Windmill Lane Studios

Windmill Lane Studios, also known as the "U2 studio", is a three-storey music recording studio located in Dublin, Ireland. It was opened in 1978 by Brian Masterson who is a company director and head engineer. Criticism was expressed amongst local activists at proposed plans to turn the old building into a six-storey office block. In 2009, Pulse College took ownership of the studios. Although the actual studios have moved elsewhere, the original location is still a popular cult symbol and is regularly visited by tourists from Ireland and other countries. Windmill Lane Studios, with the exception of Open Gallery 3, was demolished on 3 April 2015. A 20 metre section of the graffiti wall has been kept although a final decision on where it will be moved to has not been made.

History

Windmill Lane Studios was first located in the Dublin Docklands. It was originally used to record traditional Irish music, notably by Planxty, but no rock band recorded in the studios until U2. Other bands, such as Thin Lizzy or The Boomtown Rats, went to London or further to record their albums. The drums on Boy were recorded in the reception area of the recording studios, due to producer Steve Lillywhite's desire to achieve "this wonderful clattery sound". They had to wait until the receptionist went home in the evenings as the phone rang through the day and even occasionally in the evening.

Windmill

A windmill is a mill that converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Centuries ago, windmills usually were used to mill grain, pump water, or both. Thus they often were gristmills, windpumps, or both. The majority of modern windmills take the form of wind turbines used to generate electricity, or windpumps used to pump water, either for land drainage or to extract groundwater.

Windmills in antiquity

The windwheel of the Greek engineer Heron of Alexandria in the first century is the earliest known instance of using a wind-driven wheel to power a machine. Another early example of a wind-driven wheel was the prayer wheel, which has been used in Tibet and China since the fourth century. It has been claimed that the Babylonian emperor Hammurabi planned to use wind power for his ambitious irrigation project in the seventeenth century BCE.

Horizontal windmills

The first practical windmills had sails that rotated in a horizontal plane, around a vertical axis. According to Ahmad Y. al-Hassan, these panemone windmills were invented in eastern Persia as recorded by the Persian geographer Estakhri in the ninth century. The authenticity of an earlier anecdote of a windmill involving the second caliph Umar (AD 634–644) is questioned on the grounds that it appears in a tenth-century document. Made of six to 12 sails covered in reed matting or cloth material, these windmills were used to grind grain or draw up water, and were quite different from the later European vertical windmills. Windmills were in widespread use across the Middle East and Central Asia, and later spread to China and India from there.

Lane

In the context of traffic control, a lane is part of a carriageway (roadway) that is designated for use by a single line of vehicles, to control and guide drivers and reduce traffic conflicts. Most public roads (highways) have at least two lanes, one for traffic in each direction, separated by lane markings. On multilane roadways and busier two-lane roads, lanes are designated with road surface markings. Major highways often have two multi-lane roadways separated by a median.

Some roads and bridges that carry very low volumes of traffic are less than 15 feet (4.6 m) wide, and are only a single lane wide. Vehicles travelling in opposite directions must slow or stop to pass each other. In rural areas, these are often called country lanes. In urban areas, alleys are often only one lane wide. Urban and suburban one lane roads are often designated for one-way traffic.

Capacity

Lane capacity varies widely due to conditions such as neighbouring lanes, lane width, elements next to the road, number of driveways, presence of parking, speed limits, number of heavy vehicles and so on - the range can be as low as 1000 passenger cars / hour to as high as 4800 passenger cars /hour but mostly falls between 1500 to 2400 passenger cars / hour.

The Riptide Movement

The Riptide Movement are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin, Ireland in 2006 by vocalist and guitarist Mal Tuohy, guitarist John Dalton, bassist and harmonica player Ger Mc Garry and drummer Gar Byrne.

Members

Discography

Studio albums

History

2009

"Early Years", "Green Tortoise", "Cold Wind Blows", "Downtown Motel" and "All My Thoughts" were all songs on their earliest E.P. After relocating to London, they began playing in venues such as The Spice Of Life, Lark in the Park, The Barfly, Dublin Castle and The 12 Bar. Whilst performing at the In The City Festival in Manchester, they encountered renowned producer Tony Colton. Colton, who is highly regarded for his work with Rory Gallagher, Ray Charles, Yes and Heads, Hands and Feet, would later produce their début album, "What About The Tip Jars?"

Production of What About The Tip Jars?