{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}} '''Genetic Studios''' (also known as '''Genetic Sound'''<ref name="Telegraph 2011">{{cite news|author=The Telegraph|title=Martin Rushent|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/technology-obituaries/8562220/Martin-Rushent.html|work=The Telegraph|accessdate=14 June 2011|location=London|date=7 June 2011}}</ref>) was a recording studio in Streatley, England.
== History == Genetic was established in 1980 by Martin Rushent and Alan Winstanley.<ref name="Burns">{{cite web|last=Burns|first=Phillip|title=Genetic Studios|url=http://www.philsbook.com/genetic.html|work=A History of British Recording Studios from the 50s – 80s|accessdate=14 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110603084038/http://www.philsbook.com/genetic.html|archive-date=3 June 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> The facility was built in a barn at Rushent's home in Streatley.<ref name="Telegraph 2011" /><ref name="Burns" /> Rushent decided to focus on electronic music after working heavily with guitar-based punk bands in the late 1970s – including The Buzzcocks and The Stranglers.<ref name="Flint 2007">{{cite web|last=Flint|first=Tom|title=Martin Rushent: from Punk to Electro|year=2007|url=http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb07/articles/martinrushent.htm|work=Sound on Sound|publisher=SOS Publications Group|accessdate=6 June 2011}}</ref> Rushent began the studio after seeing an advertisement for the Roland Micro Composer. He thought the device looked "pretty good", and bought a Roland Jupiter synth to go with it.<ref name="Flint 2007" />
Rushent purchased Synclavier and Fairlight CMI synthesisers (at £25,000 each)<ref name="Flint 2007" /> and an MCI console to use in the studio.<ref name="Buskin 2010">{{cite web|last=Buskin|first=Richard|title=Human League "Don’t You Want Me"|url=http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul10/articles/classictracks_0710.htm|year=2010|work=Sound on Sound|publisher=SOS Publications|accessdate=6 June 2011}}</ref> He spent £35,000 on the studio's air conditioning system, and had a Mitsubishi Electric digital recorder costing £70,000.<ref name="Flint 2007" />
After the success of ''Dare'' in 1981, Rushent extended the studio to house a second control room and recording booth. The MCI desk was moved to the new rooms, and a Solid State Logic (SSL) desk was bought to be used in the original studio.<ref name="Burns" /> Rushent later said that the new desk "had the most advanced mix functions of any board available at the time, so everybody wanted to use it. What everybody missed was the fact that, in [his] view, the SSL may sound technically correct, but it's never sounded musically correct."<ref name="Burns" /> He stated that he hated working on the SSL, and that it "ended up ruining [the] main control room."<ref name="Burns" />
Rushent sold his home and Genetic in 1989, and the studio continued to operate until the early 1990s.<ref name="Burns" /> The complex was sold for £906,000 in 2000, then £1.5 million in a second sale 3 years later.<ref name="Owen 2008">{{cite web|last=Owen |first=Pamela |title=Residents' anger at 'desecrated' land |year=2008 |url=http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/news/article.aspx?articleid=8395 |publisher=Newbury Weekly News |accessdate=14 June 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719194403/http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/News/Article.aspx?articleID=8395 |archivedate=19 July 2011}}</ref> The site was later demolished and in 2007 a planning application was submitted to West Berkshire Council to build a £12 million luxury home,<ref name="Owen 2008" /><ref name="Slater 2009">{{cite web|last=Slater|first=Natalie|title=Neighbours' anger over the £12 million mansion|year=2009|url=http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/s/2059298_neighbours_anger_over_the_12_million_mansion|publisher=Get Reading|accessdate=14 June 2011}}</ref> which was later built.
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Category:Recording studios in England