NYC TOP STUDIO

[Nerve Nickels]

What are the best Recording Studios in NYC !?!



List away Slutz

[AdAudioInc]

Chung King is maybe a not so obvious choice.

[Jan Folkson]

Here are all the big guys I can think of (not necessarily in any order)

The Hit Factory, Avatar, Sound On Sound, Right Track, Quad, Sear, Electric Lady, Sony, Clinton.

Unique is out, RPM is out...

[Riad]

Avatar... I love studio A.

[Jan Folkson]

Not surprising...E V E R Y B O D Y loves studio A. B and C are pretty great as well.

[robdarling]

Not in NYC, but I think the best mix room in the area, without issue, is Music Palace in Hempstead.

For tracking, outside of Right Track and Avatar A, I don't really think any NYC rooms are particularly special, and all of the staffs are completely untrained outside of Right Track (Barry is the best Studio Manager in the city.) Tracking dates in NYC can be very crappy experiences if lose the crap shoot on the assistant.

If you are looking for a gig, I think the only time well-spent as an assistant in NYC is at Right Track. It is the only place where the discipline is well-taught (or Sear, if you fit with the idiosyncracy.)

[thethrillfactor]

Originally posted by Nerve Nickels
What are the best Recording Studios in NYC !?!



List away Slutz

Best for what?


Tracking?

Mixing?

Scoring?

Production?

[Nerve Nickels]

just a general question to get some feedback on what people on the board feel about studios in nyc...whatever you care to add...

I'm most interested in a world class facility to cut independent projects as a musician/producer...rock/electronic...

studios with good industry contacts, vintage gear and instruments, and a good vibe with long-term business relationship in mind...(not just a onetime)

I have yet to do any 'real work' in a 'bigtime' studio so i'm looking for opinions / experencies ...

[Jan Folkson]

Hey Nerve,

I've got a studio at Sound On Sound. They're good guys with all the stuff you'll need.

Give me a call if you want to discuss some options.

212-757-5300.

You might also want to check out Big Blue Meenie across the river in Jersey City. They usually only do in-house stuff, but it might be worth a phone call. The owner, Tim Gilles is a great guy and they've got top shelf stuff.

HTH.

[Musiclab]

Mirror Image is a nice place. Great Gear and Tommy Uzzo is a real nice guy.

[Steffmo]

Randy....

Unique closed their doors and auctioned the gear a while back. Bobby is now in the plug in biz.

[archtop]

Big Blue Meanie

[7rojo7]

What happened to RPM?

[Gideon]

Originally posted by 88fingerz
You know, it's funny: I was hunting for a top studio but I also needed a top talent within; an engineer who not was only technically savvy, but also had the gift of great ears, perfect pitch (to point out those not-so-perfect vocal takes (and how to achieve much better performance), killer musician chops also was a requirement.

I found out that I was asking for alot...short of a darn miracle.

That is until I stumbled upon this Bohana cat @ a small project studio called "Rockgarden" in Williamsburg Brooklyn, 5 minutes from Manhatten.

He was the last Eastern Region rep from Opcode Systems before their untimely demise.

With this unusually gifted engineer I was able to sing my song with no instrumentation to him and off he goes:

First laying down oh so believable drums right off his synth (not only were the samples outstanding, but his natural playing was more than convincing(kind of like Neil Peart, Stuart Copeland & Ringo all rolled into one).
Even a few top flite session drummers asked who the drummer was and how the kit was miked.

He then fortified that with a stellar frettless bass line, with natural bends and and an infectuous groove.

He played sampled guitar sounds, solo violins, etc...

We were constantly blown away by his all around expertise and talents. His studio is small but mighty and the sound was as if it were done in a much more expensive. real estate ladden facility.

Only thing that first scared us off was his low price, $45.00 per hour for what seemed to be absolutely priceless musicianship, engineering. producing, and, to top it off, he always kept us entertained with a biting wit and funny take on just about everything. But, make no mistake, when it came to delivering a polished, professional sounding CD, he was all bussiness.

So, all in all, I'd have to say, after seeing what's out there and what can be done, we were hard pressed to ever find an all around studio engineer/producer/keyboardist like this cat named Dean@ Rockgarden Studio.

Here's his site...tell 'em Fingerz sent ya!

http://www.RockgardenMusic.com

P.S....A friend of mine started a Karaoke company and this Dean cat was able to remake any song from any era/genre to the letter, all played by him on his synth/sampler. Just extraordinary!

