Lighthouse Studios

Hey, BK musos ... some BK seems to have tuned in and turn Shanti Bhavan and his BK contacts into a business Lighthouse Studio !?!

Attitudes towards business have obviously changed, so have attitudes towards music not changed to? Or did The They just realise that it did not matter any more?

David Cathro
Lighthouse Studio UK Ltd
15 Heathfield Park
Willesden Green
London NW2 5JE

Client links likes the usual suspects; Bliss, Mike George, Relax Kids, BKIS ltd, Lynne Franks etc ...

Hey, BK musos ... some BK seems to have tuned in and turn Shanti Bhavan and his BK contacts into a business Lighthouse Studio !?!

Looks nice, be better if they had proper equipement rather than just a computer.

Quote from the studio:

The performance of our DAW has been carefully tuned to give similar resolution as our reference CD transport, so that there are no surprises when the CD Master is burned.

Ahh ... always a need to throw in some b***sh**.

There is a story behind this.

David Cathro is a good bloke who has now left Gyan and has become married. I don't think he has much to do with this anymore.

The studio was set up as mainly a mastering studio for BK recordings. Lots of the commentary tapes have been recorded in there. It has state of the art equipment and was funded jointly by David and BK Publications(Jaymini).

David is very upset at the amount of money he was encouraged to put into this project leaving him not only to be broke but in debt. So he was encouraged by the BKs to open it up as a business to try and recoup some money ... it never really took off and, as I mentioned, he has now left so I don't know what happens with it now.

David Cathro is a good bloke who has now left Gyan and has got married, I don't think he has much to do with this anymore.

Is he a bald-headed Aussie? The one who lived in the mud-brick solar house in Gyan Sarovar?

He is a bald headed aussie, but not the one in the hut at Gyan Sarovar.

He's actually English by birth but grew up over there. He's quite tall, thin sporty type

Nice chap.

Nice chap.

Its a shame that more of those "successful re-adapters" would not post on the forum. I suppose we are just "too BK" for them! Interesting how he could adopt so quickly to leaving, getting shacked up with a woman and then marrying. Did he go off with a Sister?

How much did he stick into the studio "for service's sake" and what was the ownership agreement?

Its a funny thing, but what with the rate of drop out, you would think the BKWSU were aware that problems might arise. I suppose the BK are just too charitably keen to help individuals earn a future inheritance by taking money off them during the Honeymoon Period.

There was no ownership agreement. He was an ex-centrewasis / surrenderd Brother sort of fellow who would happily give everything.

He poured lots of money into it ... it is the danger of misguided faith. He did not go off with a Sister, he found a nice local girl. I think he found some real meaning in his life.

Its weird you know, when i was staying at Shanti Bhavan, many of the blokes there were really disillusioned with lots of things ... A lot of us never went to morning class after a while. We just couldn't relate to what was happening at GCH in general. Most of us still participated in service a lot ... it was there I first heard someone actually say, "Maybe Shiva Baba is not god!"

The frustration of those guys was intense. Most of them had been in Gyan longer than me but they had very laid back attitudes ... healthy in my opinion ... whereas GCH was torture-like in its religious type ritual behaviour ... having to say "Om Shanti" every ten seconds in a psuedo soft voice.

It may not look much but I think upwards of 100k went into this MASTERING studio. Mastering is the last stage, when all the recording and mixing/effects have been done. I never did get in to see it after a few visits/attempts.

The literature dept leaves much to be desired, I hope things have improved there.

Of course, it could do great things yet this studio. Perhaps it was built with someone else in mind, which doesn't help David much, but perhaps he would feel that his efforts were not entirely waisted if it was "producing" in some capacity. It is this feeling of, why bother, what was the point, what a waist of time.

Speakers don't deteriorate like electronic gear (unless they are BKs). They will be good for a long time. While recording quality increases, the quality/ spec. which people listen to it at is still CD quality at the end of the production line, so it is still a useable facility.

It may not look much but I think upwards of 100k went into this MASTERING studio.

Yes, this is about right ... it is indeed a mastering facility. Bliss's later stuff was mastered there as were a lot of the Hindi CDs. But some actual commentaries were recorded there.

I seem to remember hearing of "Bliss" bringing in their own guy with a "finishing" device (multi band compressor?) so it may not be fully equipped (?). It is probably being used as a garden shed or something .

I may be about to get a pre amp with my newly retrieved bank charges, and something to print on to CD and ... materialism, buy one desire, which creates ten others ... anyway, Claim it back folks.

I may be about to get a pre amp with my newly retrieved bank charges, and something to print on to CD and ... materialism, buy one desire, which creates ten others ... anyway, Claim it back folks.

I am just about to send a letter to reclaim my bank charges, how did it go? What pre amp are you looking at?

It may not look much but I think upwards of £100k went into this MASTERING studio. Mastering is the last stage, when all the recording and mixing/effects have been done. I never did get in to see it after a few visits/attempts.

They could have got some serious outboard gear for that money Manley Labs only a few grand I am sure . On further inspection they do have some outboard gear and a manly compressor at that.

I seem to remember hearing of "Bliss" bringing in their own guy with a "finishing" device (multi band compressor?) so it may not be fully equipped (?).

The money would I guess have gone on building and acoustically tuning the room then speakers, outboard gear and computers. £100k is a damn heap of money, way, way overboard. They must have been ripped off.

Its not so much they were ripped off, its more that this place was David's baby. He bought every piece of equipment you could imagine, modern and retro ... but in the end it was only Protools on the Mac that did all the work.

Bliss definitely did master stuff there. I was living in shanti bhavan at the time ... I was quite good friends with Andy being a fellow muso. I played with him a few times.

Also Sam Magee from Australia mastered some stuff there.

He spent far more on it than was needed and, yes, it was acoustically designed but the sound proofing was not all that ... you could still hear the planes on their approach to Heathrow.

Its not so much they were ripped off, its more that this place was David's baby. He bought every piece of equipment you could imagine, modern and retro.

Was he new to Gyan at the time? Honeymooning?

It sounds complex now. He pays rent and is an ex-BK working stuck in a BK building, are they going to go along with that? Or else he walks away and the BKs take the butter. You should ask him to join us here.

Sorry it took so long to get back here.

I got £900 of MY money back from the Bank. I got an epson printer which prints colour on to CD. I have ordered a pre-amp. A "really nice pre amp" by FMR audio. I think the sight(Gear4Music) are ordering from the States. I already have a Rode NTK valve mic, so the pre should be a really nice match hopefully. Better than my current pre which is my spirit F1 14 ch mixing desk.

The rest is going to the dentist for white fillings. Keep making tunes ...

Its not so much they were ripped off, its more that this place was David's baby. He bought every piece of equipment you could imagine, modern and retro.

Was he new to Gyan at the time? Honeymooning?

It sounds complex now. He pays rent and is an ex-BK working stuck in a BK building, are they going to go along with that? Or else he walks away and the BKs take the butter. You should ask him to join us here.

sorry for not replying sooner

no, he wasn't honeymooning, he had been in Gyan longer than me

but he was at a level of dedication to be considered a surrendered member, he had done time in a centre, so he was well into it as we all were that lived at shanti bhavan(i was only there for a few years...2 or 3)

and that was his service baby, he poured a lot into it but he did really enjoy it too, we used to go in there and just listen to music really loud......i don't want to talk about him really, because he is a thoroughly decent spot on bloke.....I like him a lot.....yes it would be good if he came on here