A recording studio designer and acoustician who has worked with music greats such as The Beatles has been awarded an honorary doctorate for his contributions to the audio industry.
Eddie Veale, who lives on North Road in Stevenage, began his career in 1960 working on noise control in passenger aircraft for De Havilland in Hatfield.
As an engineer, he was invited to look after the studios belonging to Advision, which became one of the top rock and pop recording studios in London.
Working for Advision, Eddie became a pioneer in studio design and the practice of acoustics for recording and met some of the industry’s leading artists and producers.
It led to the opportunity of designing the UK’s first professional home recording studio for Beatles legend John Lennon at his Tittenhurst Park home in Ascot.
Building started in August 1969 and needed to be ready by Christmas 1970 for the recording of Lennon’s first solo album, Imagine, which Eddie also worked on.
Creating Lennon’s home studio was a turning point for Eddie and the recording industry; more artists wanted a home studio and professional studios started taking acoustics seriously.
Eddie founded Veale Associates in 1969 and over the years the company, which Eddie runs from his Stevenage home, has completed more than 500 projects for clients ranging from Blue Chip and FTSE 100 international organisations, to some of the world’s most prestigious musicians and producers.
Eddie has designed and built some of the most famous recording studios in the world, working with three of The Beatles, as well as Pete Townshend from The Who, Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmore and Eric Clapton.
Eddie has been awarded an honorary doctorate of letters from the University of West London in recogntiion of his contributions to the audio industry and his commitment to educating the next generation of acousticians and sound engineers.
As well as designing some of the UK’s most loved studios, Eddie introduced the Moog and ARP synthesisers to Europe and created the ‘compression’ ceiling to improve control room bass response.
He is also responsible for the business model of today’s commercial radio studio – creating the first presenter-driven station – and his work with other luminaries, such as Dolby, saw the Movie Starr cinema at London’s Tate Modern revitalised with Dolby Atmos.
More recently, Eddie has been working in education, designing state-of-the-art facilities for university students.
At the University of West London, together with his team from Veale Associates, he has created professional recording, post-production studios, professional radio studios, an ensemble area within the Pillars restaurant, and the acoustics for the university’s Weston Hall.
Eddie’s citation was presented by Doctor Andrew Bourbon, senior lecturer at the university’s London College of Music.
Dr Bourbon said: “We teach our students to cherish the music and look after the music so we can all enjoy fantastic music, and Eddie is one of the great pioneers who have allowed us to do this.
“Nowadays, when we want something new we just buy it, but when Eddie started his career if you wanted something new you had to invent it.
“It is this inspiration that plays such an enormous part in the lives of our students.
“Eddie is such an inspiration and inspires us to keep pushing forward and sharing great music.”
Eddie said: “I am honoured to receive such recognition for my services to the audio industry. It’s been one heck of a ride!
“I am pleased we have helped the university to rise up the rankings with our recent work and I would like to congratulate all the students on their hard work and achievements and now urge them to go and do what they are passionate about, and above all to enjoy it.”
Eddie was also awarded a Sound Fellowship from the Association of Professional Recording Services in 2013 in recognition of his work.
For more about Eddie and Veale Associates, visit www.va-studiodesign.com
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