Fingerz

I smell SPAM. Check out his profile.

[krs]

That is the cheesiest, stinkiest, most low down piece of spam shite I have ever witnessed on this BBS.

Dean Bohana, I truly hope you and your cheap a$$ microphones are forever banned from this forum.

[wwittman]

The best studios in NYC aren't always technically in NYC.

I like Pie Studios in Glen Cove (LI) and Water Music in Hoboken, NJ ...
both have discrete Neves (with GML automation at Pie), Augspurger monitors , big rooms, and lots of good outboard.

I also like Electric Lady studio a, which has a unique, dark, heavy sound in the room... although I don;t love the SSL,

and Magic Shop.. a smaller, deader room but a very comfortable place to work that sounds great as well. and another nice Neve (two put together, actually)

The new, big, Right Track room is great for strings and other large section overdubs.

Avatar Studio A is nice but not my favourite room... not as live as it LOOKS, and the Neve there shows signs of wear.

[thethrillfactor]

Originally posted by wwittman
and Magic Shop.. a smaller, deader room but a very comfortable place to work that sounds great as well. and another nice Neve (two put together, actually)

WW,

I was going to mention the Magic Shop as a choice for tracking.

There are also some nice tracking rooms springing up in Williamsburg.

[thethrillfactor]

Originally posted by Musiclab
Mirror Image is a nice place. Great Gear and Tommy Uzzo is a real nice guy.

One of my choices for an SSL mixing facility.

[thethrillfactor]

Originally posted by Nerve Nickels
just a general question to get some feedback on what people on the board feel about studios in nyc...whatever you care to add...

I'm most interested in a world class facility to cut independent projects as a musician/producer...rock/electronic...

studios with good industry contacts, vintage gear and instruments, and a good vibe with long-term business relationship in mind...(not just a onetime)

I have yet to do any 'real work' in a 'bigtime' studio so i'm looking for opinions / experencies ...

Are you or a record label paying for it?

Vintage gear kind a limits it and for vintage instruments you will be looking at a personal producers studio.

And in terms of industry contacts, that's usually provided by the user.

[Cosmonauta]

I don't know if they are top studios... but in 1997 I was in New York to participate (as a musician) in 2 projects.
One was done in a studio called Alien Flyers (at 36 st). It was owned by a russian dude and that rock drummer Johnatan Moover.
It had I real well design, good look, nice sound room, SSL G8000 (or something, probably a 9k today) and all big studio-standard mics and processors. Nice staff. I don't know if they stills in the business but I would recommend them as a not obvious option.

The other was done in a crazy studio in NJ (Weehawken, 5 minutes from Manhattan) owned by Roy Ciccala. It was called IIWII. The place was formerly a train station, real messy, psychedelic vibe. It had a great API board, great outboard compressors and all vintage mic you can imagine.

Of course it was 1997, so my post may be REAL out of date .. 1.25 cents.


(ps: by the way... that spam thing is a shame tutt )

[wwittman]

For the vintage vibe.. I think you cannot beat Pie.

Not only every great piece of tube outboard gear you can imagine (La2as, Ba6as, Fairchiuld 670, altec, Pye, Pultecs, and on and on) but a large discrete automated 8078 and great monitors.
ALso a terrific collection of vintage (i hate that word, except as it refers to wine..) guitars and amps.
good piano, and hammond.

and great mics as well.. and lots OF them... i hate thsoe one of these and one of those places.
Pie has LOTS of each so if you like the 87 on the tom you can use 4 of them. etc.

[Nerve Nickels]

Originally posted by thethrillfactor
Are you or a record label paying for it?

Vintage gear kind a limits it and for vintage instruments you will be looking at a personal producers studio.

And in terms of industry contacts, that's usually provided by the user.

Depending on the project ...Unsigned artist will be payed thru investors ... signed artists thru label... projects that I own would be out of 'my' pocket with an established business relationship ...

as far as vintage instruments...guitars, analog synths, and drum kits really ...maybe a b3...not a deal braker by any strech...pre cbs fender amps/gtrs would be cool...vintage mics, pres, comps... but whatever...

if the arrangement / relationship is good, such things are less important...

the more I think of it...

my personal projects would like:

telefunken mics, a wonder neve (peq1) board, 6386 Limiters, DSD tracking...

as far as industry contacts go, it would be nice to have a two way door...

I printed out a list of 100's of studios in NYC trying to focus the list down...Jan's studio at sound on sound looks interesting to me...

