EastWest Studios

Last updated
EastWest Studios
Industry Music
Predecessor Cello Studios
Founded2006
Headquarters,
United States
Area served
US
Key people
Doug Rogers
Products Recording studios
Website eastweststudios.com

EastWest Studios (formerly known as Western Studio, a component of United Western Recorders and later Ocean Way Recording) is a recording studio complex located at 6000 West Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. [1] Originally constructed by Bill Putnam in the 1960s, the studios are currently owned by sound developer Doug Rogers and managed by Candace Stewart. [2] [3]

Contents

Background

EastWest Studios was first known as Western Studio, one half of the United Western Recorders studio complex located on 6000 and 6050 West Sunset Boulevard. In 1984, United Western Recorders was sold and renamed to Ocean Way Recording. In 1998, the former Western Studio half at 6000 Sunset was divided from Ocean Way Recording, sold, and renamed to Cello Studios. In 2005, Cello Studios ceased operation. [4]

On January 17, 2006, Doug Rogers acquired ownership of 6000 Sunset. Rogers commissioned designer Philippe Starck (SLS Hotel Los Angeles, St. Martins Lane hotel, London) [5] to refurbish and redesign the artist lounges, kitchen, and reception areas, [2] which had previously suffered water damage. Careful to preserve the integrity of the original recording facilities, Starck and Rogers implemented a brand-new design to create "a place where artists can meet, mingle, and be inspired". [6] The studio complex became Starck's first and only recording studio design. [6] [7]

In March 2009, the renovated studios, renamed EastWest Studios, opened to the public. Since then, its clients have received over 120 Grammy nominations from recordings made in EastWest Studios,[ clarification needed ] more than any other studio in the world. [8]

Live rooms and consoles

EastWest Studios consists of three main studios. [1] Studio 1 features a live room which is 58' × 42', an isolation booth measuring 20' × 23', 9' Bechstein piano, concert lighting system and one of a limited number of classic Neve 8078 consoles remaining in the world today. Studio 2's live room measures 35' × 24', with a 10' × 14' isolation booth and 8' × 6' vocal booth and a classic RCA custom Neve 8028 console. [9] The smallest of the rooms, Studio 3, is 31' × 15' with a Steinway piano and a classic Trident A Range console. All three rooms are fitted with flying fader automation and ATC main monitors. [10]

Virtual instruments

EastWest Sounds virtual instruments are recorded in EastWest Studios. [11] [12] [13]

One of the company's many endeavors was their Hollywood Orchestra virtual instrument, recorded at Studio 1 with some of Hollywood's film score orchestral session players and sound engineer Shawn Murphy. The Hollywood Orchestral series is, according to EastWest's webpage, one of the most detailed orchestral virtual instruments in the world. Another of the company's most successful products is their Symphonic Orchestra, a 24-bit orchestral virtual instrument. The virtual instrument was conceived by producers Doug Rogers (head of EastWest Sounds) and Nick Phoenix (co-founder of Two Steps From Hell) and recorded by Grammy-winning recording engineer Professor Keith O Johnson. [14] Recording took place in a 2200-seater concert hall, starting in August 2002. The resulting multi-channel recordings would later be edited and programmed for another year. [14] Four editions of the library have been released: Silver, Gold, Platinum and Platinum Plus. [15] Complementary to their symphonic virtual instruments, they released various, orchestral solo instruments (such as solo violin, solo cello and solo harp) and two choir virtual instruments "Symphonic Choirs" and the 2019 NAMM TEC Award winner "Hollywood Choirs".

Apart from their symphonic virtual instruments, they also released over sixty other collections, each of them specialized in a certain genre. All of these collections are available in EastWest's ComposerCloud subscription.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Double bass</span> Bowed string instrument

The double bass, also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched chordophone in the modern symphony orchestra. Similar in structure to the cello, it has four or five strings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orchestra</span> Large instrumental ensemble

An orchestra is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orchestration</span> Study or practice of writing music for an orchestra

Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orchestration is the assignment of different instruments to play the different parts of a musical work. For example, a work for solo piano could be adapted and orchestrated so that an orchestra could perform the piece, or a concert band piece could be orchestrated for a symphony orchestra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tubular bells</span> Mallet percussion instrument

Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the percussion family. Their sound resembles that of church bells, carillons, or a bell tower; the original tubular bells were made to duplicate the sound of church bells within an ensemble. Each bell is a metal tube, 30–38 mm (1+141+12 in) in diameter, tuned by altering its length. Its standard range is C4–F5, though many professional instruments reach G5. Tubular bells are often replaced by studio chimes, which are a smaller and usually less expensive instrument. Studio chimes are similar in appearance to tubular bells, but each bell has a smaller diameter than the corresponding bell on tubular bells.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sunset Boulevard</span> Thoroughfare in Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and Los Angeles, United States

Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, United States, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in the cities of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, as well as several districts in Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Recording studio</span> Facility for sound recording

A recording studio is a specialized facility for recording and mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enough to record a single singer-guitarist, to a large building with space for a full orchestra of 100 or more musicians. Ideally, both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician or audio engineer to achieve optimum acoustic properties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tan Dun</span> Chinese-American composer and conductor (born 1957)

