Photographs of Brian May of Queen in His Purple Striped Shirt at the Ridge Farm Studio in Surrey, UK, 1975

In the summer of 1975, Brian May of Queen spent time at Ridge Farm Studio in Surrey, England, during the mixing sessions for the band’s groundbreaking album A Night at the Opera. While most of the recording took place at various London studios like Rockfield, Sarm East, and Olympic, Ridge Farm Studio offered a peaceful countryside retreat where band members could focus, recharge, and oversee parts of the post-production process.

At this point, Queen was transitioning into the full creative freedom they had long desired. Brian May, the band’s guitarist and a trained astrophysicist, was deeply involved in the technical aspects of recording and overdubbing. At Ridge Farm, he worked on refining guitar parts, harmonies, and possibly some of the complex arrangements that would become iconic on tracks like “The Prophet’s Song” and “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

Ridge Farm, originally a 17th-century farmhouse, was evolving into one of the UK’s first residential studios, and it offered Queen both state-of-the-art equipment and the privacy they needed to explore ambitious ideas. Photos of Brian May from this era often show him relaxed, surrounded by gear, and immersed in his work—his iconic curly hair and Red Special guitar ever-present.

This period marked a turning point in Queen’s career, with A Night at the Opera eventually becoming a massive commercial and artistic success upon its release in November 1975.