A band turning up for a session at Studio Electrophonique in the late 1970s could have been forgiven for thinking they had the wrong address. An ordinary Sheffield council house with a caravan parked on the driveway, it was semi-detached with deep pile carpets and a toy poodle with a bark like a wildebeest.
But behind the chintzy curtains, an RAF veteran and panel-beater called Ken Patten had handbuilt one of the most pioneering electronic studios in Europe. In return for a £15 recording fee, he helped some of Sheffield’s most important bands form their nascent sounds – from Pulp to ABC, Heaven 17 and the Human League, as well as less heralded acts such as the Doncaster Wheatsheaf Girls Choir.
