Helios (mixing console)

Helios was a brand of mixing consoles custom-designed and built for use in recording studios. Produced from 1969 to 1979, Helios consoles were utilized by many key recording studios to produce numerous notable recordings and played a vital part in the history of British rock.

Richard "Dick" Swettenham was a British technician and engineer who was the Technical Director at Olympic Studios in the 1960s, where he designed and custom-built the studios' innovative wraparound mixing consoles. In 1968, when Island Records wanted a mixing console for the company's new Basing Street Studios, Glyn Johns persuaded Swettenham to leave Olympic Studios and partner with Island Records founder Chris Blackwell to start his own mixing console manufacturing company, and Helios Electronics was established in 1969.

10 years later, in 1979, Helios Electronics ceased operations. Helios founder Swettenham died of cancer on April 9, 2000.

Like their predecessors at Olympic Studios, Helios mixing consoles feature a wraparound design with console sections positioned at a much higher angle, putting controls easier for the engineer to reach than traditional console designs. Some Helios consoles also featured flattering mic preamps with Lustraphone transformers and characteristic 3-band EQ.

The first Helios mixing console was commissioned by Keith Grant for Olympic Studios' new Studio Two in 1969, where the console was used to record projects by Jimi Hendrix, Procol Harum, Led Zeppelin, Traffic, the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and others.

Also in 1969, Island Records commissioned a 20-input, 8-bus Helios console with 16-channel monitoring for their new Basing Street Studios, where the console was used to record Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, Genesis, Bob Marley & the Wailers, Dire Straits, and the Led Zeppelin album Led Zeppelin IV, including "Black Dog" and "Stairway to Heaven".

In the mid- to late-'70s, Richard Branson commissioned Helios consoles for Virgin Records' recording studios The Manor, The Manor Mobile, and The Town House. The initial Manor Mobile Helios console outfitted the world's first purpose-designed 24-track mobile recording studio, its 24 inputs later expanded to 40 inputs with the use of additional Helios submixers. The Town House studios opened with a 40-input Helios console with Allison automation, which remained in use at the studio until 1984. A quad-ready 32-input Helios console with Allison automation was part of Virgin's 1975 refurbishment of The Manor studios, where it remained in use through late 1981.

Helios consoles were popular with artists building their own recording studios in the 1970s, including the Beatles Apple Studios, Eric Clapton, Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull's Maison Rouge Mobile, and 10cc's Strawberry Studios.