Famous Recording Studios
Thursday, 19th February 2009 by Ian Brown
Today we'll explore some of the world's most famous recording studios, starting with Sun Studio in Memphis. I love this Street View with the neon signs glowing!
Perhaps best known as the location of Elvis Presley's early recordings, the studio was also used by many rock-n-roll greats including Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis. The building reopened in 1987 as a functioning studio and museum, appearing soon after that in the U2 film Rattle and Hum.
Speaking of U2, their first three albums were recorded at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin. While the studio has moved, the location remains a site of pilgrimage for devoted fans who cover the walls with graffiti, visible on Live Maps:
One of the more unique studios in the world is the Astoria studio, found in a houseboat on the River Thames west of London.
Built in 1911, and originally designed to house an entire orchestra, the boat is currently owned by Dave Gilmour and parts of Pink Floyd's two most recent albums were recorded there.
Most of Prince's albums from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s were recorded at the now-defunct studio that shared a name with a song and record label: Paisley Park.
While we've already visited the Abbey Road zebra crossing on Google Sightseeing, we didn't look at the actual studio:
Home to the vast majority of The Beatles' recording sessions, these studios have since hosted a Who's Who of modern rock, pop and classical music, from Radiohead to the Spice Girls. The wall outside Abbey Road Studios is also covered in graffiti from music fans, though it's not visible on either Google or Live Maps.
From 1959 to 1971, Motown Records put more than 110 songs into the Top 10 - the majority of them were recorded at Hitsville USA, a pair of Detroit buildings that housed the label's studios and administrative offices.
The label moved to Los Angeles in 1972, but the buildings have served as a popular museum since 1985.
And finally we fly to Berlin to see the Hansa Tonstudios.
Perhaps most famous for David Bowie's Low and Heroes albums, many artists have taken residence there seeking inspiration from the culture and history of East and West Berlin.
Where was your favourite album recorded?
Thanks to Lianachan, Stephen Jackson, Martin S., 433 and Stephen LaMora.
About the author
Ian Brown lives in Ottawa, Canada, and spends his spare time perusing maps to find new routes to ride on his orange bicycle.
Yay, me!
In 1955, Elvis recorded only at Sun and KDAV Radio in Lubbock, Texas. That is where Buddy Holly recorded a lot, including the demos that got him a contract. Buddy had a radio show at KDAV.
Here is my eye-witness history: http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/elvis_presley_buddy_holly_cotton_club.shtml
Giant, from Herman Dune, was recorded in Bryn Derwen Studio, UK. View Placemark That’s maybe not a famous one, but that’s one of my favourites albums.
This is Sarm West in Notting Hill View Placemark Its ‘hit list’ is unequalled. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basing_Street_Studios
And this is Parr Street Studios in Liverpool View Placemark
which is the largest studio outside London and also has also produced incredible amount of famous bands and albums.
Van Gelder Studios has recorded albums by Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Joe Henderson, Grant Green, Wayne Shorter, John Coltrane etc. http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/15630/
Tittenhurst Park: View Placemark (51.406612,-0.634342) – Not really a studio, but it is where Judas Priest recorded British Steel.
Muscle Shoals Sound Studios… View Placemark,,0,-8.257692307692293 http://muscleshoalssound.org/ Might look unassuming but look to the list of names.. to think that Mick Jagger and the Rolling stones flew into the little airport in Muscle Shoals.. in the 70’s it was basically a who’s who list.. and Cher’s 3614 Jackson Highway album.The FLorence/muscle shoals area is deep in Music history, was also the birthplace of Sam Phillips
I grew up about 10 miles down the road from Paisley Park. It was a pretty cool looking building when it was first built, especially at night as there were lots of colored lights on the exterior facade.
@cookie monster hmm pretty sure radiohead didn’t record ok computer at sarm – contradictory info on wkipedia.. where are the internet karma police? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK_Computer