Sheffield music house: The Sheffield council house that helped launch Pulp, ABC and The Human League

Bands like Pulp, The Human League, ABC and Heaven 17 all had roots linking back to Ken Patten’s unassuming semi-detached house in Sheffield where he helped record music for aspiring artists.

Martin Ware, the Sheffield-born artist who found success with The Human League and Heaven 17, first went to record with Patten in 1977 with his band called, The Future.

Ware said they would record in the lounge of the house with half of them sat on the sofa and half sat on the floor.

He said: “It was the most unlikely genesis of something really pretty avant garde that I can imagine. It's much more weird than being in a fancy studio. This was like Coronation Street, you know?”

A film about Patten’s home and the music he produced premiered last week at Sheffield Doc/Fest and is titled ‘A Film About Studio Electrophonique’.

The film’s director, Jamie Taylor, said Patten has some “good cutting edge equipment at the time” including a homemade vocoder, which allowed singers to sing in a robotic sounding voice.

In the film, Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker, said he could recall an elaborate CCTV system Patten had created, allowing the band to see their drummer play in another room whilst they recorded in the lounger.

Ware said the demo he and his band had recorded at Studio Electrophonique was the driver behind their eventual signing with Virgin Records.

Speaking to the BBC, Taylor said he thinks Patten’s wife “tolerated” his hobby, but there were a number of rules when bands did come and pay the £15 fee to record.

He said: “If the bands came in, they had to take their shoes off. They weren't allowed to use the toilet upstairs. I think Jarvis said there was polythene across the bed so they couldn't soil the eiderdown.”

Patten was in his 50s when helping bands record their songs and demos, and died in 1990, aged 66.