Quad Studios Nashville
Quad Studios Nashville was a four-studio recording facility established as Quadrafonic Sound Studio in 1971 on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee, US. The studio was the location of numerous notable recording sessions, including Neil Young's Harvest, Jimmy Buffett's "Margaritaville", Joan Baez' "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", and Dobie Gray's "Drift Away". The studio's location has been the home of Sienna Recording Studios since 2014.
History[edit]
Quadrafonic Sound Studio[edit]
Established by session musicians David Briggs and Norbert Putnam as Quadrafonic Sound Studio in 1971, the studio immediately became the home of many major recording sessions including Neil Young's Harvest album which included the single "Heart of Gold". Kris Kristofferson brought Joan Baez to the studio in 1971 to record her album Blessed Are..., including her hit recording of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", and Dan Fogelberg recorded his debut studio album Home Free the following year. Other artists recording at Quadrafonic in its early years included Grand Funk Railroad, The Jackson Five, The Pointer Sisters, Joe Walsh and The James Gang, Pousette-Dart Band,[1] and Dobie Gray, who recorded his R&B classic "Drift Away" at Quad Studios in 1972. In 1976, Jimmy Buffett recorded his biggest hit, "Margaritaville" from his best selling album Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes at the studio,[2] and Buffet later donated a stained-glass window for the studio's upstairs bathroom.[3]
The studios originally featured a Quad Eight mixing console and 16-track Ampex MM1100 two-inch tape recorder. In 1975, the owners replaced the Quad Eight with an MCI 500-series mixing console.[2]
Quad Recording Studios[edit]
In 1980, Putnam and Briggs sold Quadrafonic for $1 million to Gerald G. Patterson, a developer from Atlanta, but the studio sat empty for several years until Ron Kerr bought it and made it part of several other studios (SoundStage, Downstage, & Omni Studios) he owned as a co-op with various other producers and engineers, installing the Neve 8068 previously used by Jimmie Bowen at Soundstage, which had been replaced with an SSL SL 6000. The studio got so busy that a year later the the company purchased a house next door, and a building housing 2 overdub rooms, one outfitted with a Sphere Eclipse C mixing console from Ronnie Milsap's studio, and the other outfitted with a New Tac Magnum mixing console, was built to connect the two houses, making it a single large 4-room facility. The second house was outfitted as a full tracking room with a custom 40-input Trident A-Range console previously used at Cherokee Studios through Norbert Putnam after Putnam replaced it with an SSL in his new studio he built called "Digital Recorders" which was housed in the FISI building on Music Row, directly across the street from the United Artists tower. In 1999 Lou Gonzalez, owner of the similarly-named Quad Studios in New York City.[2] bought Quadrophonic and remodeled and expanded the studios. The Trident A-Range comps;e was sold to Butch Vig and installed in his "Smart Studios" in Madison Wisconsin. "Studio A" featured an 80-input SSL 9000J console, the "Neve Room", which was Quadrafonic's original studio, had a vintage Neve 8068 mixing console with Flying Faders automation. The 2 smaller studio suites eventually featured Pro Tools HD systems.[3] Artists recording at Quad Studios Nashville included Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, Lady A, The Fray, Jewel, Phil Vassar, George Strait, Toby Keith, T-Bone Burnett, The Dead Daisies and many more.
Sienna Recording Studios[edit]
In 2014, Quad Studios was purchased by hit songwriter Marti Frederiksen and Round Hill Music CEO Josh Gruss. The studios were renovated and restored, and renamed Sienna Recording Studios, with Round Hill establishing new business offices upstairs.[4][5]
References[edit]
- ^ Pousette-Dart Band. (1978), Pousette Dart Band., Capitol, OCLC 883991702
- ^ a b c Daley, Dan (September 2003). "Producer: Norbert Putnam". Sound On Sound. SOS Publications Group. Retrieved September 2, 2022.
- ^ a b Cooper, Peter (May 1, 2008). "Nashville Skyline, May 2008". mixonline.com. Retrieved September 2, 2022.
- ^ Rau, Nate. "Famous Quad Studios to reopen in 2015 as Round Hill". The Tennessean. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
- ^ Rau, Nate (November 19, 2015). "Quad Studio owners keep Nashville's musical heritage alive". The Tennessean. Retrieved September 2, 2022.