Olympic Studios and the Rolling Stones' Golden Era (1966–1972)

Between 1966 and 1972, Olympic Studios in Barnes, London, became the Rolling Stones’ creative laboratory. It was where the band shed their early blues-punk skin and learned to make huge, cinematic records. Olympic had the UK’s first eight-track recorder and a live room with a natural reverb that made everything sound bigger—especially when engineer Glyn Johns pushed the faders just right.

The albums cut there read like a greatest-hits run: Between the Buttons (1967), Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967), Beggars Banquet (1968), and Let It Bleed (1969). Some tracks on Sticky Fingers (1971) also came from Olympic sessions, though the band had started bouncing between studios by then. Even Exile on Main St. (1972) had overdubs finished at Olympic. A single control room window watched the Stones go from psychedelic dabblers to the raw, ragged architects of rock’s next decade.