London, UK (August 7, 2023)—During his lifetime, Queen frontman Freddie Mercury never did anything quietly. Fanfare and grandiosity were the order of the day, and now, even 30 years after his passing, the flamboyant singer continues to make headlines as Sotheby’s has announced it will sell off hundreds of Mercury’s personal belongings across a half-dozen different auctions in September. As a collector of art, fashion, exotic furniture, his own band’s memorabilia and much more, Mercury had few peers, and accordingly the auctions, collectively entitled Freddie Mercury: A World of His Own, will feature everything from rare prints to rough draft lyrics, but there will also be some offerings of particular interest for the audio-minded.
Most intriguingly for audio pros is an auction lot based around Mercury’s mid-1980s eight-track home studio, consisting of a RAM Micro RM 10-channel mixing desk together with a Fostex Model 80 tape recorder and a pair of Electro-Voice Sentry 100A Studio Monitors.
Back in the early to mid-80s, the RAM Micro Range had two versions—a 10-channel and a 16-channel, providing four routable sub-groups, two master outputs, eight-track monitoring, three-band EQ, a pair of aux busses and two headphone outputs.
Meanwhile, the Fostex Model 80 was a ¼” eight-track reel-to-reel recorder; designed for 7-inch reels, it ran solely at 15 i.p.s., had a frequency response of 40 Hz to 18 kHz, signal-to-noise ratio of 72 dB, and weighed a hefty 29 lbs.
Mercury’s voice certainly had the power to get loud, and he had studio monitors to match—a pair of EV’s long-running Sentry 100As. The nearfield monitor, intended for post-production, recording and live sound, sported a Super-Dome tweeter that could take 25 watts of input power, and an 8-inch direct radiator woofer.
Queen’s Studio Opens To The Public
Bought today on their own, the used items would probably run you about $1,250—most of that coming from the cost of the Fostex—but of course, they’re being sold for their provenance, so one can expect to shell out considerably more for them at auction. As if to underline that the items are being offered with their historical value in mind, the listing notes, “This is being sold as a decorative object and [is] not in working order.”
Also hitting the block are a variety of test pressings and acetates (including a 7” one for “Bohemian Rhapsody”), as well as two stereo systems.