Tan Dun is a Chinese-born American composer and conductor. A leading figure of contemporary classical music, he draws from a variety of Western and Chinese influences, a dichotomy which has shaped much of his life and music. Having collaborated with leading orchestras around the world, Tan is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Grawemeyer Award for his opera Marco Polo (1996) and both an Academy Award and Grammy Award for his film score in Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). His oeuvre as a whole includes operas, orchestral, vocal, chamber, solo and film scores, as well as genres that Tan terms "organic music" and "music ritual."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henk Badings</span> Dutch composer

Henk Badings was an Indonesian-Dutch composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Hit Factory</span> Recording studio in New York City, U.S.

The Hit Factory is a recording studio in New York City owned and operated by Troy Germano. Since 1969, The Hit Factory recording studios have existed in six different locations in New York City as well as facilities in London and Miami. Today the studios are located at 676 Broadway in the Noho neighborhood of New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Western Recorders</span> Former recording studio complex in Hollywood, US

United Western Recorders was a two-building recording studio complex in Hollywood that was one of the most successful independent recording studios of the 1960s. The complex merged neighboring studios United Recording Corp. on 6050 Sunset Boulevard and Western Studio on 6000 Sunset Boulevard.

Ocean Way Recording was a series of recording studios established by recording engineer and producer Allen Sides with locations in Los Angeles, Nashville, and Saint Barthélemy. Ocean Way Recording no longer operates recording facilities, but Ocean Way Nashville continues to operate under the ownership of Belmont University.

"Concerning Hobbits" is a piece by composer Howard Shore derived from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack. It is a concert suite of the music of the Hobbits, arranged from the music heard in the film during the early Shire scenes, and features the various themes and leitmotifs composed for the Shire and Hobbits; it is intended to evoke feelings of peace. It is also the title of one of the sections of the prologue to The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. Excerpts of the piece can be heard during an extended scene in the 2012 film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, where it was tracked intentionally. The piece has become synonymous with the Shire and Hobbiton themes.

Donn Landee is an American record producer and recording engineer. Much of his work as an engineer has been done with producer Ted Templeman at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood, California. The pair worked with a wide variety of artists for Warner Bros. Records during the 1970s and 1980s, including Van Halen, and the Doobie Brothers.

Necil Kazım Akses was a Turkish classical composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Universal Audio (company)</span> American audio equipment manufacturer

Universal Audio is an American company that designs, imports, and markets audio signal processing hardware and effect pedals, audio interfaces, digital signal processing, virtual instrument, and digital audio workstation software and plug-ins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vienna Symphonic Library</span> Library of musical instrument samples

Vienna Symphonic Library GmbH (VSL) is a developer of sample libraries and music production software for classical orchestral music. The company is located in a landmark protected building, called Synchron Stage Vienna based in the Austrian capital's 23rd district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sebastian Fagerlund</span> Finnish composer

Sebastian Fagerlund is a Finnish composer. He is described as “a post-modern impressionist whose sound landscapes can be heard as ecstatic nature images which, however, are always inner images, landscapes of the mind”. Echoes of Western culture, Asian musical traditions, and heavy metal have all been detected in his music.

Tomasz Skweres is a Polish composer who lives and works in Vienna.

Leo De Gar Kulka was a Czech-born American record producer, recording engineer and educator. Starting in Los Angeles at Autumn Records in the 1960s, he later founded the San Francisco studio Golden State Recorders, trade school College for Recording Arts and audiophile record label Sonic Arts. Kulka is considered a pioneer in the modern recording industry.

References

  1. 1 2 Harvey, Steve. "(Welcome to) Studio 2.0". ProSound News Magazine.
  2. 1 2 "Studio Espresso".
  3. Baur, Bernard (1 June 2012). "Recording Studios Sound Off". Music Connection: 44, 45.
  4. "EastWest Studios -- History".
  5. Neil, Lanee (April 2009). "Press Release" (PDF). FABRIK (5). Retrieved 2012-06-27.
  6. 1 2 "Starck Official Website".
  7. "Starck Goes EastWest". Venue Magazine. Retrieved 2012-06-27.
  8. "The Incredible History of Hollywood's EastWest Studios". 21 June 2020.
  9. "ATC Reference Monitors For Newly Opened EastWest Studio In Hollywood". ProSound Web. Retrieved 2012-06-27.
  10. "EastWest Official Website" . Retrieved 2012-06-27.
  11. About Us. Soundsonline.com. Accessed from August 14, 2012.
  12. Halaby, Chris. "KVR: Interview with Doug Rogers". KVR Audio.
  13. "Sounds Online".
  14. 1 2 Dave Stewart & Mark Wherry (June 2004). "East West/Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra". Sound on Sound . Retrieved August 14, 2012.
  15. Symphonic Orchestra Virtual Instruments. Soundsonline. Accessed from August 14, 2012.

34°05′52″N118°19′15″W / 34.0979°N 118.3209°W / 34.0979; -118.3209