Andy Terry aka Chocs
Nottingham Sound Engineer and Musician

Andy Terry aka Chocs is a sound engineer and co-founder of Rainbow Studio, Nottingham, opening in January 1977. He also built studios when working at Leicester Polytechnic, played in the Cèilidh band Flashpacket, before taking the role of chief sound man at Central TV in 1984 for 20 years.

In August 2025 I talked to Andy about his career.

Andrew Terry was born in Nottingham in 1952 growing up in Red Hill, Arnold and because of his surname he got the nickname “Chocs” after Terry’s All Gold chocolate, “Schoolboy humour as usual, actually the games teacher used to call me Nestles” (another popular chocolate of the day now discontinued).

“My dad worked at Players as had his dad. My mother also worked at Players but when they got married she stayed at home. When my dad had told his dad he wanted to go to University his dad said to him ‘nay lad, I’ve got you a good job at Players’. My dad played piano but I only saw him play one at my grandmothers as we didn’t have one at home. My mother played the violin with the Nottingham Philharmonia but neither of them had any real musical influence on me. My dad played 78rpm records on a Sunday afternoon and he did play some classical music which I quite liked but my grandmother would also come round every Sunday and play the “Sound of Music” which I hated. I met Adrian Armstrong, a life long friend, on the first day of Secondary school and as a youngster I developed an interest in electronics, it was quite necessary in those days as you couldn’t just buy things of the shelf“.

“When I was 14 I got my first recording machine. I managed to get the transport (motor with heads, a Truvox) (Truvox were a British company producing reel-to-reel tape recorders) and bought components from Mullards (a manufacturer of electronic components and known for its radio valves). I had the Mullard book of audio circuits and you basically copied there plans. Luckily I met an old bloke who worked at the post office who knew a lot about electronics and he did the metal work for me. He was very encouraging in my venture“.

Andy’s friend Adrian also had a reel to reel tape recorder at his home. His dad had bought one around 1964-65 when the radiogram had broken and he recorded TV and radio programmes which he meticulously detailed in a book. Adrian would eventually borrow two Shadows albums and record them, using them to practice guitar.

Andy learned to play drums. “I had drum lessons at school, there was a practice room, it one to one, for about half hour. The teacher Brian Booth wasn’t really into classical music he was into jazz so he would light up his fag (cigarette) and start playing the piano. It was like a jazz club with a cloud of smoke hanging above us. He taught me the rudiments and some techniques too“.

In 1968-69, still in sixth form, Andy had a resident disco at the Maid Marion in Arnold. “What a dive. The disco was called Discorama and we did the disco Friday Saturday and Sunday. I paid a couple of other guys to play, I didn’t want to. I had two disco units, one based permanently at the Maid Marion. It was here where I got my first lesson in business. I got a bill from the taxman. I was getting £15 a week with which I paid the DJ’s and I would go to Simpsons to buy 2 or 3 new records. I didn’t keep receipts or anything. Because I was signing an invoice at the pub, it went through the brewery, and to the taxman. It was the only time I had to borrow money off my dad. I went to pay it and this tax guy came out and actually shouted at me aggressively ‘it’s people like you’, you couldn’t talk to people like that today. As a result bookkeeping became my speciality“.

Andy left sixth form and got a job. “My first job was at Thorn Automation (Bendix) up Hucknall Road. They built Bell Fruit amplifiers for juke boxes. They had a side line of making amplifiers in the sixties. We did the first modems and also made guidance systems for submarines“.

“I didn’t see that many bands in the sixties but plenty in the early seventies. I saw many bands at the Boat Club and at the Portland Building at Nottingham University. I saw bands like Pink Floyd and Jon Hiseman Colosseum. In 1970 I did the progressive disco at Digby Avenue College supporting Roy Harper, Lindisfarne and Duster Bennett. Dick Murgle? was the Social Secretary at Digby. Adrian also saw Sons and Lovers there. I did a gig with Black Sabbath at Arnold Youth Wing (Friday 23rd Jan 1970). They had just released the single Evil woman / Wicked world. Tony Iommi asked me ‘where can we play in Nottingham’ and I told him you’ve got to play the Boat. They did (Sunday 22nd March 1970) and It was packed to the gunnels, sweat dripping off the ceiling. They were amazing“.

With his Truvox recording machine Andy also started to record bands around 1970. Adrian Armstrong had formed a band called B.O.M.B. (Band of Mental Breakdown) with Mick Donegan and Dave ‘The Slave’ Rawson and this was Andy’s first foray into live recording.
“I did a lot of mobile recording in those days. I recorded B.O.M.B. who were rehearsing. I only had one mic and it was live in a room in the British Legion in a room in the British Legion in Radcliffe-on-Trent. Dave Rawson lived there. I also recorded Autumn Design (1972-74), many times live, Down to Earth (74), Wheels with Barry Foster (75 a practice tape at Clifton church hall with Mick Lyman) and Mick Donegan and Ricky Jack (72ish) . I recorded Dave Tutin in the Clifton village hall around 74-75ish. A lot were recorded in my bedroom at Red Hill and were better recordings. I had bought a Teac by then“.

