Pro Tools Audio Engineering Program
Studio D History

The recording studio within the LRS building was known simply as Studio 4, and was credited as “Location Record Service”, then “Channel Recording” and finally “Monday To Sunday”. Studio 4 opened in 1974 and would go on to host a wide variety of major Pop artists such as Madonna, Ambrosia, The Jets, Juice Newton, Larry Carlton, Al Jarreau, Cheech & Chong, Ted Nugent and many more. Having contributed to the sales of over 26 million records, Studio 4 helped create over 26x Top 40 hit singles and over 24x Top 100 albums, with RIAA certified awards that included 1x Diamond Record, 5x Platinum Records, 3x Gold Records and 3x Gold Singles.

It created product for TV shows such as The Midnight Special, Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert, Miami Vice and Rock Palace. Some of Studio 4’s movie credits include Terminator, Beverly Hills Cop II, Born On The Fourth Of July, At Close Range, White Knights, Karate Kid III, Licensed To Drive, Who’s That Girl and The Virgin Tour. Although it was often used as an overdub and mixdown recording studio, some of the Top 10 hit records that were completely recorded and mixed in Studio 4 include Madonna’s “Live To Tell”, Ambrosia’s “Biggest Part Of Me” and “You’re The Only Woman” and The Jet’s “Cross My Broken Heart” and “Make It Real”.

Before the Internet took hold, artists working in Studio 4 that had singles or albums in or near the Top Billboard charts would walk down the hall on Wednesday nights to our Studios A, B and C (which were the LRS mastering studios that cut various Billboard Top 40 or Hot 100 radio syndication shows hosted by Kasey Kasem, Rick Dees and others) to see where their songs or albums were charting that week. Since there wasn’t a lounge within the building, on any given night major recording artists and session musicians could be found hanging out up front, in the kitchen, or sometimes they visited with the mastering engineers in the mastering studios. Studio 4’s equipment included Electrodyne, Trident TSM and Neve 8108 consoles, Studer, Ampex and MCI Analog tape machines, and Urie Time Aligned and Yamaha NS-10 speakers.

Studio D RIAA & Ampex Awards

Diamond Records
Madonna – The Immaculate Collection (10x MULTI PLATINUM)

Platinum Records
Madonna – True Blue (7x MULTI PLATINUM)
Madonna – Who’s That Girl Soundtrack
Juice Newton – Juice
Jody Watley – Jody Watley
Original Soundtrack - Beverly Hills Cop II Soundtrack

Gold Records
Juice Newton – The Best Of Juice Newton (And More)
Juice Newton – Juice/Quiet Lies
Al Jarreau – High Crime
The Jets – Magic

Gold Singles Madonna - Papa Don’t Preach
Madonna – True Blue
Juice Newton - Angel Of The Morning
Juice Newton - Queen Of Hearts

Platinum Videos
Madonna – The Virgin Tour (Live)

Ampex Gold Reel
Madonna – True Blue
Al Jarreau – High Crime

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Comments / Questions

recording studio - A facility with rooms created with sound studio designs for specific isolation and acoustic properties for the recording and reproduction of audio. The “studio” is where most of the live sound source recording occurs, and the “control room” is where the playbacks, audio processing and mixing take place. Smaller and/or more specialized studios are called home studios, music studios, mastering studios, voice-over studios, production studios, publishing studios, radio studios, demo studios and midi studios. Recording studio setups and operations along with a complete working knowledge of Digital Audio Recording software are now considered essentials for all 2nd engineers.

awards - Awards for Industry recognition that are given by membership based organizations include the Emmy for Television (presented by Academy of Television Arts & Sciences/National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences,) and the Golden Reel Award for Film and Television (presented by the Motion Picture Sound Editors). Awards given for noteworthy sales achievements as certified by the Recording Industry Association of America include the Gold Record (500,000 units), the Platinum Record (1 million units) and the Diamond Record (10 million units).

mixdown - Within music recording and production, mixing is the processing and balancing of more than one audio source, live or recorded, that are then summed into one or more channels or tracks. Digital audio mixing that is done completely inside a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), even with occasional analog side chain processing, is often referred to as “mixing within the box”.

mastering - Mastering is an audio post production process where completed audio mixes are assembled, edited and processed for the maximum production value effect, with a consideration for consistency within any collection of multiple songs or audio files. Mastering may also prepare the audio output for digital downloads and manufacturing of CDs, vinyl records and DVDs; including PQ marks, the proper audio format, sampling rate and any compression required. Mastering typically does not involve video, which is usually considered authoring. “Mastering in the mix” completes the mastering process within the mix itself.

Video Symphony - Burbank, CA school providing professional quality training in digital media production.