Warren Barnett’s career in recorded music began at EMI (Australia) almost by accident—or, more accurately, through a combination of determination, curiosity and being in the right place at the right time. After completing a disastrous apprenticeship in painting and decorating with his father, Warren joined EMI (Australia) at its Homebush plant in October 1969. His first job was far removed from the recording studio: he worked on the packing bench and pulled record orders for retailers. But Warren had joined EMI (Australia) with a longer-term ambition. He wanted to get into the company’s recording studios.
By 1972, after about three years at Homebush, he decided to do something about it. Without telling his supervisors, Warren caught the train into Sydney after work and turned up unannounced at EMI’s Castlereagh Street studios. He pressed the buzzer on the 8th floor and asked the engineer who answered whether he could simply sit in and watch a recording session. The request was politely declined—it was hardly normal EMI protocol—but his name was passed to studio manager Bill Ramsay.
Bill checked that this unknown young man really did work at Homebush and, intrigued by his enthusiasm, sought him out during his next weekly production meeting at the factory. He invited Warren back to the studios the following Wednesday night. When Warren returned, the engineer who had turned him away the week before was there to greet him — and it was none other than Martin Benge himself! Warren was introduced to Martin, David Woodley-Page, Ross Linton and other members of the EMI studio staff, and spent the evening observing a session for the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band’s Kersbrook Cottage. One night became three as Martin asked him to return and help with subsequent sessions.
Warren had made an impression. Bill soon decided that he wanted him permanently in the studios. On the following Friday, during his next production visit to Homebush, he approached Warren’s warehouse manager about transferring him into the studio team. The idea met immediate resistance. Warren was considered one of the warehouse’s best workers, and the manager refused to release him, insisting that he would have to resign from Homebush and reapply again if the studios wanted him.
Bill returned to EMI’s city offices frustrated by the response and, by chance, ran into managing director Ken East. When Ken asked what was wrong, Bill explained that he had found the person he wanted for an open studio position, but Homebush would not let him go. Ken told him to leave the matter with him.
Ken arranged to accompany Bill to the next Friday production meeting at Homebush. His arrival came as a surprise to the warehouse manager, who was not expecting him. Warren's transfer was raised again, and although the manager remained reluctant, there was now little room for argument. When he questioned whose decision it was, Ken made the position clear: it was his. Warren would report to the studios the following Monday at 9am.
It was the break Warren had been looking for. He was introduced to people including Richard Lush and began developing the engineering and disc-mastering skills that would define much of his working life. EMI (Australia)’s mastering facilities at the time included Neumann VMS 70 and VMS 66 cutting lathes, and Warren accumulated several years of experience cutting records on the VMS 70. His cuts could be identified by the distinctive “W” incorporated into the matrix inscriptions.
Warren’s time at EMI (Australia) ended not through choice but through retrenchments. In early 1974 the company was reducing staff across its Castlereagh Street operation, and as one of the most recently appointed members of the engineering department he was among those selected to leave. One of the final records he mastered for EMI (Australia) was Paul McCartney and Wings’ Red Rose Speedway.
Once again, Bill Ramsay intervened on Warren’s behalf. Knowing that Festival Records was preparing to install its own VMS 70 and needed someone experienced in operating it, Bill contacted Festival engineer Barry Nagle before Warren had even left EMI. Warren arrived for his Festival interview carrying a test pressing of Red Rose Speedway as an example of his work. Unknown to him, Bill had effectively already arranged the move. Warren finished at EMI (Australia) on the Friday and began at Festival the following Monday in February 1974.
What began with a job packing records at Homebush had, within a few years, taken Warren into professional recording and mastering. He would remain at Festival for the next 28 years and continue working in audio restoration and mastering long afterwards. Looking back, Warren regarded EMI (Australia) as a remarkable training ground—the place that gave him his first opportunity, introduced him to some of Australia’s leading recording engineers, and established the skills on which the rest of his career was built.
Based on the recollections of Warren Barnett, shared here with his permission.