While working at Bendix, Andy met Bill Mosely. Bill had been in the early sixties beat group “The Beatmen” who released two singles on PYE records. After retiring from playing music Bill later worked at Codolar recording studio on High Pavement in the late sixties. Codolar was run by Clive Gamble. After the demise of Codolar, Bill joined up with Bob Rowe who was building a studio called Arrow Sound based just of Alfreton Road near Canning Circus. The building was owned by Spike Cowlard of Nottingham group Sons and Lovers.

In early 1974 Adrian Armstrong and Dave Proctor as ‘Autumn Design‘ recorded at Arrow Sound for the Nottingham Castle Rock compilation album and Andy remembers.
“They just set up and performed live, the sound being captured on Leevers Rich recording equipment which used 1/2″ tape rather that 1/4″. It was a very industrial machine“.

“Bill was also building a mixer, supposedly, but it was basically a hi-fi amp really, it wasn’t very good. I was outspoken in those days and I put my foot in it and said it’s only a hi-fi amplifier and I don’t know how good its going to be. It dropped Bill Moseley in it. The next day Bill said ‘sorry we don’t want your help anymore’ and Bob Rowe accused me of stealing his secrets“.

In the mid seventies Andy met Paddy Flynn. Paddy, a guitarist, had been a musician since the early 1960’s playing a succession of groups, Leroy and the Avengers, The Rockin’ Vulcans, Pussyfoot 4 and Sons of Adam and in the seventies with bands like Razzle. “I met Paddy Flynn, can’t remember where, at a gig somewhere maybe, at that time everybody seemed to know everybody else. We just ended up chatting and we both had an interest in building a studio. He had a Revox and I had a Revox”.

In 1976 they built their studio called ‘Rainbow’. It was situated on St James’s Street just opposite the Imperial Hotel (a regular venue for local bands in the seventies). “I went to the Imperial many times on a Sunday night. The studio was up about four flights of stairs which was a nightmare. The first mixing desk was a Soundtracks desk and a four track Teac recorder which used 1/4inch tape. It was a far superior machine than the Leevers Rich at Arrow Sound. We didn’t advertise but just went on word of mouth, at the time there was only Arrow sound run by Bob Rowe as competition. Paddy was a musician and I was an engineer and I worked at night while he worked in the daytime because he played at night in a band so it worked quite well. We got on really well, whenever had a cross word in all the time we were going.
Paddy was useless at money so, and because of my brush with the taxman those years ago, I kept my eye on the invoices and money because you haven’t actually done the business until the money lands in your bank account and quite a few bands never did pay. Barry Foster still owes me £500. I kept invoice books of all our clients and the first were ‘Captain Cook’s Dog‘ in January 1977“.

The studio is mentioned in the article below.

In those early days at Rainbow they recorded bands like Kelly’s Eye (rock band), Cruise a Grantham soft jazz group, Zenith, Pipers Moon, Early Bird (another Barry Foster group), Free Fall (Mick Donegan, recorded at Leicester), Flett (live with Andy Flett & Keith White), Roaring Jelly and Matarka. There were many clubland acts recorded too and Paddy and Andy would build up relationships with returning artists. “Rates were £5 an hour in 1977, £25 for a nights work, all day Saturday it could be £40. We didn’t cut any acetates, things had moved on and a cassette could serve as a demo for a band. We made 1/4″ masters, the standard format for taking tapes around anywhere. 1/2″ and one inch, or two inch tapes were for multi-tracking. We got records cut first at MSR in Coventry and then later in London“.

“Dave Tutin had a band called ‘First Refusal’. They recorded at Rainbow and put out a record. A four track ep, the running time was to long and the last song ‘Fires Of Rebellion’ was to long and the cutting engineer literally faded it before the end because he was running out of vinyl. Dave Tutin still sells albums in the states today and they sell quite well“.

“Paddy would record the bands and give them the master tapes while I would record them, keep the master, and give them a copy“.

Not all sessions were easy. “I remember a guy coming into Rainbow at about 7pm. He got set up and all he did was play the guitar and sing. It was a terrible guitar, looked bad and sounded bad, and he said ‘I want that to sound like a Gibson’. I said I’m sorry I can’t do that but he was serious. He’d gone by 8pm“.

John Foston and Michael Abbott recorded. “I’ve still got the tapes but never listened to them. One of those sessions where I thought what a bunch of wankers“.

Some punk and alternative groups recorded there too. The Deep Freeze Mice came from Leicester. “They were so up there own arses it was unbelievable. They were appalling. At the end of the day I said what are you going to do with these tapes and they said they were going to put them out on a record“.

“There is a great cartoon of a sound engineer behind his desk saying all we need now is more talent, more originality and more musicality“.

