The Fridge Studio
The Fridge was Contact 89FM's recording studio. Established in 1987, the need for a dedicated production studio was an idea first initiated by Contact 89FM founder Max Christoffersen. The original Cowshed space was used by the campus photography club. It became Contact 89FM Offices in 1986 after Christoffersen successfully lobbied for the space to be removed from the occasional use of the photography club.
During Contact 89FM's first year on air, the station's Cowshed studio doubled as a production studio during the four hour downtime in the middle of weekdays. Christoffersen lobbied the Waikato Student Union for the extra Cowshed space to be used as dedicated Contact space incorporating offices and a production suite. Planning was done towards the end of 1986 and in 1987 John Pattenden created The Fridge allowing Contact to go full time on air under the management of Glen Cooper.
Pattenden was Contact's first production manager and was the first producer to record bands using the multi-channel desk in The Fridge. The desk was stolen from the studio and recovered later. The Fridge name came from what was an original 'industrial' fridge door that remained in use while the photography club used the premises. It remained the main doorway into the production booth following the studio's construction in 1987.
The Fridge has been used by a plethora of bands. Bands to record albums and live-to-airs at the Fridge included Grok, Nodrog, Hand of Glory, Big Muffin Serious Band, Dribbly Cat Attraction, The Emersons, Wendyhouse, Bwa da Riddim and an incredible number of others. One spectacular night of live non-stop noise was performed entirely by a revolving door of PLOP musicians, which lasted 12 hours. Greg Locke often used this studio to record bands as did Dave Whitehead, Scott Newth and Gordon Bassett. The Hamilton compilation CD The Fridge was entirely recorded in the studio. The desk was 16-track analogue and the room was actually an old industrial fridge, with no windows and complete with big fridge doors.
Although Contact 89FM had long used the booth to record advertisements, The Fridge Studios came into existence only with the arrival of a 16-track recording deck and studio desk from Tandys Recording Studio. It was at the axis of analogue and digital audio recording. Tandys - a studio just out of Hamilton, which recorded mainly Hamilton rock and where Scott Newth and Dave Whitehead (later to be involved with sound design on Lord of the Rings) worked, was decommissioning its 16 track analogue reel to reel and studio desk. Previously, this type of equipment was out of reach for student stations, but Contact 89FM jumped at the chance and purchased the old equipment and drove it to Hamilton where it became the heart of The Fridge.
The Fridge was also offered at an extremely cheap price per hour for local students in an attempt to get students involved and support the then new music department at the University of Waikato.
Revival with Contact 88.1 FM
The Fridge was revived by Lauren Kerr-Bell, Nick Johnston, Daniel Howard and Daniel Reese for Contact 88.1FM. The studio operated from 2009 to 2014.
- The Prime Numbers - unreleased EP, 2009
- The Shrugs - Behold / Silver Bullet single, 2009
- Dynamo Go - Poor Alfred single, 2010
- Dead Fires - Hinterland single, 2011
- Dick Dynamite and the Doppelgängers - Live at The Fridge, 2011
- Hot Blooded Ripper - Live at The Fridge, 2011
- Penelope The - The Fridge Sessions, 2011
- Devilskin - demos, 2011
- The Shrugs - Costume Drama, 2012
- Sora Shima - You are Surrounded, 2014
- Wizz Kids - The Fridge EP, 2014
Revival with The Volume Collective
In 2016, the Fridge was again revived by the University's Volume Collective.
