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Ted Fletcher is the British founder of consumer audio company Orbitsound. His career, spanning over sixty years, has been predominantly as a musician and sound engineer. During this time, Fletcher was instrumental in engineering the technology which is used in recording studios around the world. After spending years working as a sound engineer, Fletcher, alongside his son Daniel, invented Airsound™ technology. Dubbed as the third progression of audio sound, it allows the user to hear an immersive stereo sound regardless of where they stand in relation to the speaker.
Early life and education[edit]
Ted Fletcher was born in Weymouth, Dorset in 1938. His family spent the war years in Hatfield where his father helped develop adhesives used in the construction of aircraft. At the end of the war, the family moved to Tunbridge Wells. At an early age, Fletcher showed an interest in music and learned to play the piano and violin, while simultaneously developing an interest in electronics.
Fletcher attended grammar school at ‘The Skinner’s Company’s School’ in Tunbridge Wells and sixth-form at Sir Joseph Williams Mathematical school, Rochester where he completed his A-levels. Throughout sixth-form, Fletcher continued to play musical instruments including clarinet, alto sax, violin and piano and after acquiring a guitar he played regularly in semi-professional groups. After completing his education, Fletcher began a career with Malling Rural District Council in West Malling, Kent and qualified as a Municipal Engineer.
Early career[edit]
In 1954, Fletcher formed a vocal group, ‘The Cameos’ with his wife Barbara and his brother Guy Fletcher. During a rehearsal for a Butlins talent night, they met keyboardist Alan Hawkshaw, who worked with the group and introduced Fletcher to music producer and recording manager, Joe Meek.
Fletcher and the group worked with Joe Meek over a period of eighteen months and contributed to over one hundred singles together[citation needed]. In 1965, Fletcher was approached by KPM Musichouse to create a small recording studio in London’s Denmark street, a landmark street that was known for its roster of music publishing houses and famous recording studios.[1]
From this studio, Fletcher built audio mixing and processing equipment and decided to change his career to become a full-time audio engineer. During this time, Fletcher also worked with artists such as Dusty Springfield and Norman Wisdom.
Within a few months, Ted Fletcher started building studio equipment for his peers within the music industry which, with a small group of musician friends, he created under a separate company called ‘Alice’ (Stancoil Ltd)[2]
They began building equipment for film and recording studios, the British government, communication companies such as Motorola (press releases from Motorola) as well as musicians such as Pete Townshend, Jethro Tull, Yes, The Eagles, AC/DC and Cat Stevens.[2] The company ‘Alice’, based in Windsor, was instrumental in the setting up of eleven of the first commercial radio stations in the UK. These included Capital Radio, Radio Tees, Swansea Sound, and installations in Glasgow, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Exeter and Plymouth. *****citation needed****
The ‘Alice 828’ was the first commercially successful portable sound mixer. Designed in 1979, many hundreds of these mixers were built and sold and a large proportion of them are still in service today. citation
Orbitsound[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "Denmark Street: the threatened birthplace of the British record industry". The Telegraph. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
- ^ a b "Company profile". BCD Audio. Retrieved 6 September 2019.