Recording Studios Growing Silent

The website for O’Henry Sound Studios remains operational, a single page with a black background and a photograph of the studio site, a facility resembling a well maintained home rather than where mixing of film and commercial soundtracks and recording of albums took place. The only text at the site is the farewell letter from its owner Hank and Jacqueline Sanicola dated December 2005 thanking their clients and friends for patronizing the Burbank studio for its 13 years. “We have enjoyed playing our part in the film, television, commercial and record businesses,” the message reads. “Working with you has provided us with many cherished memories.” As a working studio, O’Henry hasn’t gone out of business. As a working commercial studio, it’s another matter. And it’s not unique in the San Fernando Valley, which has seen commercial recording space dwindle as studios have closed or converted into solely private enterprises in recent years. In North Hollywood, the 11,000-square-foot, two-room Royaltone Studios closed its doors to the public in 2005 to become the private recording domain of producer Linda Perry. Paramount Recording Group bought out Third Stone Recording, also in North Hollywood, and leases the 5,000-square-foot facility for private use. The Enterprise, another Burbank studio, went into bankruptcy before converting into a post-production facility. Several factors are at play to explain the dropping number of commercial recording studios, starting with a music industry that in recent years has been cost-conscious about the number of acts signed and the amount of money put into those acts for recording. Then add in that a studio’s real estate becomes more valuable than the work taking place inside of it. “All the history, all the great music making capability gets pushed aside when the dollars dictate it’s worth more as something else,” said Adam Beilenson, of Paramount Recording, which has three facilities in the Valley. Paramount took over Third Stone from former owner Paul Richiutti who now lives in Hawaii. The decision to keep the studio private stemmed from Richiutti’s taking the equipment with him and a demand by clients looking for full facilities, Beilenson said. Whether through closure or going private, the bottom line is less commercial space exists for recording purposes. For the studio space remaining the law of supply and demand gets put into motion. “Once you have fewer options available to you, you end up spending more money than you anticipated getting what you want,” said Ellis Sorkin, whose firm Studio Referral Service matches artists and producers with studio space. The recording studio side of the music business has always been competitive, said Kit Rebhun, studio manager at Glenwood Place Studio in Burbank, and fewer commercial studios has made it all the more competitive. The closure of O’Henry brought additional work to Glenwood Place but the way it happened saddens her, Rebhun said. “I don’t relish the thought of studios closing,” Rebhun added. Those attracted to studio ownership are music industry types – artists, producers or engineers and those with a lot of money who pay to be involved with the glamorous side of the business. Owning a studio is not a big money maker, Sorkin said, with income coming from rental of studio time. At a commercial facility, a fee of $50 to $60 an hour falls in the low end while the high end commands $250 to $300 an hour. For those prices a performer gets the physical space but also amenities, such as fruit bowls, private lounge areas, and even Jacuzzis. “It relates so closely to hotels that it’s interesting,” Sorkin said. “They are both service businesses that are providing space and a product of sorts.” From one performer’s perspective, the hands operating the equipment are as important as the equipment itself. Glendale resident Marina Verenikina recalled being in studios with state of the art equipment operated by clueless engineers. An engineer who knows the potential of the equipment is important as is one who is personable and establishes a good rapport with the artists, Verenikina said. “If you like the person you are working with it’s reflected in the vibe of the music you are creating,” said Verenkina, who this summer recorded a live album before 50 fans at Sound Moves Production Studios in Sun Valley. If the amenities at a recording studio make an artist feel at home the rise of inexpensive yet high-quality recording equipment make possible for them to not even leave home to make their music. Yet Sorkin and Beilenson agree that home studios have less an impact on the number of recording studios than other factors. While a home studio is ideal for pre-production and specific parts of a project such as overdubs, working from home can’t match the atmosphere of a true studio. “I have big producers who have home studios who come to me looking for studios because they can’t bring a client into the house a lot of times,” Sorkin said. “It’s not that professional a feeling to bring some major artist into your third bedroom converted studio.”