RCA Studio B
RCA Studio B is a recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee. Originally known simply as RCA Studios, it became famous in the 1960s for being a part of what many refer to as the Nashville Sound.
A sophisticated style characterized by background vocals and strings, the Nashville Sound both revived the popularity of country music and helped establish Nashville as an international recording center.[1]
The National Park Service listed it on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.[2]
Origins
Built by Dan Maddox in 1956, it was constructed at the request of Chet Atkins and Steve Sholes to facilitate the needs of RCA Victor Records and other record labels. According to Chet Atkins,[3] the plans for the studio were drawn up on a napkin by Bill Miltenburg, RCA's chief engineer and recording manager.
Construction took four months, and the studio was opened at the cost of $37,515. The recording studio is a single-story building with offices occupying the front but the area of the studio and control room has a second story that contains an echo chamber. The studio itself measures 42.5' by 27' by 13'. In 1960 and 1961 an addition was built to provide office space and rooms for tape mastering and a lacquer mastering lab. A larger studio was built on 17th avenue in 1964 that became known as Studio A; the existing studio was referred to as Studio B from that point on.
The first chief engineer was Bob Ferris, a man with a prickly personality who managed to make Atkins angry enough to have him moved elsewhere. Bill Porter replaced him at the end of March, 1959, and by June had mixed a number one hit: "The Three Bells" by The Browns. Porter considered the studio's acoustics problematic, with resonant room modes creating an uneven frequency response. To lessen the problem, he took some $60 from the studio's petty cash and bought fiberglass acoustic ceiling panels which he cut into triangles and hung from the ceiling at varying heights; these were dubbed "Porter Pyramids".[4] Porter also marked "X"es on the floor where he discovered, by careful experimentation, the resonant modes to be minimal. Porter positioned lead vocalists, background vocalists and acoustic guitarists at microphones placed directly over his marks. After these improvements, Don Gibson recorded his album Girls, Guitars and Gibson in the studio. Porter later told an interviewer: "Everybody said, 'God, what a different sound!'"[5]
In her 1994 memoir, My Life And Other Unfinished Business, Dolly Parton recounted how she was rushing to her first recording session at Studio B in September 1967 (shortly after having signed with RCA Victor) and, in her haste to make the session on time, drove her car through the side wall of the building. She noted that the spot where her car impacted the building is still visible.[6][7]
Learning facility
In 1977 the studio was made available to the Country Music Hall of Fame for tours, and in 1992 it was donated to the Country Music Hall of Fame by the late Dan Maddox. Until 2001, it was operated as an attraction when the new home for the Hall of Fame was built in downtown Nashville.
Now the studio is co-operated by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Belmont University's Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business program.[8] Students use the facilities for classes learning the basic techniques of analog recording.
Nashville painter and singer/songwriter, Gil Veda,[9] introduced to the Grand Ole Opry crowd as "The Spanish Hank Williams" in 1962, was the first Hispanic singer to record at RCA’s Studio B.[10]
Daily tours of the studio are offered by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
List of artists recorded
Following is a list of some notable artists who recorded songs at Studio B.
- Eddy Arnold[11]
- Chet Atkins[11][12]
- Bobby Bare[11]
- Harold Bradley[12]
- The Browns[11]
- Jerry Byrd[11]
- Floyd Cramer[11]
- Skeeter Davis[11]
- Dottsy[11]
- Ronnie Dove
- Samuelsons
- Herndon High School Orchestra
- Drummond High School Choir
- The Everly Brothers[11]
- Donna Fargo[11]
- Connie Francis[13]
- Hank Garland[12]
- Don Gibson[11]
- Mickey Gilley[11]
- Bobby Goldsboro[11]
- Billy Grammer[11]
- Buddy Harman[12]
- John Hartford[11]
- Al Hirt[13]
- Homer and Jethro[11]
- Norma Jean[11]
- Waylon Jennings[11]
- Grandpa Jones[11]
- The Jordanaires[14]
- Anita Kerr Singers[12]
- Hank Locklin[11]
- John D. Loudermilk[14]
- Bob Luman[13]
- Charlie McCoy[12]
- Roger Miller[11]
- Bob Moore[13]
- Willie Nelson[11]
- Roy Orbison[11]
- Dolly Parton[11]
- Elvis Presley[11]
- Charley Pride[11]
- Boots Randolph[11]
- Jim Reeves[11]
- Tommy Roe[13]
- Ronny & the Daytonas[13]
- Connie Smith[11]
- Hank Snow[11]
- Gary Stewart[11]
- The Strokes[11]
- Sue Thompson[13]
- Johnny Tillotson[11]
- Ernest Tubb[14]
- The Velvets[11]
- Porter Wagoner[11]
- Gillian Welch[11]
- Dottie West[11]
References
- ↑ This article is mainly derived from the Country Music Hall of Fame web page: "About RCA Studio B"
- ↑ "Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 7/09/12 through 7/13/12". National Park Service. July 20, 2012. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
- ↑ Chet Atkins' autobiography
- ↑ Fremer, Michael (May 1, 2009). "Mr. Natural: Recording Engineer Bill Porter Part I". MusicAngle.com. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
- ↑ Rumble, John W. (1996). "Behind the Board with Bill Porter: Part One". The Journal of Country Music. 18 (1): 33.
- ↑ Dolly Parton (1994). Dolly: My Life And Other Unfinished Business. Harper Collins. ISBN 0-06-017720-9
- ↑ Dolly Parton story
- ↑ Belmont University, Belmont University Recording Studio Facilities
- ↑ Gil Veda
- ↑ http://www.tnledger.com/editorial/Article.aspx?id=69631 Gil Veda
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 "The Artists". Historic RCA Studio B. Nashville, Tennessee: Country Music Hall of Fame. Retrieved August 8, 2010.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 McClellan, John; Bratic, Deyan (2004). Chet Atkins in Three Dimensions. 2. Mel Bay Publications. pp. 149–152. ISBN 0-7866-5877-0.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Blakely, Larry (August–September 1982). "Bill Porter: Engineering Elvis" (PDF). Mix. 6 (8–9). Retrieved August 3, 2010.
- 1 2 3 "Artists Recorded at RCA Studio B". Mike Curb Family Foundation. Retrieved August 8, 2010.
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Coordinates: 36°09′00″N 86°47′34″W / 36.149929°N 86.792848°W