The Record Plant is a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and currently operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it has produced highly influential albums, including Blondie's "Parallel Lines", Metallica's Load and Reload, The Eagles' "Hotel California", Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours", Eminem's "The Marshall Mathers LP", Guns N' Roses' "Appetite for Destruction," and Kanye West's "The College Dropout". More recent albums with songs recorded at Record Plant include Lady Gaga's "ARTPOP", Justin Bieber's "Purpose", Beyoncé's "Lemonade", and Ariana Grande's "Thank U, Next". The studio was founded in 1968 in New York City by Gary Kellgren and Chris Stone, who opened a Los Angeles branch the following year and a Sausalito, California, location in 1972.
Introduction
Record Plant
Record Plant | Introduction
1968 1968 1968. 1968
what does the song hotel california by the eagles mean
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Eagles described it as their "interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles"
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what is hotel california?
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Title track from the Eagles' album
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who is the singer of this song?
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Don Henley
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when did this song release?
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February 1977
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where was it recorded?
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Record Plant, Los Angeles and Criteria Studios, Miami.
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when was the first one established?
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The Record Plant is a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and currently operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it has produced highly influential albums, including Blondie's "Parallel Lines", Metallica's Load and Reload, The Eagles' "Hotel California", Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours", Eminem's "The Marshall Mathers LP", Guns N' Roses' "Appetite for Destruction," and Kanye West's "The College Dropout". More recent albums with songs recorded at Record Plant include Lady Gaga's "ARTPOP", Justin Bieber's "Purpose", Beyoncé's "Lemonade", and Ariana Grande's "Thank U, Next". The studio was founded in 1968 in New York City by Gary Kellgren and Chris Stone, who opened a Los Angeles branch the following year and a Sausalito, California, location in 1972.
Record Plant | Introduction
Sometimes known as "Record Plant West", the new studio held a 16-track recorder, larger than the 12-track system in New York (occasionally called "Record Plant East"), and studio time was 20 to 25 percent less expensive than typical studios in New York. In 1970, to stay innovative and retain the prestige of an industry leader, the Record Plant installed a 24-track tape recorder. It was a very large machine assembled by Hidley at the cost of $42,000, but in the next three years it was used on only a few sessions. Stone and Kellgren had profited enough to buy back their studio from Warner Communications and expand into Sausalito.
Record Plant | Los Angeles
During the 1980s, they sold the New York and Sausalito studios; the former closed in 1987, the latter in 2008. The Los Angeles studio, which remains in operation, was purchased in December 2016 by songwriter/producer Philip Lawrence. The Record Plant in New York was the first studio to give recording artists a comfortable, casual environment rather than the clinical setting that was normal practice through the 1960s. Kellgren and Stone brought this same vision to their Los Angeles and Sausalito properties, adding a Jacuzzi and billiard table. Stone later said of Kellgren, "He single-handedly was responsible for changing studios from what they were—fluorescent lights, white walls and hardwood floors—to the living rooms that they are today." The Los Angeles location has since added VIP lounges.
Record Plant | Introduction
Almost two years after the launch of the New York Studio, Kellgren and Stone opened up the Los Angeles Record Plant. The first big mix session was for the Woodstock soundtrack. It was also where John Lennon and Paul McCartney played together for the last time during an all night jam session in 1974. Record Plant Sausalito opened in 1972, where Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" was recorded as was Bob Marley & the Wailers' "Talkin' Blues" which was done live in a closed session for an in-studio broadcast from San Francisco radio station KSAN.
Gary Kellgren | Record Plant
In 1967, Kellgren and Stone built the first of the three Record Plant Recording Studios in Manhattan. Kellgren was the creative and recording side, Stone the business side, and their third partner, Ancky Johnson, Revlon heiress, provided the financial backing. Kellgren had already been working with many of the top artists of the day, like Hendrix, so when he opened the Record Plant, they followed. Mitch Mitchell: "We went there [the Record Plant NY] because Gary Kellgren, who we'd worked with at Mayfair, had raised the money with a partner and managed to start the Record Plant." The NY Record Plant was booked solid for three months in advance at the time of the opening.
Gary Kellgren | Record Plant
They expanded with remote recording dates in 1973, including performances by Alice Cooper, Vikki Carr, Sly Stone, Todd Rundgren, Joe Walsh and Rod Stewart. At the same time, the studio worked on projects by the Gap Band for Shelter Records; Mary McCreary, a singer being produced by her husband Leon Russell; and the Partridge Family, in production for Bell Records under producer Wes Farrell.
Record Plant | Los Angeles
On October 28, 1972, Kellgren and Stone opened the Northern California location in Sausalito, throwing a Halloween party to celebrate Studio A going online. Ginger Mews, ex-manager of Wally Heider Studios, was named studio manager of Sausalito Music Factory, doing business as Record Plant, and construction continued on the similarly equipped Studio B with completion expected in February 1973. The building was a former office suite covered with diagonal redwood siding in an industrial park near Sausalito's harbor facilities. Kellgren worked with Hidley to design Studio A and Studio B to have the same size and the same "dead" acoustics and both were fitted with Hidley-designed Westlake monitors.
Record Plant | Sausalito
Sometimes known as "Record Plant West", the new studio held a 16-track recorder, larger than the 12-track system in New York (occasionally called "Record Plant East"), and studio time was 20 to 25 percent less expensive than typical studios in New York. Stone intended the Record Plant to stay innovative and retain the prestige of an industry leader, so in 1970 he installed a 24-track tape recorder. It was a very large machine assembled by Hidley at the cost of $42,000 but in the next three years it was used on only a few sessions. Stone described the studios as being so accommodating that people would tend to hang out rather than leave.
Chris Stone (entrepreneur) | Record Plant, Los Angeles
Seeing the early success of the New York studio, Kellgren and Stone decided to move to the West Coast and open another studio in Los Angeles. To design the studio, they contracted with Tom Hidley, who had built TTG Studios in 1965 and was becoming known in L.A. for answering the high-decibel needs of rock music. Hidley was brought on board as the "third musketeer", according to Stone. One of the first employees of this studio was Chris Stone's nephew, Mike D. Stone, who would also work as a recording engineer. On December 4, 1969, the new studio opened its doors on 8456 West Third Street near La Cienega Boulevard.
