Tracking Hawkwind's 'Kings of Speed': Dual Kits and Pushed Valves

The Room and the Desk

Hawkwind tracked 'Kings of Speed' between January and February 1975 at Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, Wales. The band worked inside the Coach House Studio, monitoring through Tannoy Dual Concentric Gold 15-inch speakers housed in Lockwood cabinets. Production duties were handled by the band themselves.

Tracking ran through Rockfield's custom Rosser 24-channel console, utilizing its discrete preamps and inductor EQ stages. The session was likely recorded onto two-inch tape using a 3M M79 24-track machine operating at 15 IPS. Managing 24 channels on an unquantized space rock ensemble requires strict discipline with track allocation before the tape even starts rolling.

Managing 24 channels on an unquantized space rock ensemble requires strict discipline with track allocation before the tape even starts rolling.

Twin Kits and Motorik Percussion

The rhythm section relied on two drummers playing simultaneously. Simon King set up a Ludwig kit with a 22x14-inch maple kick, an LM400 Supraphonic snare, and single-headed concert toms taped down heavily to kill ring. Alan Powell augmented the groove on a four-piece Hayman kit paired with an 18-inch Paiste crash and heavy tambourine.

The two kits were panned hard across the stereo spectrum to forge a wide wall of percussion. Level discipline across the tracking sub-mix was maintained using Rockfield's discrete Pye 4060 PWM compressor. It clamped down fast transients without choking the driving 152 BPM human pulse.

The two kits were panned hard across the stereo spectrum to forge a wide wall of percussion.

Pushed Tubes and Direct Wire

Bass duties, attributed in session paperwork to Lemmy Kilmister, featured a 1970 Rickenbacker 4001 with the bridge pickup dimed. The signal was sent through a 100-watt Marshall 1992 Super Bass head pushing a 4x12 cabinet. Driving the power valves into natural saturation preserved upper-harmonic grit while preventing low-end mud, with peaks thought to be caught by a Urei 1176LN FET limiter.

Dave Brock tracked rhythm parts on a Gibson Les Paul Custom through a 25-watt WEM Dominator combo mic'd with a Sennheiser MD409 dynamic. Lead fills used a Dallas Arbiter Rangemaster treble booster hitting a 50-watt Marshall JMP head and Greenback speakers. Brock also kept an Eko Ranger 12-string acoustic on hand for layering, proving that even at high volume, acoustic instruments still get invited to the party.

Modulation and Outboard Echo

Simon House ran his electric violin via a Barcus-Berry pickup directly into a Watkins Copicat tape echo unit. The resulting tape flutter and slapback pushed the violin to the front of the mix. During the solo section, the processed violin traded scalar lines with Brock's overdriven lead guitar.

Synthesis bypassed cabinet acoustics entirely. Brock patched an EMS Synthi AKS directly into the Rosser console preamps to record filter sweeps and sequenced matrix blips straight to tape. Nik Turner's soprano saxophone received analog modulation via an Eventide Instant Phaser PS 101, blending woodwind transients with oscillating phase notches.

Brock patched an EMS Synthi AKS directly into the Rosser console preamps to record filter sweeps and sequenced matrix blips straight to tape.

The Mixdown Balance

The track sits firmly in E Major, leaning on flattened seventh D Major chords to shape its Mixolydian tonality. Chief engineering and mixing at the Coach House are reportedly credited to Dave Anderson, assisted by Pat Moran. Plate reverberation, thought to come from an EMT 140, was routed to vocal and violin channels to add depth behind the bone-dry rhythm guitars.

The track drives non-stop through alternating verses and choruses before culminating in an abrupt cold cadence. Balancing two drum kits, heavily saturated bass, and live analog synthesizer modulation left very little unused headroom on the stereo master. It is the sort of mix where lowering any single fader would probably make the entire song fall over.