THE DOCUMENTARY on the history of Rockfield Studios made its television debut on Saturday.

Rockfield: The Studio on the Farm tells the story of how brothers Kingsley and Charles Ward turned their dairy farm in to not only the first ever independent residential studio, but one of the most famous studios in the world.

Through interviews with those at the heart of the studio's rise, some interesting stories came out from the decades since the studio launched.

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Humble beginnings

When the studio first launched, the brothers' first studio was in the attic of their farmhouse.

This was soundproofed using pig feed bags.

Quick change artists

The Ward brothers kept the dairy farm running initially. Often, when bands arrived, Kingsley's wife Ann would have to call them back to the studios from working out on the farm.

They would come through a back door, quickly change into a suit and come through to meet the band.

Chosen over Abbey Road

Jim Kerr, from Simple Minds, explained how, in their first year of recording, the band were recording their first album at Abbey Road studios. However, they chose instead to finish recording at Rockfields.

"All we wanted to do was play," he added.

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Rockfield Studios, near Monmouth.

A surreal meeting with David Bowie

Kerr also told the story of how they ended up recording backing vocals on Iggy Pop's Play It Safe with David Bowie.

While in the Coach House studio, the band wanted to see who was booked in the main studio. It was Iggy Pop.

The Simple Minds frontman then described how David Bowie turned up - "He had a huge bit of cheese in his hand and a can of Heineken."

From there, they all went in to the studio and recorded Play It Safe.

Rockfield's "secret weapon"

When recording Changling in 1979, Simple Minds described Rockfield's "secret weapon."

In the Coach House studio, there was a corridor outside which lead to the toilet. When all the doors were left open, and the microphone was placed out in the corridor, it picked up "a great resonance from the drums in the studio."

Hard times as music changed

Following the studio's popularity in the 1970s, music production began to change in the 80s. Samplers replaced live recordings, meaning recording studios faced tougher times.

Kingsley's wife Ann held down several bookkeeping jobs during this period to keep the studio up and running.

But after a call from producer John Leckie, the studio was given a reprieve, as he needed somewhere for The Stone Roses to record. They stayed at Rockfields for about 13 months.

Wonderwall was recorded on a wall

While recording (What's the Story) Morning Glory at Rockfields, Noel Gallagher took a more unconventional approach to recording part of Wonderwall.

Rockfield's studio engineer Nick Brine recalled: "I had to set him up on the wall outside the Coach House studio."

Oasis had an eventful period at the studios, with Liam Gallagher describing stealing a combine harvester to spy on The Stone Roses when recording Definitely Maybe, and also an explosive argument which led to a full brawl, with cricket bats and where their air rifles had to be locked up.

Chart dominance

Kingsley Ward recalled how at one point in 1997, seven of the top 10 albums had been recorded at Rockfield Studios.