Record Plant | Los Angeles
I nearly fainted when I saw I was holding a box containing the master tape from Stevie Wonder's "Songs in the Key of Life"." During the next 13 months, Studio C was rebuilt and fitted with radical new gear. In February 1979, Stephen Stills became the first major-label American artist to record on digital recording and mastering equipment, a 3M system installed to replace the previous analog system. With engineer Michael Braunstein at the controls, Stills recorded a new version of the song "Cherokee", previously released on his first solo album "Stephen Stills".
Record Plant | 1977 and beyond
In the summer of 2002, a new press plant was opened and housed in a new printing and distribution center.
Independent Record | History
The factory was founded in 1910. In the first year of operation (1911), 400,000 vinyl discs under the brand name Metropol Record were released. After the 1917 October Revolution, the plant was nationalized and began producing records with performances by Russian revolutionaries. In 1925, the plant was renamed to "Aprelevka Plant in the name of Memory of Year 1905" (Russian: Апрелевский завод памяти 1905 года). In the early 1930s, the plant became the main producer of phonograph records in the USSR. The plant was expanded, it employed more than 1000 workers, and the annual release reached 19 million records. In the early days of World War II, the “Holy War” performed by the Alexandrov ensemble was first recorded at the plant.
Aprelevka Record Plant | History
The loss of his friend and business partner hit Stone hard. Stone was suddenly responsible for keeping all three studios operating, but he concentrated his attention on Los Angeles and slowly began to lose interest in the Sausalito location. Studio C was destroyed in an electrical fire on January 10, 1978. At the time, rocker Marshall Chapman was working with producer Al Kooper and bassist Tom Comet in Studio B on her album "Jaded Virgin" and helped other musicians and engineers carry priceless master recordings to safety outside the building. She said, "We might as well have been rescuing Rembrandts from the Louvre...I remember seeing "Hotel California" [marked] on one, and 'John Lennon' on another.
Record Plant | 1977 and beyond
This plant eventually served the Capitol Records Club, producing vinyl LPs and later audiocassettes, CDs, and DVDs of a number of artists.
Jacksonville, Illinois | 1900 to present
Seeing the early success of the New York studio, Kellgren and Stone decided to move to the West Coast and open another one in Los Angeles. One of the first employees of the studio would be Chris' nephew, Mike D. Stone. To design the studio, they contracted with Tom Hidley who had built TTG Studios in 1965, and was becoming known in L.A. for answering the high-decibel needs of rock music. Hidley was brought on board as the "third musketeer", according to Stone. On December 4, 1969, the new studio opened its doors on 8456 West Third Street near La Cienega Boulevard.
Chris Stone (entrepreneur) | Record Plant, Los Angeles
During the war, the plant produced aerial bombs. After the war, in 1952, the factory mastered the production of long-playing records. And in 1961, the production of the first stereo records began. In 1964, the Aprelevka Plant became part of the All-Union record company “Melodiya” as the main production enterprise, which subsequently produced up to 65% of all Soviet records. By the early 1980s, the plant employed more than 3,000 people, and the release of records exceeded 50 million pieces per year. In 1989, the factory began production of audio cassettes. After 1991, the structure of “Melodiya” (primarily the centralized system of orders and sales) began to fall apart, and the record plants included in it received unexpected and, as it turned out, burdensome freedom.
Aprelevka Record Plant | History
Aprelevka Record Plant (Russian: Апрелевский завод грампластинок) was a company that manufactured vinyl records. It was located in Aprelevka, Moscow Oblast.
Aprelevka Record Plant | Introduction
Criteria Studios is a recording studio in Miami, Florida, founded in 1958 by musician Mack Emerman (1923–2013), and which went on to become the source of many hit records, especially in the 1970s. The studio was originally designed by Hollywood, Florida, architect Charles C. Reed, Jr. Subsequent additions, acoustic design and renovations completed by others.
Criteria Studios | Introduction
In late 1977, 19-year-old Prince recorded his debut album, "For You", in Sausalito while renting a home nearby. He performed every instrument, every track and produced the album. He spent the equivalent of three album budgets to make this first record and responded defensively when more experienced producers made suggestions in the studio. At the Record Plant, he met Stone, Chaka Khan and Carlos Santana, three musicians he greatly admired. "For You" was criticized as over-produced and did not sell well.
Record Plant | Mid- to late-1970s
The Gramophone and Typewriter Company, the precursor to EMI, purchased the site in the early 20th century and began constructing the first buildings in 1907. The company originally sold gramophones, and began making its own records in London in 1898 They were pressed at a factory in Germany until the Hayes Record Factory opened. From 1910, records bore the His Master's Voice label. The tenor Edward Lloyd took part in the groundbreaking ceremony. Vinyl records were produced from 1952. What became the Cabinet Building was opened in 1911, after the Italian soprano Luisa Tetrazzini laid the cornerstone. The following year, a head office was built nearby on the site.
Old Vinyl Factory | History
The idea of creating a record pressing plant began in 2015. Cash Carter suggested reviving the label, to which Lewis refused. Carter then suggested a pressing plant. Lewis at first rebuffed the idea, but soon agreed upon further consideration. They then partnered with Geller and Bill Fortenberry to begin plans for the plant. After struggling to find financial backing, the group found a local investor interested in their idea to use plant-based PVC for the records. With a $1,000,000 investment, the plant acquired three brand new pressing machines, each costing $200,000, created by Canadian company Viryl Technologies. The presses, named “Warm Tone”, are fully automated, contrasting with former manual pressing machines; Kindercore is among the first factories to use such machines.
Kindercore Vinyl | Pressing plant
Studio A was decorated with a sunburst pattern on the wall and white fabric draped from the ceiling. Studio B was more vibrant to the eye, having many multi-colored fabric layers on the ceiling and swirls of color on the walls. Kellgren and Stone sent party invitations out on slabs of redwood; among the guests were John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who both showed up dressed as trees. The first recording was under producer Al Schmitt, who brought in Mike Finnigan and Jerry Wood as Finnigan & Wood, recording the album "Crazed Hipsters". When Studio B went online, engineer Tom Flye went to California from New York and ran the room; his first customer was New Riders of the Purple Sage, who recorded "The Adventures of Panama Red".
