Associated Independent Recording (AIR), an independent recording company, was founded in Oxford Street in 1965, by Beatles producer George Martin after his departure from EMI. Since 1969 AIR has operated its own professional audio recording facilities. The company built another recording studio on the Caribbean island of Montserrat in the 1970s, but that facility was destroyed by Hurricane Hugo in 1989. In 1991, AIR Studios took over Lyndhurst Hall, a Grade II listed building designed by Alfred Waterhouse, located in the Hampstead suburb of northern London. The space was revamped as a recording facility and opened for business in December 1992. AIR Lyndhurst is now a key London facility for classical and popular recordings, as well as film scores, television post-production, and dialogue, sound effects and music for video games.
