Also known as: Tandem Recording Studios
Location: Originally Colombo Street, Christchurch Central; later 78 Oxford Terrace, Christchurch Central
Active: 1974–present (recording studio 1974–c.2000s; media production company ongoing)
Current status: Operating (as Takirua Tandem Media)
History
Tandem Studios was founded in 1974 by John Phair, a Christchurch sound engineer who had spent his formative years working at Robbins Recordings — the South Island’s pre-eminent recording facility, established by Keith Robbins in the late 1950s. Phair was Robbins’ son-in-law, and when he struck out on his own, he followed the same model his father-in-law had built: pairing a recording studio with a record label of the same name. As AudioCulture noted in its history of Robbins Recordings, "Engineer John Phair, Robbins’ son-in-law, left in the 1970s and opened Tandem Studios, and as Robbins had done with his studio, launched a label of the same name."
The studio opened on Colombo Street in Christchurch’s inner city — barely a hundred metres, as one account put it, from the bohemian cluster of musicians and artists gathered around Mollett Street at the same time. That proximity was telling. While the emerging punk and post-punk underground was beginning to coalesce in the city’s warehouses and share-houses, Tandem Studios was operating as a professional commercial facility: writing and recording jingles and voiceovers for radio and television, and cutting albums for established acts on the Music World label, the commercially-oriented Christchurch imprint run by Hoghton Hughes. In 1978, at the peak of punk, Music World released Golden Saxophones — an album that went on to sell well over half a million copies — with session work laid down at Tandem.
John Phair operated the studio as its chief engineer throughout the late 1970s and into the 1980s, recording a wide range of work: country albums, commercial jingles, brass band recordings, and album projects for artists on the NZ country circuit. Among the notable studio sessions from this period were multi-gold albums for artists including Suzanne Prentice and Brendan Dugan — two of the era’s most commercially successful New Zealand country and easy-listening performers.
But Tandem was also, perhaps unexpectedly, a place where some of Christchurch’s most adventurous independent music was recorded. In 1984 and 1985, the studio hosted sessions for Scorched Earth Policy — the post-punk group featuring Pin Group drummer Peter Stapleton, guitarist Brian Crook, and the volatile, ever-shifting cast that made up one of Christchurch’s most distinctive early Flying Nun-adjacent bands. Their debut EP Dust to Dust (Flying Nun, FN028, 1984) and the follow-up Going Thru’ a Hole in the Back of Your Head (1985) were both recorded at Tandem Studios, capturing the band’s dark garage-rock energy at its most raw.
Also in May 1985, Roy Montgomery brought The Shallows into Tandem for a recording session. Montgomery had co-opted Pin Group guitarist-vocalist Mary Heney for the project, and added Mick Dawson (performing as M.S. Agro) on keyboards. The resulting single was subsequently mastered by EMI’s Frank Douglas in Wellington. The session was a bridge between the Pin Group era and the broader experimental scene that would give rise to The Terminals and kindred groups — all centred on the same small circle of Christchurch musicians.
The studio was also the recording home for country artist Roger Tibbs during this period. His album Yodelling Man, laid down over two nights with engineer John Phair at Tandem in 1984, contained 17 yodelling numbers and sold approximately 60,000 copies on the back of Music World’s radio advertising campaigns. A subsequent Tibbs album, Southbound (1988), was produced at Tandem by former That’s Country guitarist Brian Ringrose, with a band drawn from the core of the That’s Country television show lineup.
John Phair sold Tandem Studios in 1987. The business passed to a succession of owners, including Wayne Johnson and Peter Rattray, who continued to operate the studio. The facility relocated at some point to 78 Oxford Terrace in Christchurch’s central city, where it remained based for nearly two decades. Over time, the studio’s focus shifted from music recording toward audio production for advertising, jingles, voiceovers, and then — in the 2000s — video and multimedia production.
In March 2005, with the arrival of YouTube and podcasting, the studio began a deliberate transformation into a full multimedia production company. Tandem celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2014, by which point it had become what it describes as New Zealand’s largest producer of online video, with more than 30,000 videos uploaded to YouTube and clients ranging from Christchurch City Council to national businesses. The studio also developed the South Island’s largest voice agency, continuing to produce radio commercials and jingles. The business currently trades as Takirua Tandem Media, operating from Christchurch with additional offices across New Zealand.
Engineer John Phair, Robbins’ son-in-law, left in the 1970s and opened Tandem Studios, and as Robbins had done with his studio, launched a label of the same name.
AudioCulture, Christchurch’s Robbins Recordings