Top Ten Music Studios in the USA
23/01/2018
#1 Chess Records
Chess Records is an American record company, founded in 1950 in Chicago and it specialised in blues and rhythm and blues. Over time it expanded into soul music, gospel music and Rock n Roll.
Chess Records was considered “America’s greatest blues label” with acts including Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Etta James and Chuck Berry.
Willie Dixon was one of the main producers, songwriters and arrangers of the signature “Chess Records Sound”. In 1993, Willie Dixon’s widow, Marie, purchased the building which was then renovated and re-opened in September 1997 with a dedication ceremony. It is now home to Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven Foundation.
Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven Foundation is open Tuesday-Saturday from Noon until 4 PM, with tours every hour from Noon to 3 PM. You start in the lobby and walk through the entire building, ending up in the recording studio that was used to record so many major hit records.
#2 Motown Studios
One of the best known of the US Recording Studios – Nicknamed ‘Hitsville USA’, Berry Gordy’s Motown studio (now a museum) is home to some of the most influential music of its time, Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On and Stevie Wonder’s 1962 debut The Jazz Soul Of Little Stevie are just two of the phenomenal titles from this fantastic studio!
The Motown Museum, which was founded by Esther Gordy Edwards in 1985. Visitors come from across the world to stand in Studio A, where artists and groups recorded much-loved music, and to view the restored upper flat where Berry Gordy lived with his young family during the company’s earliest days.
Home to an extraordinary array of Motown artifacts, photographs and other memorabilia, preserved the legacy of Motown Record Company and to educate and motivate people.
#3 Sun Studio
Sun Studio located in Memphis Tennessee is known worldwide as “The Birthplace of Rock n roll”. It is the home of music legends from B.B. King and Elvis Presley to Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis from Blues and Gospel to Country and Rock’n’roll.
You can stand in the very same spot that Elvis first recorded. You will get to hear inside stories of B.B. King and Howlin’ Wolf before finding out why Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, & Roy Orbison were all drawn to the new Sun Sound.
The Museum displays priceless memorabilia from all the musical legends that blended blues and country music to explode in the “big bang” of Rock’n’roll.
#4 Muscle Shoals Sound
Muscle Shoals Sound – The original Muscle Shoals Sound Studios building is located at 3614 Jackson Highway and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Although the original Muscle Shoals Sound Studios relocated to an updated and larger facility on Alabama Avenue in Sheffield, the building still sees occasional use as a recording studio.
MUSCLE SHOALS SOUND STUDIO Opened in early 1969 by the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section (Also known and the Swampers) They began working together at Rick Hall’s FAME Studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama where they became well-renowned in the recording industry for playing a unique style of funky R&B with artists such as Aretha Frankin, Wilson Pickett and Etta James.
The Musicians decided to leave their positions at FAME and open up their own studio at 3614 Jackson Highway in Sheffield, Alabama, establishing Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. This studio was unique because it was the only recording studio owned and operated by the session musicians at the time. The four musicians were equal partners in the endeavour – not only as studio musicians but also booking sessions, paying the bills, and handling all the aspects of running a business.
#5 Electric Lady Studios
Electric Lady Studios’ current site has a long history. The basement housed The Village Barn nightclub from 1930 to 1967. Abstract expressionist artist Hans Hofmann began lecturing there in 1938, eventually retiring from teaching in 1958 to paint full-time.
In 1968, Jimi Hendrix and his manager Michael Jeffery bought a newly defunct nightclub called The Generation in New York’s Greenwich Village a venue that Hendrix had frequented for performances and late-night jam sessions. The Generation had been known for live acts like Big Brother & the Holding Company, B.B. King, Chuck Berry and John Fahey. Instead of renaming the club and continuing with the live venue business model, advisors Eddie Kramer and Jim Marron convinced Hendrix to convert the space into a professional recording studio, as studio fees for the lengthy Electric Ladyland sessions were astronomical, and Hendrix was constantly in search of a recording environment that suited him.
#6 Capitol Studios
Capitol Studios is a recording studio located at the landmark Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood, California. Established in 1956, the studios were initially the primary recording studios for American record label Capitol Records. While they are still regularly used by Capitol recording artists, the studios began making the facility available to artists outside the label during the late 1960s to early 1970s. Capitol Studios is renowned for its impressive selection of vintage gear, microphones and state-of-the-art recording equipment, as well as their eight subterranean echo chambers.
For over 60 years, Capitol Studios has hosted some of the most celebrated artists, from Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Michael Jackson, and Dean Martin to Barbra Streisand, Paul McCartney, and the Beach Boys. Along with traditional recording sessions.
#7 RCA Studio B
RCA Studio B is a music recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee built-in 1956. Originally known simply by the name “RCA Studios”, it became known in the 1960s for being an essential factor to the development of the production style and technique known as the Nashville Sound.
The studio is located centrally in the historic Music Row district. Currently, studio B is managed by the Country Music Hall of Fame and it runs scheduled tours of the facility.
Beyond the countless recordings made by legendary music artists here, Elvis Presley is known to have made more than two hundred song recordings at this location.
#8 Platinum Studios
There’s something to say about exclusivity behind the production of a record. Boasting a unique sounding room in studio J for capturing tight drums and rich vocals this has to make the list. It’s a truly remarkable sounding wooden space.
The studio was founded in 2000 in New York by rapper Wyclef Jean and multi-platinum Grammy award-winning producer Jerry Duplessis. The main focus of the studio was sound quality, productivity and privacy so artists could feel at home and create the next hit record.
Since they became established, the studios have been the birthplace for multiple Grammy award-winning artists and records receiving 12 Grammy nominations in 2010 alone.
#9 Wishbone Studios
Wishbone Studios was established in 1976 during the peak of what is today known as “Muscle Shoals Music”. Along with Fame Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, Wishbone played a major part, recording hits of the era as well as establishing and publishing successful songwriters and musicians.
Today the studio is owned by songwriter/producer Billy Lawson, who continues to produce a variety of music products, from major label recording and song demos to advertising jingles.
#10 Norman Petty Studios
Visitors to the Norman Petty Studios can see the equipment used by Buddy Holly and The Fireballs, such as the large dangling microphones, the original control board, clocks on the walls, original Coke machine and authentic 1950s furnishings. The curators have worked hard to keep the studio as it was so musical enthusiasts can take a step back in time to the grand old days of rock and roll.
Petty’s golden ears helped dozens of popular country, rock and pop musicians who recorded at the Norman Petty Studios: Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Roy Orbison, Buddy Knox, Waylon Jennings, Sonny West, Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs, Charlie Phillips, Jimmy Bowen, Johnny Duncan, Carolyn Hester, Chita Rivera and many others.
Relive the Norman Petty legacy with a tour of the studio to hear original music recordings that take you back to the 1950s when it all happened. The Norman and Vi Petty Museum is located at 105 East Grand Avenue in Clovis, New Mexico. The Norman Petty Studio is located at 1313 W. 7th Street. Museum Tours are available Monday – Friday. Studio Tours are available by appointment only.