I've been to Avatar a bunch...

[thethrillfactor]

Originally posted by Nerve Nickels
as far as vintage instruments...guitars, analog synths, and drum kits really ...maybe a b3...not a deal braker by any strech...pre cbs fender amps/gtrs would be cool...vintage mics, pres, comps... but whatever...

On a budget StratosphereSound has a nice choice of vintage instruments.

[robmix]

While we're on the subject of NYC studios I heard Hit Factory is closed. ??? Anyone know for sure ?

[JTR]

Originally posted by Cosmonauta
I don't know if they are top studios... but in 1997 I was in New York to participate (as a musician) in 2 projects.

The other was done in a crazy studio in NJ (Weehawken, 5 minutes from Manhattan) owned by Roy Ciccala. It was called IIWII. The place was formerly a train station, real messy, psychedelic vibe. It had a great API board, great outboard compressors and all vintage mic you can imagine.

Of course it was 1997, so my post may be REAL out of date .. 1.25 cents.


(ps: by the way... that spam thing is a shame tutt )

Hi there; If you're on a budget, and keeping an eye on the bottomline, here's a few places to consider.
I am not spamming & I have no affiliation with any of these studios
(I don't have 88 fingers either, just 8 )

Check out Dubway on 26th street, Stratosphere, and Excello in Brooklyn; I have mixed stuff from the first 2, & heard unmixed projects tracked at Excello; can't vouch for the places personally, never worked in any of 'em, but what I either heard or worked on sounded fine.

I mixed projects at IWII (It Is What It Is) this past June, and in the fall of '03

IWII is an offshoot of SST, which is a backline rental company owned by John Hanti

The control room is one of the old Record Plant remote trucks, attached to a VERY large live room which is normally used for rehearsing touring show's sound and lights: we're talking big big room: It's not a slick, MIX Mag gear porn room; very much in the "raw" category; it's for touring acts rehearsing, not A&R guys impressing their girlfriends, if you get my drift

The control room is like stepping into a time capsule circa 1973; lovely vintage 24 chan API board, lotsa outboard, + mics that Mr. Ciccala owns: they even have the Steinway grand that John Lennon recorded "Imagine" with (not the white one in the movie, the actual studio one)
1/2" ATR 102, Pro-Tools, Genelec monitors, Studer 2" plate reverbs, LA2A, Lang, Vari-Mu, blah blah blah; they're not hurting for gear.

I worked there twice; one session mixing some punkpop stuff, and most recently for an entire week: the control room is basically a truck box: tight quarters, and certainly not a perfect acoustic: kinda like working on a submarine, so if you need a control room the size of a starter home, fuggetaboutit - but I've worked in worse scenarios.
the gear is sweeeet, and the folks are very nice. GREAT Italian food joints nearby too.
It's the first stop when you take a bus from the Port Authority, so it's actually very close to Manhattan.

I think the rate is pretty good: don't know, I was the mix guy, brought in by the producer:

And there ya' go; good luck

[Cosmonauta]

Originally posted by JTR
GREAT Italian food joints nearby too.

Damn, how could I forget to mention this??

[Riad]

[i]I've been to Avatar a bunch... [/B]

If you continue to look at Avatar you may want to speak to or meet Anthony, I thought he ran the session I was working on extremely well.. he's been there a while so he knows the equipment inside and out.

jmtc,
Rob

[JTR]

Originally posted by Cosmonauta
Damn, how could I forget to mention this??

Well, I wasn't going to mention it, but yes, how could you?!?

After all, we can forgive the 'Norte" for not appreciating the important things in life, but really, given your more civilized culture, you really should know better, n'est pas?

[JTR]

Originally posted by robmix
While we're on the subject of NYC studios I heard Hit Factory is closed. ??? Anyone know for sure ?

I was talking to a tech guy this Fall, and he was hinting about a number of big rooms shutting down soon; Hit Factory among them.
This may very well be a rumor, but nevertheless, it's a portent of the end of an era, and a damn shame too; yeah, business is business, and oftentimes studio management practices aren't what they should be, but still - although nobody really gives a rat's patootie, losing some of these rooms is a shame; this is where history was made.

[robmix]

I agree there's some rooms that are just amazing and I wish could be rescued. The old Hit Factory Studio C was great. Obviously Avatar A. In the new Hit Factory building studio 1 on the top floor is just incredible.

I felt the same remorse when the old RCA studios was shutdown. Never got a chance to work there . . . . . . .