malcolm

Malcolm Toft

Malcolm started his career as a recording engineer in the mid 1960's and joined Trident Recording studios when it opened in 1968. As the first 8 track facility in Europe, Trident soon became the top London Studio. Consequently many famous artists either started their careers there or came to record.

Among those that Malcolm recorded were: David Bowie's first album ( A space Oddity), three albums for T-Rex, James Taylor's first album, Joe Cocker, Mary Hopkins (Those Were The Days, single and album) and he was the mixing engineer for the Beatles 'Hey Jude' single. This was the first time the Beatles had recorded outside Abbey Road studios and it went on to become their biggest selling single. Other artists who started their careers at Trident include Elton John, Genesis and Queen (who were actually discovered and managed by the studios).

In 1970 he became manager of Trident and in 1971 it was decided that a new recording console was required for the move to 24 track recording. Malcolm convinced the studio owners that they could in fact manufacture their own and was given the task of designing the systems and supervising the project. It soon became evident that other studios were interested in Trident's new console design and Malcolm suggested that a company should be formed to manufacture and sell the recording consoles. Trident Audio Developments was formed in 1972 and soon developed into an international multi-million pound business. In 1986 the company produced the first large scale digitally controlled analogue recording console the Trident Di-An, which became a benchmark in the field of recording console design. In 1988 Malcolm sold the business to a public company.

In 1992 Malcolm went on to design a new recording console for clients in America and as a result founded MTA: Malcolm Toft Associates Ltd . MTA consoles are owned by among others: The Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA), Perth College, Carlton Television, Radiohead, Paul Weller, Stephen Hague (producer of the Pet Shop Boys), Terry Britten (writer of 'What's Love Got To Do With It' for Tina Turner), Radio Television Malaysia and various London film and television post production companies.

Malcolm has recently designed a range of specially designed consoles and microphones which will be available for sale at the Music Mill .