Record Plant | Sausalito
Johnson was a former model who became the second wife of Revlon founder Charles Revson, then divorced and married Ben Johnson. In early 1968 Kellgren and Stone began building a 12-track studio at 321 West 44th Street, creating a living-room-type of environment for the musicians. It opened on March 13, 1968. As the studio was nearing completion, record producer Tom Wilson persuaded Hendrix producer Chas Chandler to book the Record Plant from April 18 to early July 1968, for the recording of the album "Electric Ladyland". In early April, just prior to the start of the Jimi Hendrix Experience session, the band Soft Machine spent four days recording "The Soft Machine"; their debut album, produced by Wilson and Chandler, with Kellgren engineering.
Chris Stone (entrepreneur) | Record Plant, New York City
Some notable albums recorded and/or mixed at the Plant Studios include:
Record Plant | Selected list of albums recorded at Record Plant Sausalito (by year)
The Phono-Cut Record Company produced the first vertical cut records in the United States, from 1910 to 1913.
Phono-Cut Record Company | Introduction
The first regular production 45 rpm record pressed was "PeeWee the Piccolo" RCA Victor 47-0146 pressed 7 December 1948 at the Sherman Avenue plant in Indianapolis, R.O. Price, plant manager. The claim made that 48-0001 by Eddy Arnold was the first 45 is evidently incorrect (even though as of this writing 48-0000 has not turned up) since all 45s were released simultaneously with the 45 player on the 29 March date. There was plenty of information 'leaked' to the public about the new 45 rpm system through front-page articles in "Billboard" magazine on 4 December 1948 and again on 8 January 1949.
Single (music) | 7-inch format
Kellgren began his recording career at the Dick Charles demo recording studios in 1964 in the legendary Brill Building in Manhattan. Studios at that time had no décor to speak of. They "were sterile, utilitarian places. Engineers wore jackets and ties (or even lab coats!), and musicians performed under fluorescent lights and acoustical tile ceilings while seated on folding chairs. Amenities - if any - consisted of bad coffee and a few ashtrays. Record Plant broke that mold in a style that is now the stuff of legend." And when Kellgren and his partner Chris Stone opened the Record Plant, it was Kellgren's concept to bring color, artistic design, hotel-like comforts and services to the world of recording studios along with state-of-the-art technology and acoustical design.
Gary Kellgren | Design
The label was formed by John Dolphin as Dolphin's of Hollywood, and the first issues appeared in 1948. Operations for Recorded In Hollywood, including recording and pressing, were initially an extension of Dolphin's record store located in the South Central section of Los Angeles where Vernon Avenue and Central Avenue intersect. The name was intended to appeal to African Americans, who were largely excluded from entering Hollywood itself. Red Callender served as director of artists and repertoire. Despite releasing several successful recordings, by 1953 the label was in significant financial trouble, and it was sold to Don Pierce of Starday Records.
Recorded In Hollywood | History
As well, the duo widened their scope with more remote recording dates in 1973 including performances by Alice Cooper, Vikki Carr, Sly Stone, Todd Rundgren, Joe Walsh and Rod Stewart.
Chris Stone (entrepreneur) | Record Plant, Los Angeles
Stone convinced Kellgren that the two of them, with $100,000 borrowed from Johanna C.C. "Ancky" Revson Johnson, could start a new recording studio with a better atmosphere for creativity. Johnson was a former model and the second wife of Revlon founder Charles Revson. She divorced Revson and married Ben Johnson, a model 21 years her junior.
Record Plant | New York
In 1985, with projects in progress by Heart, Journey, Starship and Huey Lewis, the studio was seized by government agents based on an affidavit accusing Jacox of manufacturing methamphetamines at his home in Auburn and investing drug money in the studio. After Jacox's arrest, the Sausalito studio was owned by the federal government, who ran it with a skeleton crew for 14 months. Some observers jokingly called it "Club Fed" during this time, and among the recordings are unreleased tapes made by Buddy Miles known as the Club Fed Sessions. The government sold the studio (not the building or property) at auction to recording engineer Bob Skye in 1986, effective on the first day of 1987.
Record Plant | Changes in ownership and management
Analogue Productions initially produced its records through record pressing plants in Los Angeles, California, and in Germany. However in 2011, Kassem launched his own record pressing plant, Quality Record Pressings. QRP sought to improve premier audiophile pressings, including introducing innovations never before tried in the record pressing industry. To date, Analogue Productions has released more than 300 previously recorded albums from well-known historic record labels, including Fantasy Records, Blue Note Records, Impulse! Records, Verve Records, Prestige Records and Columbia Records.
Analogue Productions | Record pressing plant launched
In 1975, the Record Plant's hourly rate was $120. Stevie Wonder worked on "Songs in the Key of Life" in Sausalito; Sammy Hagar used the Pit to record tracks for a solo album and the Tower of Power cut "In the Slot". Pure Prairie League recorded; Bob Welch's band, Paris, made "Paris"; and America produced "Hearts". Remote recordings were made by Record Plant crews and gear for Dan Fogelberg, Sly Stone, Joe Walsh and the New Riders of the Purple Sage. In February 1976, for the album that became "Rumours", Fleetwood Mac blocked time at the studio to lay down tracks, bringing in engineers Ken Caillat and Richard Dashut.
Record Plant | Mid- to late-1970s
The building underwent a number of alterations. When, in 1957, record producer Denis Preston was looking for a property in which to set up a recording studio, his assistant engineer Joe Meek found the premises, which had unusually high ceilings and a basement squash court, suitable for conversion into a studio. Preston, Meek and engineer Adrian Kerridge then established the studio, and made their first recordings there in 1958. The studio was London’s first independent music recording studio. In 1962, an enlarged control room overlooking the studio floor was opened. Kerridge later became the studio's owner.
Lansdowne Studios | Introduction
agricultural production. Initially, the introduced material went to State Agricultural Experiment Stations or other reliable cooperators for testing. The need for facilities to test lesser known crops and later to quarantine plants to prevent introduction of plant pests led to the establishment of Federal Plant Introduction Gardens. The first such garden was established in Miami, Florida in 1898, followed by notable gardens at Chico, California in 1904, Savannah, Georgia in 1919, and Glen Dale, Maryland in 1919. Although these gardens propagated, tested and distributed promising plant materials, they were not intended for long-term maintenance. Early in its history, the Section also began fulfilling foreign and domestic requests for plant materials curated in the U.S.
National Plant Germplasm System | History
Winchester was home to Capitol Record's East Coast Pressing Plant. Capitol Records Distribution Corporation announced in 1968 the purchasing of land in Winchester, Va for a new record processing plant. Along with this plant they built several houses, bought a few small business and later built a tape production plant. The Winchester plant began construction in 1968 and production in 1969. The plant initially had a workforce of 250 people. This plant complemented the other existing manufacturing facilities of Capitol Records in Scranton, PA, Jacksonville, FL and Los Angeles, CA. In 1969 Capitol Records' Pressing Plant in Scranton began phasing out its vinyl manufacturing in favor of the new Winchester plant.
