Deram Records - 1966-1968

1966-1968

Decca initially conceived Deram Records initially as an outlet for stereo 'Deramic Sound' recordings of contemporary pop and rock music, though not all of the early recordings on Deram used this technique. The new recording concept allowed for more space between instruments, rendering these sounds softer to the ear. Early stereo recordings of popular music usually were mixed with sounds to the hard left, center, or hard right only. This was because of the technical limitations of the professional 4-track reel-to-reel recorders which were state of the art until about 1967. 'Deramic Sound' was intended to create recordings that had a more natural stereo spread. The basic difference was that, instead of overdubbing and mixing 4 individual (mono) tracks from a 4-track recorder, the Decca recording engineers used a pair of 4-track machines to layer multiple 2-channel (stereo) recordings. This new concept with additional tracks permitted instruments to be heard more easily from any position within the stereo field.

To launch the 'Deramic Sound' concept Deram issued a series of six Easy listening orchestral pop albums in October 1967. The albums all included the word Night in the title, i.e. Strings in the Night, Brass in the Night, etc. The label was soon moulded into a home for 'alternative' or 'progressive' artists. Among the first recordings in this series was the November 1967 album release Days of Future Passed by The Moody Blues.

Professional quality 8-track recorders began to appear in many British studios starting with Advision Studios and Trident Studios in 1968. These 8-track machines were far more flexible than the dual 4-track recorder setup. Since Decca engineers no longer had more tracks than other major studios the 'Deramic Sound' concept quickly became outdated and was dropped.