Editing 10cc (section)

==1968–1970: Birth of Strawberry Studios; the bubblegum era==
In the dying days of the Mindbenders, Stewart began recording demos of new material at Inner City Studios, a Stockport studio then owned by Peter Tattersall, a former road manager for [[Billy J. Kramer]] and [[The Dakotas (band)|the Dakotas]]. In July 1968, Stewart joined Tattersall as a partner in the studio, where he could further hone his skills as a recording engineer.<ref name="band dead">{{Cite web |url=https://www.ericstewart.uk.com/questions4.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207015146/http://www.ericstewart.uk.com/questions4.htm |url-status=usurped |title=Questions and answers, page 4|archive-date=7 December 2008|website=ericstewart.uk.com}}</ref> In October 1968, the studio was moved to bigger premises and renamed [[Strawberry Studios]], after [[the Beatles]]' "[[Strawberry Fields Forever]]".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ericstewart.uk.com/questions9.htm |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207015211/http://www.ericstewart.uk.com/questions9.htm|url-status=usurped|title=Questions and answers, page 9|archive-date=7 December 2008|website=ericstewart.uk.com}}</ref>

In 1969, Gouldman also began using Strawberry to record demos of songs he was writing for [[Marmalade (band)|Marmalade]]. He had become much more in demand as a songwriter than as a performer. By the end of the year, he too was a financial partner in the studios.<ref name="Strawberry" />

By 1969, all four members of the original 10cc line-up were working together regularly at Strawberry Studios. Around the same time, American [[bubblegum pop]] writer-producers [[Jerry Kasenetz]] and [[Jeffry Katz]] of [[Super K Productions]] came to England and commissioned Gouldman to write and produce formulaic bubblegum songs, many of which were recorded at Strawberry Studios, and were either augmented or performed entirely by varying combinations of the future 10cc line-up. Among the recordings from this period was "Sausalito", a No.&nbsp;86 US hit credited to [[Ohio Express]] and released in July 1969. In fact the song featured Gouldman on lead vocal, and vocal and instrumental backing by the other three future 10cc members.

In December 1969, Kasenetz and Katz agreed to a proposal by Gouldman that he work solely at Strawberry, rather than move constantly between Stockport, London and New York. Gouldman convinced the pair that these throwaway two-minute songs could all be written, performed and produced by him and his three colleagues, Stewart, Godley and Creme, at a fraction of the cost of hiring outside session musicians. Kasenetz and Katz booked the studio for three months.

Godley recalled:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.minestrone.org/zigzag44.htm |title="Zigzag" magazine, January&nbsp;1975 |publisher=Minestrone.org |access-date=10 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828065835/http://www.minestrone.org/zigzag44.htm |archive-date=28 August 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref><blockquote>We did a lot of tracks in a very short time – it was really like a machine. Twenty tracks in about two weeks – a lot of crap really – really shit. We used to do the voices, everything – it saved 'em money. We even did the female backing vocals.</blockquote>
The three-month project resulted in a number of tracks that appeared under various band names owned by Kasenetz-Katz, including "There Ain't No Umbopo" by [[Crazy Elephant]], "When He Comes" by Fighter Squadron and "Come on Plane" by Silver Fleet (all three with lead vocals by Godley), and "Susan's Tuba" by [[Freddie and the Dreamers]] (which was a hit in France and featured lead vocals by [[Freddie Garrity]], despite claims by some that it was Gouldman).<ref name="Strawberry" /> Lol Creme remembered: "Singles kept coming out under strange names that had really been recorded by us. I've no idea how many there were, or what happened to them all."

But Stewart described the Kasenetz-Katz deal as a breakthrough: "That allowed us to get the extra equipment to turn it into a real studio. To begin with they were interested in Graham's songwriting and when they heard that he was involved in a studio I think they thought the most economical thing for them to do would be to book his studio and then put him to work there – but they ended up recording Graham's songs and then some of Kevin and Lol's songs, and we were all working together."<ref name="Tremlett" />