Queen wanted to check out the new Olympic studio. I was a massive fan so I begged to get on the session. I had never seen so much gear. They brought their own Sony tape machines, loads of guitars, keyboards, bass guitars and, most importantly, a small drinks fridge. The studio had a fridge too. I asked the crew where they wanted it and they said “next to yours in the control room – this one's for alcohol, keep yours for soft drinks and chocolate.”
I was the assistant engineer and on the first day I was getting it all working for recording, overdubbing, editing or mixing – basically anything that might happen. They were finishing and mixing tracks for the The Miracle album with Dave Richards as the engineer and producer. Although they recorded digitally it was still tape based and destructive – just like analogue – with proper man-sized drop ins and epic fails if you did it wrong. Believe me, that made you concentrate!
Freddie Mercury would often pace up and down behind the desk while he was warming up and Dave was getting a monitor balance and headphones sorted. One day I was by the SSL as the track was playing quietly and Freddie, standing right behind me, sang a loud note. I literally ducked and he burst out laughing! I don’t think he realised how powerful he was!
One night, some of Freddie's friends came in. It got to about 10:30pm and I thought we were winding down. As everyone was trooping out, Brian’s guitar tech asked me if I was coming to Freddie’s house. Not long after 11pm we were sitting in Freddie’s front room drinking crystal champagne with the whole band. It was unbelievably surreal, but incredible at the same time. You were always made to feel welcome, and it never felt awkward. They were amazing people to work with, and it struck me just how hard they worked, despite being a successful band already, to get a record where they wanted it to be.