After 3 or 4 years Rainbow moved their operations to new premises, Minerva House on Hounds Gate. “It was a much bigger space and we didn’t repeat the mistakes we made building the first one“. Further bands were recorded. Last Detail, a folk group with Mark Tindall, Steve Hicks and Pete Christain on Bass. Ted Turnip featuring Mick Kitchener. The Bhakti Band, a religious group, who might still have the master tape, recorded at a vicarage in Roleston near Newark. Six Hands in Tempo featuring Dave Proctor, two albums and an ep.

A rival studio opened around 1980 called Sin City and run by Byron Sacorafos. “His dad was a Greek shipping magnet or something so they were throwing money at it. We had some bands that went there too but preferred Rainbow. It’s not just the gear but how you interact with them“.

“I had mainly stopped recording live, it was a lot of work, but there were a few. I recorded Jeff Hall Ford at Hucknall Miners Welfare, all organ stuff, not that interesting. At Ravenshead I recorded an organ player but he refused to pay because his organ was out of tune. He expected me to do something about it but it was his instrument! Another non payer was Barry St Ives, a club act, he owes me £500 as well, he was a heavy dude, so think I’ll give that one a miss. It was an ep of club act stuff. Lots of clubland acts recorded at Rainbow. Jimmy Willan was good musician and producer. Paddy normally recorded him. We had our own stable of customers, no rivalry but just got used to our regular customers. I used to record Stapleford Big Band at Rainbow, they were fabulous. I remember the first booking. It was a Saturday morning and there was a about 20 blokes sat outside Hounds Gate with crates of ale in the early 80’s. There wouldn’t have been enough room for them at the old studio on St James’s Street. I regret the demise of the old working men’s club, they were a training ground for some many bands and musicians“.

Andy also worked at Leicester Polytechnic. “I worked at Leicester Poly, we had a studio there. I worked in the school of fine art. I built a video and recording studio for the art students. Later when I was there, Gavin Bryars, who was mates with Eno, was head of music at the school of performing arts and I built a studio for him too. I recorded one of his albums there“.

In the late seventies Andy also starting playing with a Cèilidh (Kay-Lee) band called Flashpacket. “I played drums with them. A brilliant band, really good fun. I played with them for 4 or five years. They played almost every Friday and Saturday night. Clubs and hall around Nottinghamshire. The great thing was the people weren’t going to see the band but just going to have a good night out. We were not that traditional really, we were quite heavy and had bass and guitar, Terry Palin played the Melodeon which is punchy and he could read the dancers really well. The Melodeon is much better for dancing because it is a different note when you push and pull unlike the accordion which you get the same note either way. The number one rule of the band was no practice. The Ripley Wayfarers were another Cèilidh band doing the rounds at that time. My wife Morris danced but I didn’t Morris dance although I played in a Morris band later on“.

In 1984, Andy heard by word of mouth that Central TV were looking for a sound man for their new studios in Lenton. “I had written a year before to personnel enquiring if there was work. Anyway, I rang, went along and met this old geezer. I said ‘I’ve heard you are looking for a sound man’. We looked around for a while and later he said ‘when can you start’ and I said ‘I haven’t had an interview’ and he said ‘well, we don’t want to get personnel involved do we’. It was just like that. So I left Leicester Poly and took the job. Rainbow studio closed too and I gave up playing live with Flashpacket“

Andy was at Central TV for 20 years, involved in many programmes and broadcasts, the live gigs from bands like The Strawbs, Hawkwind and Gong keeping the music motif afloat. In 2004, ITV closed its operations in Nottingham and sold all the equipment for £2,000,000, a lot to Nottingham University. This was a bargain because Central had only recently in 2001 had a £21,000,000 refit. “It was supposedly a merger between Granada and Carlton, actually it was a takeover“.

“I didn’t want to do sport as a sound engineer. I didn’t really like that. I had enough of working weekends. We’d paid the mortgage off so I thought I’d turn my hobby into a job. I had been repairing stuff for years and I formed a company called Ace Audio Video and Electronics, repair for professional sound gear. I closed the business around 2021 and just sell a bit of stuff on eBay nowadays“.

Andy has teamed up with his old friend Adrian in the classic rock covers band “Dark Horse” playing the occasional gig on the local circuit.

LIST OF SOME RECORDINGS

PRE RAINBOW

1970 – Bomb – Rehearsals at ROT
1972 – Mick Donegan and Ricky Jack
1972-74 – Autumn Design – Live and studio
1974 Aug 4th – Down to Earth (predecessor to Wheels) – 15ips C.C.I.R. Stereo
1974 Aug 25th – Matarka – 15ips C.C.I.R.
1975 – Wheels – practice tape at Clifton church hall
1974-75 – Dave Tutin in the Clifton village hall
1976 July 28th – Flett live – 15ips C.C.I.R. Stereo – Andy Flett, Keith White

RAINBOW
1977 Jan 10th – Captain Cooks Dog – 1st ever Rainbow session – 15ips NAB
1977-78
Kellys Eye
Cruise – Grantham soft jazz
Zenith / Paul Scott
1976 Pipers Moon
1976 July Aug – Early Bird (Barry Foster)
1976 July Aug – Early Bird (Barry Foster)
Free Fall (Mick Donegan) recorded at Leicester