one of the most important developments in that regard was the launch of the studios at Windmill Lane.

“Over the following decade, apart from being a kind of second home for U2, the studios became a mecca for some of the leading lights of international music,” he said. “Among the albums featured in the installation here are some of my favourites of all time, so it is great to see the wonderful legacy created in Windmill Lane being celebrated in this way.”

In 1992 Windmill Lane Pictures sold the Windmill Lane Music Recording business and all its equip-ment to Windmill Lane Recording Studios co-founder Brian Masterson, who subsequently relocat-ed the music recording studios to Ringsend. 

Windmill Lane Recording Studios continues to thrive at its Ringsend Road base, with international artists of the highest calibre coming to Ireland to record there, carrying on the legacy first established under the name at the Windmill Lane location.

Artists who have recorded there more recently include The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, U2, REM, Kylie Minogue, Lady Gaga, Ed Sheeran, Hozier and the late David Bowie, among many others.

Windmill Lane Pictures continued to operate from Windmill Lane until 2009, during which time the original music studios were renamed Number 4 and continued to operate for film and TV.

In 2015 the site was redeveloped as 1WML by property company Hibernia REIT.