Winchester, Virginia | Record manufacturing
Designed by Welton Becket with Louis Naidorf, a young architect from Becket's office, serving as project designer the thirteen-story, earthquake-resistant Capitol Records Tower is the world's first circular office building. Home to several recording studios, it is one of Hollywood's most distinctive landmarks. Although not intended as a tribute to record players, its wide curved awnings and tall narrow tower mimic the appearance of a stack of gramophone records atop a phonograph. The building was commissioned by EMI after its acquisition of Capitol Records in 1955 and was completed in April 1956. The building is north of the intersection of Hollywood and Vine and is the center of the company's consolidated West Coast operations.
Capitol Records | Headquarters
Diskoton's first equipment were French-made automatic press machines Materiel Applications Plastiques (MAP) for 7” record manufacturing. In the earliest months of operation, due to unskilled staff, a large quantity of PVC was wasted because the machines turned out defected records, which were then trashed. Diskoton could manufacture only singles and EP records until the late 1975, when they acquired the equipment for manufacturing LP records as well as cassettes. Starting from 1980 Diskoton began occasionally using the service pressing of Jugoton pressing plant, while it became almost entirely dependent on the service pressing of PGP RTB pressing plant by the late 1980s.
Diskoton | Background Company History
Putnam's clients had been suggesting he build a West Coast studio and in 1957, he made the jump. He sold his interest in Universal Recording and started United Recording Corporation in Hollywood, California, building new studios within an existing structure. By 1958, Studio B was completed, including two reverb chambers. The facility grew to three recording studios, three mastering rooms, a mixdown room and a small-scale record manufacturing plant. The new studios were booked around the clock, busy with TV and movie voiceovers and soundtrack recordings as well as with popular artist's recordings. Hanna-Barbera used the studios to record voices for The Flintstones; Ricky Nelson recorded "Poor Little Fool", the first-ever "Billboard" Hot 100 #1 song in 1958.
Universal Audio | United Recording Corp
In the 1880s, the record industry began by simply having the artist perform at a phonograph. In 1924, the trade journal "Talking Machine World", covering the phonography and record industry, reported that Eddie King, Victor Records' manager of the "New York artist and repertoire department," had planned a set of recordings in Los Angeles. Later, folklorist Archie Green called this perhaps the earliest printed use of "A&R man". Actually, it says neither "A&R man" nor even "A&R," an initialism perhaps coined by "Billboard" magazine in 1946, and entering wide use in the late 1940s. In the 1920s and 1930s, A&R executives, like Ben Selvin at Columbia Records, Nathaniel Shilkret at Victor Records, and Bob Haring at Brunswick Records, supervising recording and often leading session orchestras, became the precursors of record producers.
Record producer | A&R men
In a 10-block area of midtown Manhattan during the disco era, there was Media Recording, Hit Factory, Sony, and A&R Recording had two buildings. And last but certainly not least, Record Plant Recording studios @ 321 W. 44th Street, with four studios, duplication room, two mobile recording trucks, and the master cutting room, and the Record Plant Shop.
A &amp; R Recording | Neighborhood
Singer, composer and producer Rick James became a fixture at the Record Plant beginning in mid-1981. He recorded all of "Street Songs" in Studios A and B and it went multiple platinum, driven by its hit songs "Super Freak" and "Give It to Me Baby". James was known both for his quick work to create songs in the studio and his high level of cocaine consumption. For a time, James lived in the conference room with the waterbed floor. Jim Gaines said that with James in residence, "bands that weren't even recording would come by just to see who was there and say 'hi'." James was known for walking through other artists' recording sessions wearing only a towel and sometimes dropping the towel for effect "in front of all the women," according to Gaines.
Record Plant | 1980s
Unusually, five echo sends were available for use throughout the facility, two of them stereo echo chambers normaled (connected by default) to the main two studios. Francis Ford Coppola leased space on the second floor for his American Zoetrope film studio. The first session was taped on June 23, 1969, in Studio B, and the grand opening was held later that November. Less than a year later, on September 15, 1970, Putnam sold majority control of the building to Columbia Records, a division of CBS.
The Automatt | Coast Recorders
Arguably the most famous Tower Records outlet was the purpose built building that company staff general-contracted, with many personally contributing their labor, which opened in 1971 on the north west corner of Sunset Boulevard and Horn Avenue in West Hollywood.
Tower Records | Inception, expansion, and description
United Record Pressing (founded as Southern Plastics) is a vinyl pressing plant located in Nashville, Tennessee, that has been in operation since 1949. United has pressed records for such artists as The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Jack White, Adele, Mumford & Sons, Hank Williams Jr., Marie Osmond, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Lady Antebellum, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, Kings of Leon, Fall Out Boy, Kendrick Lamar, The Black Keys, The Roots, and Radiohead. Today it is the largest vinyl record pressing plant in the United States.
United Record Pressing | Introduction
In 1943, the plant produced the first hydraulic press. In 1959, Richard Nixon visited the plant.
Tyazhstankohydropress | History
The first recording studio built at 827 Folsom Street in San Francisco was a brand new location for Coast Recorders, one of many recording studios Bill Putnam operated in U.S. cities. Putnam leased the Folsom location from its aging owner, John Vitlin, a Russian immigrant who co-founded Global Merchandising, an import/export company in San Francisco. To replace an obsolescent building housing Coast Recorders on Bush Street, Putnam designed a two-floor studio complex containing all the necessary record company elements under one roof: three recording and mixing rooms, a mastering room with a disc-cutting lathe, a high-speed tape duplication room, and office space for label and studio management.
The Automatt | Coast Recorders
The Gramophone Company was founded in April 1898 by William Barry Owen and Edmund Trevor Lloyd Wynne Williams in London, England. Owen was acting as agent for Emile Berliner, inventor of the gramophone record, whilst Williams provided the finances. Most of the company's early discs were made in Hanover, Germany at a plant operated by members of Berliner's family, though it had operations around the world. In 1898, Fred Gaisberg moved from the U.S. to London to set up the first disc recording studio in Europe; it was situated in Maiden Lane. Among early artists he recorded was Syria Lamont, an Australian soprano whose single "Coming through the Rye" was one of the first ever issued.
