Features

AnalogPlanet Tours L.A. Area Recording and Mastering Studios

Michael Fremer  |  Mar 25, 2017

At the end of February analogPlanet editor Michael Fremer went on a whirlwind two day tour of fabled Los Angeles area recording studios Village Recorder, East-West, Groove Masters, and up in Malibu, Rick Rubin's Shangri-La, escorted by Transaudio Group's Brad Lunde and Zach Winterfeld. Can you guess which speaker brand they sell in the pro audio world (and the pro audio world obviously likes)?

Also stopped by to say "hello" to scoring engineer/mixer Alan Meyerson and vinyl mastering engineer Eric Boulanger who's set up shop at Sony Pictures. On the itinerary as well was a visit to Mark Needham's home-based mixing facility. His name may not be familiar but his clients and work surely are!

While at Village Recorder in West Los Angeles (tour hosted by studio manager Tina Morris) we encountered veteran engineer Ed Cherney and completely by chance, barged into a Lyn Stanley recording session.

Unfortunately our visit to East-West the studio Bill Putnam built for Frank Sinatra was curtailed because Dave Grohl and the other Foo Fighters were busy at work in the big room. So next time!

One thing made obvious by this visit was that while how the studios are now used has changed over the years, fortunately they are still very busy. Major groups were recording at all of these facilities. After all, you can only do so much recording to a laptop in your kitchen.

COMMENTS
nelsonkiwi's picture
Submitted by nelsonkiwi on Sat, 2017-03-25 18:32

I enjoyed the tour immensely. The best part was the tour of Village Recorder and to run into Lyn Stanley and being allowed into her recording session,Wow!

Ortofan's picture
Submitted by Ortofan on Sat, 2017-03-25 19:49

... that they have the last "good" Neve console.
The popular brands of "high-end" speakers are conspicuous by their absence. Expected to see a few B&W or maybe PMC. Looked like mostly mini-monitors mounted on top of the mixing desk and huge woofers installed in the far walls.

Perfectday's picture
Submitted by Perfectday on Sun, 2017-03-26 17:35

As an ATC owner, not surprised to see Billy Woodman creations in those studios. Michael, your tour is like a mini 'sound studio' documentary. Really like your Rega tour too as a P25 owner. Keep these video tours going, thxs

Cartel's picture
Submitted by Cartel on Sun, 2017-03-26 21:35

Thanks Michael for the tour.

Grant M's picture
Submitted by Grant M on Mon, 2017-03-27 22:33

great tour Michael, thanks for taking us along!

Mark Tarone's picture
Submitted by Mark Tarone on Tue, 2017-03-28 03:47

Great video. ATC monitors are awfully popular. You missed the Hunter S. Thompson quote posted up at Groove Masters: "The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."

JR465's picture
Submitted by JR465 on Wed, 2017-03-29 06:34

Great tour Michael, thanks!

Jenn's picture
Submitted by Jenn on Sat, 2017-04-01 12:15

...which is once a month or so, I usually walk by East-West and other studios and just stand there a moment, imagining what went on around there back in the Wrecking Crew days and more recently. Magic places. I have many friends who have recorded there (brass, guitar). Someday I'll arrange to go in. I've been on a couple of Capitol sessions and sessions at MGM. Truly magical places if you love music. Thanks a lot for this video, Michael.

cvcgolf's picture
Submitted by cvcgolf on Tue, 2017-04-04 19:51

This is exactly the stuff I enjoy seeing.. Great conversations regarding music making and how it's done.. Awesome behind the scenes tour.. Lyn Stanley is definitely getting the job done too.. Can't believe the lack of comments on this excellent video..

jkingtut's picture
Submitted by jkingtut on Wed, 2017-04-12 20:40

Got a kick out of Eric and his high to low at the Oscars, not that I've watched in 20 something years but that had to be a bummer and to go up the chain of who was involved.
Awards for art, I guess so....

martinjohnbutler's picture
Submitted by martinjohnbutler on Thu, 2017-04-13 07:08

I've been reading about these places online and in Tape Op and Sound On Sound magazines. It's wonderful to get a look around, thanks Michael, that was fun.

Lyn Stanley's picture
Submitted by Lyn Stanley on Thu, 2017-04-13 11:44

Hi Michael...thanks for this showcase of the Village and my session. I had a head cold...now I remember how bad it was!! We had to redo the vocals for these Harmonica Sessions. Glad to be able to share this experience with you and how we go about the business of music making. As Producer...you can see keeping all these balls rolling is a challenge plus being the artist. But, with such a great team I have a lot of experience backing me. The Moonlight Sessions Volume One has been mastered and I have completed the One Step Masters with RTI. Awaiting the test pressings. Hoping to showcase this at the Munich HiEnd show in May and release it on May 30th officially. Many thanks again! See you at Axpona!! My Seminar on quality record production is on Friday April 21 at 2:30pm and will show a bit of this if it will pass through the wifi there! Best, Lyn

MBishop's picture
Submitted by MBishop on Thu, 2017-04-13 14:15

Thanks for posting the video and story, Michael. It's great to see a bit of the tracking session of the project I mixed! In The Wee Small Hours is the ending tune of Lyn's Moonlight Sessions, Volume 1 and it turned out beautifully.

With all the mentions of ATC monitors here, I should point out I mixed the project on our ATC SCM-150s. The best!

Michael Bishop, Five/Four Productions

bobkeiser's picture
Submitted by bobkeiser on Thu, 2017-04-13 17:45

Mr. Fremer, thanks for the tour! Mr. Bishop, good to see you here. I have to agree on the ATCs...thanks for introducing me to mine. Looking forward to picking up Moonlight Sessions!

Best regards,
Bob

SLS's picture
Submitted by SLS on Sat, 2017-04-15 07:24

Ms.Stanley sure knows which side her bread is buttered on.

phung's picture
Submitted by phung on Wed, 2017-04-19 01:20

thanks for this showcase of the Village and my session. I had a head cold...now I remember how bad it was!! We had to redo the vocals for these Harmonica Sessions. Glad to be able to share this experience with you and how we go about the business of music making. As Producer...you can see keeping all these balls rolling is a challenge plus being the artist.
Read more at http://hoatuoishop.net/

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