Tubular Bells is the debut album from a British musician named Mike Oldfield. Released in 1973, it was the first album released on Virgin Records. Sir Richard Branson, founder/owner of Virgin Group, credits the album to the early success of Virgin Records, which later became Virgin Group. The album consists of two instrumental tracks, with almost all instruments being played by the then 19 year old Oldfield. The album was not initially popular, but found fame when the opening theme to Tubular Bells was used as the soundtrack for the horror film The Exorcist. The album was recorded at a studio named The Manor in the village of Shipton-on-Cherwell, a manor house owned by Richard Branson.
The album was recorded with many instruments, which according to Oldfield consisted of “all the different types of guitars, a vibraphone, a set of orchestral timpani, various kinds of percussion, a glockenspiel, flageolet, a Farfisa and a mandolin”. He also used a pair of organs, as well as pianos and a set of the titular Tubular Bells. Oldfield played the bells with a “really huge hammer” recorded on a Neumann valve microphone, which created a distorted sound that Oldfield preferred for its effect. A sound engineer convinced Oldfield to use a clean version of the bell sound, which is what made it to the final recording. Another issue came from Oldfield’s Telecaster guitar, with the pickups being described as “farty and noisy”. Oldfield also used a home-made electronics box named “Glorfindel” for his guitar, which was full of bad transistors and covered in faders and knobs. Tom Newman, a producer on the album, described the “Glorfindel” as “a piece of plywood filled with junk that he could plug his guitar into and sometimes a sound would come out. Sometimes the sound was good, but most of the time it was terrible. It was like tuning a radio set”. The majority of the album was recorded in one take. The album was recorded on tape machines, and edited with razor blades. Oldfield described mixing the record as “a total nightmare”, taking a month with five people working on the track.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubular_Bells
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Branson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Records
https://tubular.net/articles/2001_08/The-Making-of-Tubular-Bells
https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/classic-tracks-mike-oldfield-tubular-bells