Gramophone Company | First recordings
In early 1984, the Necochea Trust determined that the money going to the Plant was being mishandled and they sold the property to Stanley Jacox. Necochea died a year later at age 23. Jacox selected Jim Gaines as general manager; Gaines was a Stax/Volt veteran and a past manager of the Automatt. The small rehearsal room that had been the Pit was turned into Studio C, first used by John Fogerty to record "Centerfield". Some of the tracks for Aretha Franklin's "Who's Zoomin' Who?" were laid down at the Plant under the direction of Narada Michael Walden. Engineer Maureen Droney said that "there was an aura of magic and fun that came from the people who recorded there before." Accompanying famous artists, a series of experienced engineers and producers came through the Plant: Tom Dowd, Bill Schnee, Alan Parsons, Ron Nevison, Mike Clink and Ted Templeman.
Record Plant | Changes in ownership and management
He said sometimes musicians would "come and live at the Record Plant for a while" because they could sleep, eat, drink, party and play music. Keith Moon and John Lennon were important enough clients to be given a gold key to the facility. Stone said, "They would come in at three in the morning and help themselves to a beer." If the musicians' antics wrecked any part of the studio—which "was a given" for Moon, according to Stone—they were not scolded or turned out; Stone said he simply charged the recording project an inflated fee for repairs. Stone and Kellgren had profited enough to buy back their studio from Warner Communications, and at the same time expand northward with the Sausalito Music Factory, a Northern California location, the third and final Record Plant studio.
Chris Stone (entrepreneur) | Record Plant, Los Angeles
To satisfy the wishes of Sly Stone, one of the office spaces at the studio was turned into an unusual recording studio dubbed "the Pit". The Pit was a acoustically dead room that had the engineer's controls sunk into the foundation of the building, surrounded on all sides by a ground level area intended for the musicians. Its appearance was futuristic, with bright maroon plush carpet on the floors, walls, ceiling and stairs. Psychedelic murals and embroidery added to the visual atmosphere. There were no windows between the control room and the main studio area, previously considered a fundamental method of sound separation; instead, there was a partial cowling circling the control pit, also carpeted.
Record Plant | The Pit
Exclusive Records was established by Leon René in Los Angeles in 1944 and ceased operations in January 1950. Buddy Baker was the music director. The label's roster included music by Lucky Thompson, the Basin Street Boys, the Ceele Burke Orchestra, Edgar Hayes & His Stardusters, Herb Jeffries, Rickey Jordan, Jack McVea & His Orchestra, Mabel Scott, Frantic Fay Thomas, Joe Liggins & His Honeydrippers, and Johnny Moore's Three Blazers with Charles Brown. Leon René and his brother Otis René, who owned Excelsior Records, purchased a shellac record pressing plant, but when the format changed from 78 rpm to 45 rpm, their old equipment could not press the new smaller vinyl discs, and both labels went out of business.
Exclusive Records | History
Recording sessions began at Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles in August 1983 – the band's only time recording in North America. It included Canadian session keyboardist Fred Mandel. Mandel programmed the Jupiter's arpeggiated synth-bass parts. The recording features prominent use of the Roland VP330+ vocoder. The bassline was produced by a Roland Jupiter-8, using the built-in arpeggiator.
Radio Ga Ga | Recording
The office workers were moved to a 20,000-square-foot office building. The third building – 21,000 square feet – was used to launch the latest Acoustic Sounds venture, Quality Record Pressings (QRP), a modern record pressing plant. QRP operates three different kinds of record presses and has equipped each with pioneering modifications, including adding microprocessors to the presses so that they will cycle based on temperature rather than the less accurate cycling by time. All of the Analogue Productions reissues and the APO Records titles are now pressed at QRP and the pressing plant also handles the jobs of several other record labels.
Acoustic Sounds, Inc. | Record pressing plant launched
United was founded by Ozell Simpkins, John Dunn, and Joe Talbot under the name "Southern Plastics" in 1949, the same year that RCA introduced the 45 rpm record. They found success by working with large labels like Motown to produce 45 rpm singles for jukeboxes and the everyday consumer. In 1962, the company moved to its current location at 453 Chestnut Street from 512 Franklin Street in Nashville, Tennessee. This is the building where United would be contracted by Vee Jay Records to press The Beatles first 7-inch records in North America. The building and the machine presses inside of it were all designed by Ozell Simpkins after he spent two months in Brussels, Belgium researching modern pressing plants.
United Record Pressing | Company history
The Miami station was started as a plant introduction garden in what is now downtown Miami on six acres near Brickell Avenue in 1898. The six acres were provided to the USDA by Mary Brickell. There was an additional acre and $1000 provided by Henry Flagler. This was a temporary donation. The USDA did not take title to the land. The garden was begun by David Fairchild, the USDA's newly hired manager of the Section of Seed and Plant Introduction. It was the first Plant Introduction Garden of the United States Government. Herbert J. Webber was the first man in charge of the garden.
Chapman Field (Miami) | Brickell Avenue
On April 6, 1942, Mercer supervised Capitol's first recording session where Martha Tilton recorded the song "Moon Dreams". On May 5, Bobby Sherwood and his orchestra recorded two tracks in the studio. On May 21, Freddie Slack and his orchestra recorded three tracks in the studio: one with the orchestra, one with Ella Mae Morse called "Cow-Cow Boogie" and "Air-Minded Executive" supervised by Mercer. On June 4, 1942, Capitol opened its first office in a second-floor room south of Sunset Boulevard. On that same day, Wallichs presented the company's first free record to Los Angeles disc jockey Peter Potter. On June 5, 1942, Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra recorded four songs at the studio.
Capitol Records | Founding
The very first album to come out of there was "Electric Ladyland" by Jimi Hendrix. Stone later said in an interview that "Gary, having worked all night, would very often be out cold on the couch, with Jimi still in the studio glaring through the haze at the speakers. They would sometimes go three and four days without stopping. Out of those sessions came 'Electric Ladyland', the Record Plant's first record. Other people have taken credit for the record, but about ninety percent of it was done in Studio A in New York with Gary and Jimi." One of the last to record there being John Lennon, who left the studio to go home the night he was murdered.
