Sacramento Loses The Hangar

I’m sorry to see you go. I’m sorry to see any good studio with a large room close up shop. Read about the end of Sacramento’s The Hangar here.

 

Harrison 4032 (aka “Thriller” console) sold to French band Phoenix

Howdy,

In the Feb. 11/18 issue of The New Yorker, journalist Nick Paumgarten wrote a nifty “Talk of the Town” piece about the sale of the Harrison 4032 that Bruce Swedien used to record Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

Paumgarten writes that French rock band Phoenix bought the board off of eBay for $17,000 (plus $7,000 shipping) from Clayton Rose, who owns a Christian-music studio in Fullerton, Calif., and, according to the article, proved to be quite a character. Apparently, the Michael Jackson name didn’t yield big bucks for the Harrison as Rose had hoped when he first tried to sell the console for a cool million.

When I worked at Woodland Studios in Nashville a million years ago, our main tracking room had a sweet Neve 8068 console that once belonged to Frank Zappa. As I recall, clients loved the Neve not because of who used it before, but because it yielded an amazing sound. May the Harrison prove the same for Phoenix.

New Yorker article here:

More on the making of Thriller here:

Raven’s Sorrow Sues Sylvia Massy-Shivy. Really?

Interesting news article from my current employer, Courthouse News Service. I’d love to hear Mrs. Massy-Shivy’s side of this story. I’m sure there is one! Here is a link to the complaint, for those interested in reading legal documents: Chrysalis

WEED, Calif. (CN) – A Boston-based rock band claims a record producer used her “big name” to lure them to her Northern California studio, took $33,000 to produce an album and then “completely disassociated herself” from the process.
A Raven’s Sorrow claims Sylvia Massy-Shivy also provided session players who did not have the right instruments, and an engineer who threatened to hurt their lead singer.
A Raven’s Sorrow claims Massy-Shivy contacted its lead singer and offered to produce the band’s album, “Chrysalis” at her Radiostar Studios in Weed.
“Massy-Shivy has produced albums for several major name rock bands,” according to the complaint in Siskiyou County Court.
“Furthermore, Sylvia Massy-Shivy represented to Mr. [Jeffrey] Glazier that as part of her services to produce the ‘Chrysalis’ album, and based on her name recognition within the recording industry in America, she would promote the business interests of A Raven’s Sorrow, including making introductions to record labels, promoters and other individuals in the music industry.”
The band says it paid Massy-Shivy $33,000 for 35 days of studio time, including “preproduction services, and lodging, with twenty-four (24) hour access to the studio,” plus engineering and musical arrangement services.
Her studio, co-defendant Radiostar Studios, agreed to book session players, the band says.
But no. “Immediately after Radiostar Studios received payment from A Raven’s Sorrow, Radiostar Studios essentially and effectively ceased all pre-production work on the Chrysalis album,” and Sylvia Massy-Shivy “disengaged in communication with the entire A Raven’s Sorrow band for approximately three (3) months,” according to the complaint.
“Sylvia Massy-Shivy completely disassociated herself with the production of the Chrysalis album, materially breaching her obligations under the production agreement,” the band says. It claims that “the session players Radiostar Studios arranged were not prepared, had not adequately practiced,” and did not even have “the requisite instruments required to play the parts.”
A Raven’s Sorrow claims that the engineer the studio provided acknowledged that “his engineering skills were lacking and not at a high level, as was required.” And it claims that the engineer “threatened physical violence on Mr. Glazier, while Mr. Glazier was walking in the streets of Weed, California.”
Glazier is band’s the lead singer and principal songwriter.
The band adds: “Sylvia Massy-Shivy actively refused to listen to most of the recorded material, stating that she would hear it during the mixing process.”
In sum, the band says: “Sylvia Massy-Shivy lured recording artists into her recording studio, based on her name, and ‘big name’ reputation in the music industry, obtained substantial sums of monies from bands, and then immediately proceeded to the next band, breaching her contractual obligations and promises.”
The band seeks at least $500,000 in damages for breach of contract, fraud, and negligence. Defendants include Sylvia Massy-Shivy, her husband and business partner Gregory Shivy, and their company Radiostar Studios.
A Raven’s Sorrow is represented by Sacramento attorney Richard Margarita.

Recording Community Remembers Roger Nichols

This is a terrible reason to revisit my forgotten blog after well over two years.

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-roger-nichols-20110413,0,6145566.story

The music community will miss you. Condolences to Mr. Nichols’ family.

If These Halls Book Signing at AES

As if this Sunday’s Music Industry Panel (followed by book signing) wasn’t enough attention, I’m going to be signing copies of If These Halls Could Talk: A Historical Tour Through San Francisco Recording Studios at this year’s AES Convention. Stop by the Course Technology PTR booth (1509) on Saturday, October 4, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. to pick up a copy and say Hello.

Later that afternoon, I’ll be attending the GRAMMY SoundTable at 3:30 p.m. The topic this year is: “You Inc.! New Strategies for a New Economy” and will feature Syliva Massey, Keith Olsen, Phil Ramone, John Vanderslice, and Carmen Rizzo.

See you soon!