Photograph
Twilight Studio
1988

“Smiths recorded their first demo at decibelle...”

“Oh right! The bit that I found also states that the demo that got them their recording contract with Rough Trade was recorded here.

So possibly The Smiths recorded a later demo here?”

“haha...top memories of been shut away in there...'friendly frank'.”

“My band recorded 3 demos there ..It was located in the basement of a terrace house in Salford .. Remember it as being cheap and cheerful (seem to remember the owner had an old mellotron string synth sat in the corner) ... I have some photos of the place and will get them scanned and posted up if anyones interested ?”

“There were actually 2 locations for Twilight Sound Studios -
the first was in the basement of 57 Alpha St Salford where the Smiths and Ken Dodd recorded Demo's
- The Second was where this pic was taken at the Old Adelphi School Building - now all rubble - this was where Flag of Convenience and Kevin Kennedy's Band "A Bunch of Thieves" recorded. The Studio was set up and owned by the Brothers Frank and Danny Walsh - Frank was hands on whilst Danny was the silent partner.
Ken Dodd went with his demo's down to London's Abbey Road where he recorded the master album with George Martin producing - when he heard the Demo's, Mr Martin rang Frank to congratulate him on the sound quality he had achieved - not bad eh! We did indeed have a mellotron long since gone now - and also a very first edition of pro tools on an old apple - worth a fortune now but sold for peanuts. The Mixing desk in the pic was previously owned by "The Human League" and came over from Sheffield strapped to the top”

“….Of an old Morris 1100 Estate on a freezing cold day when the snow was falling and snake pass had been closed - we still used it to get back to Salford!

We also did quite a bit of Foley work for Cosgrove Hall in Chorlton - Danger Mouse and Chorlton and the Wheelies etc..

Both brothers are now involved in Video production and regularly work together - Ironically we recently did a project for Salford Lads Club - round the corner from where we grew up on Huddart St - Frank works at TVA in Salford and Danny at Handel Productions in Stockport”

“Our band The Pickups recorded 3 demos there from 82-84. Frank was very helpful as we were pretty clueless about recording, he even played drums on a few songs when our drummer wasn’t available. We still have those tapes with the Twilight Studios stickers on them. We had a reunion in the USA recently & recorded one of those demo songs again 37 years later!”

“Anyone know where I can get in touch with Frank? Lost touch years ago”

“Frank can be contacted here...
Tvaproductionsonline.co.uk”

“Excellent thanks”

“The first and only single by Communal Drop called Fanatics was recorded at Alpha Street in easter '85 and also the demos in '84. The Jayne County Album Goddess of Wet Dreams was recorded at the Adelphi building in '93. I had hours of endless fun with Frank.”

“Inside Edge recorded a couple of demo tapes at Twilight Sound Studios, including the tracks, "Ghosts", "Manchester Rain" and "Love Kills". This would have been around 1986/87 at the studio pictured.

Inside Edge also recorded their first single "Elegy" at Twilight in 1987, which was then cut and pressed at Utopia.”