Gary Kellgren | Record Plant
Black & White Records was founded in 1943 by Les Schreiber (1901–1965), and was located at 2117 Foster Avenue, Brooklyn, New York. The company initially issued recordings by Art Hodes and Cliff Jackson. In 1945, Paul Reiner (6 December 1905, Hungary–1 February 1982, Los Angeles) and his wife, Lillian ("" Drosd; 28 April 1908, Massachusetts–4 September 1982, Los Angeles), purchased the company, moved it to Los Angeles, and hired Ralph Bass to be recording director. Soon after that, Schreiber went to work for Swan Records but left Swan around October 1946. Paul Reiner was president, his wife was vice president, Samuel Madiman was treasurer, and Larry Newton was sales manager.
Black &amp; White Records | Early days
Beginning in 1977, Miami Sound Machine began recording and releasing various albums and 45s on Audiofon Records in Miami, Florida. The group's primary lineup consisted of six Cuban-born Americans:
Miami Sound Machine | The beginnings
WEA Manufacturing Inc. was created in 1978–1979 when Warner Communications Inc. purchased two of its longtime suppliers: the record pressing plants Specialty Records Corporation (Olyphant, Pennsylvania) and Allied Record Company (Los Angeles). The company was headquartered in Olyphant, where the original plant was replaced in late 1981 by a new facility which retained the name Specialty Records Corporation. The Specialty Records Corporation name was dropped in 1996 in favor of WEA Manufacturing. The company invested in CD manufacturing in 1986, matching a $247,000 contribution by economic development corporation Ben Franklin Technology Partners to develop & implement new processes of manufacturing audio CDs and CD-ROMs.
WEA Manufacturing | History
In 1923 he set up a disc recording plant, under the name of World Record (Australia) Limited. The plant was in Bay Street Brighton a suburb of Melbourne, from where he produced his 78 rpm to 33 rpm discs. The plant was also the base for radio station 3PB, which he established in August 1925 for the purpose of broadcasting the company’s recordings. It was a limited “manufacturers’ licence”, a sort which was only available during the first few years of wireless broadcasting in Australia. 3PB was only on the air for four months.
Noel Pemberton Billing | Australia
Paradise Records was a U.S. record label started by Leon Russell in 1976. The company established offices in Los Angeles. Paradise Records was the second record label company started by Russell. The first was Shelter Records started by Leon Russell and Denny Cordell that operated from 1969 to 1981. Shelter Records had offices in both Los Angeles and Tulsa, Russell's home town, where the label sought to promote a "workshop atmosphere" with a recording studio in a converted church, adjoining houses for artists working at the studio, and other facilities. Russell remained with Shelter until 1976, when he and Cordell fell out.
Paradise Records | Introduction
Most colors were soon dropped in favor of black because of production problems. However, yellow and deep red were continued until about 1952. The first 45 rpm record created for sale was "PeeWee the Piccolo" RCA 47-0147 pressed in yellow translucent vinyl at the Sherman Avenue plant, Indianapolis on December 7, 1948, by R. O. Price, plant manager. In the 1970s, the government of Bhutan produced now-collectible postage stamps on playable vinyl mini-discs.
Phonograph record | Less common formats
rECOrd began its development in October 2000, managed by Steve J. McWilliam, and was fully launched on 12 July 2002 when it was formally opened by Sir Martin Doughty of English Nature.
RECOrd (Local Biological Records Centre) | History
This was the start of the academy and also of the Grammy Awards. The Recording Academy was formally established in 1957.
The Recording Academy | History
In October 1899 the company was prohibited by court order from manufacturing duplicate records, and they began supplying original records for the National Phonograph Company[7][6][6][5][5]. The later U.S. Phonograph Company of Cleveland Ohio is unrelated.
United States Phonograph Company | Introduction
The Vinyl Factory began as a pressing plant in 2001 after purchasing the manufacturing equipment from EMI. For two years, they completed orders left over from EMI's company, which helped keep and maintain a loyal customer base. In 2008, Vinyl Factory expanded into a record label.
The Vinyl Factory | Overview
It enjoyed early success in TV with "The Mickey Mouse Club", a joint venture with the Disney corporation. To market music from the successful TV show, ABC-Paramount established the Am-Par Record Corporation and the ABC-Paramount label in early 1955, appointing Sam Clark, a Boston record distributor, as president, with Larry Newton as sales manager and Harry Levine the A&R director. The new recording company enjoyed Goldenson's full support. Sid Feller, a producer and arranger, was the first salaried employee on July 15, 1955. The label achieved early success in pop music with Paul Anka.
Impulse! Records | History
Victor established some of the first commercial recording studios in Camden where Enrico Caruso, Arturo Toscanini, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Leopold Stokowski, John Philip Sousa, Woody Guthrie, Fats Waller & The Carter Family among many others, made famous recordings. General Electric reacquired RCA and the remaining Camden factories in 1986.
Camden, New Jersey | First half of the 20th century
Musicraft Records was a record company and label established in 1937 in New York City.
Musicraft Records | Introduction
Following the invention and commercial introduction of the microphone, the electric amplifier, the mixing desk and the loudspeaker, the recording industry gradually converted to electric recording, and by 1925 this technology had replaced mechanical acoustic recording methods for such major labels as RCA Victor and Columbia, and by 1933 acoustic recording was completely obsolete.
Recording studio | 1890s to 1930s
Initial Records was an independent record label in Louisville, Kentucky, that was founded in 1992. The label released music by Falling Forward, Boysetsfire and Ink & Dagger, and created the annual weekend long music festival, Krazy Fest.
Initial Records | Introduction
The San Francisco Bay Area's first high-tech studio, one capable of competing with Los Angeles and New York studios in drawing independent recording artists, Wally Heider Studios initially consisted of one room (now Studio C) designed by Dave Mancini. Crucially, it offered artists complete freedom that they could not find when recording at studios controlled by record labels. During Heider's tenancy many landmark albums of the psychedelic rock era were recorded at his facility. Bands native to or based in the Bay Area such as Jefferson Airplane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and the Grateful Dead recorded numerous albums at the facility, defining what became known as the San Francisco Sound.
Hyde Street Studios | Historical significance
In 1944, he opened the first record factory in Cuba, called Panart, and released its first recording, "Dry Leaf" by Carlos Alas del Casino. Panart had a tough time getting started due to RCA Victor’s dominant position in the record market and the relatively new character of the record technology at the time. Sabat’s business abilities and musical vision developed Panart as a successful label. By 1957, Ramón had been able to expand his label and had sold around a million records worldwide. Panart helped spread Cuban music throughout the world. As the Cuban Revolution began, Ramon's wife Julia Sabat sent copies of master tapes to New York City.
