Historic Recording Studios

Hello again, music fans! My new book, Historic Recording Studios: America's Song Factories and the People Who Made Them, was published this week and being distributed worldwide by HHP Books. You can buy it on Amazon.com. The thing weighs over two and a half pounds. It is divided into two parts, A to M and N to Z. This is part one. The other part will be published later this year. The book features many studios, both famous and infamous, large and small, funky and staid. I cover not only the studios but the hits and the owners and engineers who operated their own "palaces" of sound. The publication is 8.5x11 inches and 399 pages. About half of the book is loaded with old ads and photos, many which I shot while on the road from the 1970s to the 1990s. The price is $30. Below you will find an example of one of the many studio entries. The book should be up and running on Amazon in a few days. HHP has other distributors, but Amazon is the quickest, most convenient one.

Thanks!

Randy

JACK’S TRACKS RECORDING STUDIO, 1308 16th Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee. On a sunny day in 1999, there's no sign in front of Jack’s Tracks, a prominent studio on Music Row for three decades. Obviously, the tan two-story house is no longer a home. Large side windows are neatly filled with wooden boards and a couple of massive air-conditioners sit outside. The owner, producer Allen Reynolds, bought the studio from Jack Clement, who founded it about 1974. “I had come up from Memphis to write for Jack,” Reynolds said, “and a bunch of writers pestered him to open a demo studio. Jack had operated a commercial art and photography studio in the building, which still had working gas lights.” The stately brick house was built in the 1890s. As Music Row expanded farther down 16th Avenue, the house became commercial property. Shortly after the studio opened, Reynolds became Clement’s business partner in the venture. Clement, who already owned several other studios in Nashville at the time, sold Jack’s Tracks to Reynolds in 1976, and Reynolds embarked on a successful career in independent production and songwriting from his studio. It turned out hit singles and albums for Don Williams, Kathy Mattea, Crystal Gayle, and Garth Brooks—all produced by Reynolds. In 1978, Ampex Corporation’s magnetic tape division gave its Golden Reel award to Reynolds; his engineer, Garth Fundis; and Crystal Gayle for making We Must Believe in Magic. The project was mastered on Ampex tape. Reynolds is a friendly, articulate man with a gray beard and an ear for good songs. Starting in his native Memphis in the late 1950s, he recorded for Sun Records and learned to write songs (“Five O’clock World” by The Voges was an early hit, in 1966). He learned his way around the studio from Clement, who once produced for Sun. For Reynolds, Sam Phillips was another early engineering hero. “When he stopped at Jack’s Tracks years ago,” Reynolds said, "he said he liked it better than Jack’s other studios. The place has a certain homey feel to it that I've grown to appreciate. I was going to sell it once, but then I decided to hang on to it. It’s not open to the public anymore. It’s my private workshop.” In a room in front, golf clubs sat in a corner. Recording awards and photos hung on the walls. The heavy wooden front door remained locked. Access to the control room was through the former parlor, where recording artists could relax as they listened to playbacks. “We didn’t plan it that way,” Reynolds said. “It just happened.” The control room was small, no more than 12 feet long. It led into the studio, which was also surprisingly small. Dark commercial carpeting covered the floor; brown soundproofing material covered the walls. Wooden folding chairs sat around for musicians, who sometimes moved to one side to prevent instrument leakage. Special booths were used for drums and sometimes for vocals. Surprisingly, this little studio turned out Garth Brooks’ big album, the one that sold 10 million copies. In fact, all Brooks' projects, except for his live concert album (done on 48 tracks), were cut at Jack’s Tracks, as were Crystal Gayle’s many hits that Reynolds produced. Business boomed at the studio in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Reynolds upgraded to a 24-track Sony recorder. He retired the old Quad Eight console in 1980 in favor of a new Quad Eight, which he still used (as of 1999). Reynolds and chief engineer Mark Miller used an Otari MTR-100 24-track tape recorder and a two-track Sony 3402 digital recorder. In addition, the studio included Tube Tech, Pultec, UREI 1176s, and a live echo chamber. But tape was Reynold's real love. “I don't see the need for any more than 24 tracks, and I like the feel of analog,” he said. “Maybe that's because I grew up with tape. But I feel that it brings a warmth and richness to recording. The board I use is old, but it’s sweet.” Now, Allen Reynolds is retired from the music business. Garth Brooks owns the studio.

SOME HITS FROM JACK’S TRACKS: “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue,” “Ready for The Times to Get Better,” “Talking in Your Sleep,” Crystal Gayle; “I Believe in You,” Don Williams; most things by Garth Brooks, including “The Dance.”

QUIRKS: The control room led to the parlor. The studio, a prime commercial property on Music Row, was not open for business.

Jack's Tracks as it appeared in 1999.