8/13/2019 A Brief History of Recording Studios

1/2

A Brief History of Recording Studios

In 1953, a skinny 18-year-old with slicked-back hair walked into MemphisRecording Service. He wanted to make a personal recording and was looking forowner Sam Phillips. Since Phillips wasn't in, the teen talked to secretary MarionKiesker. When she asked what style of music he played, he responded, "I don'tsound like nobody."

Although few people ever heard that first $4 recording, Elvis Presley turned hispersonal style into worldwide fame with the help of Sam Phillips and thatrecording studio, which became the legendary Sun Studio. The studio was alsohome to Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and B.B. King [source:Rockabilly Hall of Fame].

Sun Studio may be what comes to mind when you think of recording studios, orthe Beatles' Abbey Road in London -- or maybe even Chess Records in Chicagowhere artists such as Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Buddy Guy, Bo Diddley andAretha Franklin produced recordings that introduced the blues, jazz and gospel tolisteners far from the Mississippi Delta [source:Save America's Treasures].

While recording artists still need some type of music studio for cutting and mixingmusic, the digital era has simplified the process. Plenty of large studios still existto provide sophisticated, high-end services, but many musicians have turned tosmaller studios using computers and digital sound equipment.

******************************************************************

The history of recording studios traces back to the 1800s with Thomas AlvaEdison and his invention of the phonograph. Initially intended to improve thetelephone, the phonograph created a way to record and play back sound. Edisonapplied for a patent in 1877 for his talking machine, which used foil cylinders.

Ten years later, Emile Berliner found a way to etch the sound-carrying groove ona horizontal disk's surface along with a way to mass produce recorded disks.

Coin-in-slot, sound-reproducing boxes became popular in arcades in 1889, and theNew York Phonograph Company opened the first recording studio a year later. By1902, recordings were being reproduced on thick wax disks, and opera singerEnrico Caruso had completed his first recording. Then, in 1904, Lee de Forest'sinvention of the triode foreshadowed the demise of the hand-cranked Victrola inthe 1920s and the beginning of electronically recorded music [source:History ofRock].

http://www.rockabillyhall.com/SunStudios1.html#Studiohttp://www.rockabillyhall.com/SunStudios1.html#Studiohttp://www.saveamericastreasures.org/profiles/chess.htmhttp://www.saveamericastreasures.org/profiles/chess.htmhttp://www.saveamericastreasures.org/profiles/chess.htmhttp://history-of-rock.com/indx.htmlhttp://history-of-rock.com/indx.htmlhttp://history-of-rock.com/indx.htmlhttp://history-of-rock.com/indx.htmlhttp://history-of-rock.com/indx.htmlhttp://history-of-rock.com/indx.htmlhttp://www.saveamericastreasures.org/profiles/chess.htmhttp://www.rockabillyhall.com/SunStudios1.html#Studio

8/13/2019 A Brief History of Recording Studios

2/2