Ramón S. Sabat | Biography
In 1967, Gary Kellgren was a recording engineer working at several New York City studios, including Mayfair Studios on 701 Seventh Avenue at the edge of Times Square, a drab upstairs office, a single room which held the only professional 8-track recording system in New York. There, Kellgren worked with artists such as the Velvet Underground, who recorded "Sunday Morning" in November 1966; Frank Zappa; and Jimi Hendrix, engineering their recordings and also sweeping the floors. In late 1967, Chris Stone was introduced to Kellgren because Kellgren's wife, Marta, was seven months pregnant and scared of the upcoming birth and Stone's wife, Gloria, had just given birth.
Record Plant | New York
By the late 1960s, the record label had already relocated from Rosario to Buenos Aires and expanded its catalog. New investors were seduced by the idea of creating a major independent label. Curt von Simpson and Gertrudis Moser joined Fonema executive leadership providing the needed contacts with local banks (namely Banco Oddone). During this period of expansion "Take One", a state-of-the-art 24-channel recording studio was built to specs. The console was manufactured by Solidyne and the studio acoustics was designed by Oscar Bonello. "Take one", which would eventually become a landmark of the record industry was located at Fonema's HQ on Perú 375 in Buenos Aires historical district known as Monserrat The original concept of a small and family orientated garage experiment born in Rosario had grown out of proportion.
Discos Qualiton | The 1970s
In 1938, ARC was acquired by the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) under the guidance of the chief executive William S. Paley. The company was later renamed Columbia Recording Corporation, and changed again to Columbia Records Inc. in 1947. Edward Wallerstein, who served as the head of Columbia Records since the late 1930s, helped establish the company as a leader in the record industry by spearheading the successful introduction of the LP record. Columbia's success continued through the 1950s with the launch of Epic Records in 1953 and Date Records in 1958. By 1962, the Columbia Records productions unit was operating four plants around the United States located in Los Angeles, California; Terre Haute, Indiana; Bridgeport, Connecticut; and Pitman, New Jersey.
Sony Music | 1938–1970: Columbia/CBS Records
Prior to his move to California, Bill Putnam had founded the prestigious Universal Recording studio in Chicago. A pioneer of modern recording technique, Putnam became well known for his UREI recording equipment and custom-made Universal Audio mixing consoles, which were bought by major recording studios. After relocating to Hollywood in 1957, and with the backing of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, Putnam first established the United Recording Corp. studio complex at 6050 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. In 1961, he purchased the neighboring Western Studio at 6000 Sunset, remodeling and incorporating the building into the complex. The buildings were then renamed United Western Recorders, and catered to some of the biggest artists of the era, including Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys, and Elvis Presley.
United Western Recorders | Active years (1961–84)
This model was first produced in 1975 and became the preferred recording console for Atlantic Records in New York and Criteria Studio in Miami. In time the model range included A, B, C, & D versions offering 28, 32, 36, 38, 42, & 56 channel mainframe configurations. Metering was available as either VU or Light Meters. The 500 Series was highly configurable and was available with a wide array of customization options. The JH-556 was the first recording console designed specifically to cater for dual 24 track recording.
Music Center Incorporated | JH-500 Series Console
In Los Angeles there were a number of record mastering and pressing plants that were not "first in line" to press records for the major labels, usually only getting work when the larger plants were overloaded. These pressing plants were more than happy to generate income by pressing bootlegs of dubious legality. Sometimes they simply hid the bootleg work when record company executives would come around (in which case the printed label could show the artist and song names) and other times secrecy required labels with fictitious names. For example, a 1974 Pink Floyd bootleg called "Brain Damage" was released under the name The Screaming Abadabs, which was one of the band's early names.
Bootleg recording | 1970s
On 27 October 1911, Nestor Film Company established Hollywood's first permanent film studio. The California weather allowed for year-round filming. In 1912, Universal Studios was formed, merging Nestor and several other motion picture companies, including Independent Moving Pictures (IMP).
Film industry | United States
"Record World" has been considered the hipper, faster-moving music industry publication, in contrast to the stodgier "Billboard" and "Cash Box", its sister magazine. "Music Vendor", as it was then known, published its first music chart for the week ending October 4, 1954. A weekly, like its competitors, it was housed in New York City at 1700 Broadway, at 53rd Street, just across the street from the Ed Sullivan Theater, and West Coast editorial offices in Los Angeles on Sunset and Vine. Rock bands frequented "Record World"'s offices as part of their promotional tours, often leaving questionable promo items in their wake.
Record World | Growth
The pressing plant was subsequently sold in November 2007.
Obese Records | Founding as OB's record store
Caillat was responsible for most of the tracking and took a leave of absence from Wally Heider Studios in L.A. on the premise that Fleetwood Mac would use their facilities for mixing. Most band members complained about the windowless studio and wanted to record at their homes, but Mick Fleetwood nixed this. The band used Studio B with its 3M 24-track tape machine, various studio microphones and an API mixing console with 550A equalizers. Although Caillat was impressed with the setup, he felt that the room lacked ambiance because of its "very dead speakers" and large amounts of soundproofing. Fleetwood remarked of his time at the studio that his band did not go into the Pit, as it was usually occupied by strangers who were chopping powdered drugs into lines with razors.
Record Plant | Mid- to late-1970s
Warner Bros. returned to the record business in 1958 with the establishment of its own recording division, Warner Bros. Records. By this time, the established Hollywood studios were reeling from multiple challenges to their former dominance—the most notable being the introduction of television in the late 1940s. Legal changes also had a major impact on their business—lawsuits brought by major stars had effectively overthrown the old studio contract system by the late 1940s and, beginning in 1949, anti-trust suits brought by the US government forced the five major studios to divest their cinema chains. In 1956, Harry Warner and Albert Warner sold their interest in the studio and the board was joined by new members who favored a renewed expansion into the music business—Charles Allen of the investment bank Charles Allen & Company, Serge Semenenko of the First National Bank of Boston and investor David Baird.
Warner Records | 1958–1963: formation and early years
Later the first floor at the front of the building was to become the pressing plant with three record presses and associated equipment. Auckland recordings were made at Astor studio in Shortland Street, by engineer Noel Peach.
