A Tour Of The Famous Capitol Records Studios

Los Angeles is lucky in that there’s a number of iconic recording studios that were built decades ago that still exist and thrive today. United Recording (formerly Oceanway), East West (formerly Cello), The Record Plant, and Henson Studios (formerly A&M) are just a few that remain busy serving high-end music clients, movie soundtracks, and just about any other type of recording you can think of. But the one studio that may be the most iconic of all is Capitol Studios, built into the basement of the historic round Capitol Records building in the middle of Hollywood.

Over the years I’ve been to Capitol dozens of times and I’m always impressed. The feel of the place can’t be duplicated. Just walking down the corridor to the studios oozes with history thanks to the large pictures on the wall of artists like Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin and others recording there that just jump out at you.

And you can’t ask for a better facility in terms of gear, acoustics, and people. Capitol Studios is right up there with best of the best.

Unless your working here though, you never get to see inside. This excellent video below from Sound on Sound will remedy that nicely, as you get to see all 3 studios, the famous echo chambers, the mastering studios, and hear great interviews with studio manager Paula Salvatore and staff engineer Steve Genewick.

You can also find out more about Capitol Studios here. Enjoy!

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