TANZA | History
Many top artists and producers have used Criteria. Hundreds of gold, platinum, and diamond singles and albums have been recorded, mixed or mastered at Criteria, including "Layla", "I Feel Good" and "Eat a Peach", as well as parts of "Hotel California" and "Rumours". Atlantic Records regularly used the studios for their roster of artists in the 1970s, through a connection with Tom Dowd, a leading staff engineer-producer with the label. The Bee Gees worked at Criteria in the mid- to late 1970s and early 1980s, most notably during recording of "Main Course" (1975) and "Spirits Having Flown" (1979). In 1999, The Hit Factory purchased Criteria Studios, revamping and re-opening the studios under the new name "The Hit Factory Criteria Miami".
Criteria Studios | History
Khouri bought the machine and discs, and returned with it to Kingston, where in 1947 he set up a voice recording service. Khouri made recordings of local bands, and since there were no record pressing facilities in Jamaica, he sent them to the United Kingdom to be pressed. Realising the commercial possibilities, he decided to set up a music recording business and traveled to California to acquire the equipment he needed to set up his own plant. Having until then had records pressed in the US, he also set up a record pressing plant in the early 1950s, and began pressing copies of American records under licence.
Ken Khouri | Biography
Prior to the 1980s, most recording studios used analog multitrack recorders, typically based on reel-to-reel tape. The first commercial hard disk recording system was the Sample-to-Disk 16-bit, 50 kHz digital recording option for the New England Digital Synclavier II in 1982. Stereo audio was not immediately available due to data input and output limitations on hard drives of that time. The high cost and limited capacity of these solutions limited their use to large professional audio recording studios, and even then, they were usually reserved for specific applications such as film post-production. With the arrival of the compact disc in 1982, digital recording became a major area of development by equipment makers.
Hard disk recorder | History
Jerry Ragovoy, a famous songwriter & record producer, founded The Hit Factory in New York City in 1968. On March 6, 1975, Jerry sold the studios to Edward Germano, a singer, record producer and one of the principal owners of The Record Plant Studios New York. At that time The Hit Factory studios were located at 353 West 48th Street and consisted of two studios, A2 and A6. Eventually a third studio, A5, was added. These studios were active from 1975 to 1981. The studios were redesigned by Ed Germano and his maintenance technician, Frank Comentale. Germano incorporated The Hit Factory into a business and redesigned the logo as it exists to this day.
The Hit Factory | History
Plant Life Records was a record label that existed from 1977 until 1984. It was formed by Nigel Pegrum, at that time drummer for Steeleye Span. Maddy Prior recorded one album for the label, as did Wizz Jones in 1977. Its most successful recordings were by The Tannahill Weavers and Blowzabella. Most of the thirty or so albums were produced by Pegrum and seven were produced by Paul James. Late in its life, the label began issuing records under licence from other labels and was linked to the Burlington record label, which was also issued with the Plant Life logo on the later labels.
Plant Life Records | Introduction
Quality Record Pressings is a vinyl record pressing plant launched by music entrepreneur Chad Kassem in Salina, Kansas, United States in 2011. QRP sought to improve premier audiophile pressings, introducing innovations never before tried in the record pressing industry.
Quality Record Pressings | Introduction
There is currently a debate within collector forums and Detroit music historians about the origins of United. The issues revolve around when the first Cass location for the studio began and when it moved to the current location at 5840 Second Avenue. Regardless, it was listed at the current Second Avenue location by 1943. The historical marker says that James Siracuse converted the current location to a recording studio in 1939. The house it is located in was built in 1916. The 1946 Inter-racial Goodwill Program was recorded here. In March 2014 the Detroit News reported that:
United Sound Systems | History
It was established in 1985 by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz in Culver City, California after he attended recording school, and re-located to Hollywood, California in February 1987. They moved for the final time in 1988 to the former location of Seymour Heller's Producer's Workshop studios on Hollywood Boulevard. In a back room closet at this location, Epitaph Records had its first office. Donnell Cameron became a partner in 1988 and was the studio owner/engineer until May 12, 2010, when Westbeach Recorders went out of business.
Westbeach Recorders | History
Steve Sholes of RCA records commissioned its construction but died in April 1968. The studio's staff included Stan Kessler, Ronnie "Angel" Stoots from the Mar-Keys, and George Klein. The first single cut there was "Mama”/“Merry Go Round" produced by Bobby Manuel. The studio, after its first year, became popular with Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd of Atlantic Records, and Dot Records/Paramount Records. It was purchased by Chips Moman and Don Crews in December 1968, and renamed American Recording Studio East, AKA “The Annex”. The studio was custom-designed with stereo echo chambers, and its new large tracking floor made it well suited for larger productions such as horn and orchestra sessions (Presley's "Kentucky Rain" arranged by Glen Spreen, is an example).
American Sound Studio | American Recording Studio East
The original LP sleeves for "Yesterday and Today" were assembled at Capitol's four US plants situated in different cities: Los Angeles, California; Scranton, Pennsylvania; Winchester, Virginia; and Jacksonville, Illinois. Numbers designating where the covers originated were printed near the RIAA symbol on the back; for example, stereo copies from the Los Angeles plant were designated "5" and mono Los Angeles copies were marked "6". Mono copies outnumbered stereo copies by about ten to one, making the stereo copies far more rare and valuable to collectors. Capitol initially ordered plant managers to destroy the covers, and the Jacksonville plant delivered most of its copies to a landfill.
Yesterday and Today | Collectability
Pal Recording Studio (1957–1964) was an independent recording studio that operated in Cucamonga, California (now known as Rancho Cucamonga.) The studio was started by engineer/innovator Paul Buff. The studio is known for its instrumental Surf music recordings such as "Wipe Out" and the original demo recording of "Pipeline". The first location was at 8020 North Archibald Avenue. Later, the studio moved down the street to 8040. Pal was also the training ground for a young Frank Zappa who worked at the studio starting in 1961. Zappa learned basic recording techniques at Pal. He recorded his first rock n' roll record, "Breaktime", by the Masters, which consisted of himself, Paul Buff, and Ronnie Williams.
Pal Recording Studio | Introduction
Presley recorded the song at the Radio Recorders Studio in Hollywood, California. on September 3, 1956.
First in Line (song) | Recording
A majority of these machines only pressed 45s. United gained the ability to press 12-inchers when they bought the presses from Dixie Record Pressing, another Nashville plant that was winding down. In 1971, under new management, the name was changed from "Southern Plastics" to United Record Pressing.
United Record Pressing | Company history