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| Founded | 1974 |
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| Headquarters | Shoreline, Washington, U.S. |
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| Owner | Robert Lang |
| Website | robertlangstudios |
Robert Lang Studios is a recording studio in Shoreline, Washington, United States. Numerous bands have recorded at Robert Lang Studios since 1974 including Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Foo Fighters, Soundgarden, Dave Matthews Band, Death Cab for Cutie, Heart, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Peter Frampton, Candlebox, and Bush.
Robert Lang quit his job as a Boeing hydrofoil TIG welder to pursue a career in recording, first establishing the studio in 1974 in the garage of a beach house in Shoreline, Washington, near Seattle. The studio remained garage-based for the first seven years, [1] with early projects including Seattle's Franklin High School jazz lab, which included a 15 year-old saxophonist by the name of Kenneth Gorelick (who would later achieve fame as Kenny G), as well as Albert Collins. [2]
In 1982, Lang purchased the property. He began gradually excavating the earth beneath the house over the course of the next several years to create new subterranean reinforced concrete rooms for the studio. In April 1992, Candlebox recorded two songs that would be included on their debut album at Robert Lang Studios, including their hit song "Far Behind" [3] In 1993, 11 years after construction began, the studio's new live room, complete with marble and granite floors and natural stone walls, was finally finished. [1]
In late January 1994, Nirvana recorded their last known studio recording, "You Know You're Right" at Robert Lang Studios. In October of the same year, Dave Grohl, formerly of Nirvana, booked the studio, which was close to his house, for six days, for his own musical project. The resulting album was the self-titled debut album that resulted in Grohl's forming Foo Fighters. [2]
In October 1998, frontman Layne Staley recorded vocals for two new Alice In Chains songs, "Get Born Again" and "Died". The songs, which were released on the Music Bank box set in 1999, would be the last the singer would record with the band. [4] [5]
In 2006 Peter Frampton recorded the track "Blowin' Smoke" with Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron and guitarist Mike McCready for his album Fingerprints . [2] In 2008, Death Cab for Cutie recorded their highest-charting album, Narrow Stairs at the studio.
In 2014 Foo Fighters and Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard returned to Robert Lang Studios for episode 7 of the HBO rockumentary mini-series Foo Fighters Sonic Highways . During the episode, Foo Fighters and Gibbard recorded the song "Subterranean". [6]
Artists recording at Robert Lang Studios have included Heart, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Alice In Chains, Dave Matthews, Bush, [7] [2] Brandi Carlile, Macklemore, Queensrÿche, Train, Portugal. The Man, Lil Wayne, and The Blood Brothers.[ citation needed ]
David Eric Grohl is an American musician. He founded the rock band Foo Fighters, of which he is the lead singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter. From 1990 to 1994, he was the drummer of the grunge band Nirvana.
Krist Anthony Novoselic is an American musician and activist. Novoselic co-founded and played bass for the rock band Nirvana.
Foo Fighters is the debut studio album by American rock band Foo Fighters, released on July 4, 1995, through Roswell and Capitol Records. Former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl wrote the entire album. He recorded it himself in six days with the assistance of producer Barrett Jones at Robert Lang Studios in Seattle, Washington, in 1994. Grohl said that he recorded the album just for fun, describing it as a cathartic experience to recover from the suicide of Nirvana bandmate Kurt Cobain. The album is considered to have started the post-grunge genre.
Georg Albert Ruthenberg, better known by his stage name Pat Smear, is an American musician. He was the lead guitarist and co-founder of Los Angeles–based punk band The Germs and a rhythm guitarist for grunge band Nirvana. After Nirvana disbanded following the suicide of frontman Kurt Cobain, drummer Dave Grohl went on to form Foo Fighters, with Smear joining on guitar. Smear left the band in 1997 before rejoining as a touring guitarist in 2005 and being promoted back to a full-time member in 2010.
Foo Fighters is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Founded as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the lineup now consists of Grohl, Nate Mendel (bass), Chris Shiflett and Pat Smear (guitars), Rami Jaffee (keyboards), and Josh Freese (drums). Drummers William Goldsmith and Taylor Hawkins, along with guitarist Franz Stahl, are former members of the band.
Death Cab for Cutie is an American rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington, in 1997. Death Cab for Cutie's music has been classified as indie rock, indie pop, and alternative rock. The band is currently composed of Ben Gibbard, Nick Harmer (bass), Dave Depper, Zac Rae, and Jason McGerr (drums).
Benjamin Gibbard is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie, with whom he has recorded ten studio albums, and as a member of the supergroup The Postal Service. Gibbard released his debut solo album, Former Lives, in 2012, and a collaborative studio album, One Fast Move or I'm Gone (2009) with Jay Farrar.
Something About Airplanes is the debut studio album by indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie, released August 18, 1998, on Barsuk Records. A tenth-anniversary edition of the album was released November 25, 2008, featuring redesigned artwork, liner notes by Sean Nelson, and a bonus disc including the band's first ever Seattle performance at the Crocodile Cafe in February 1998.
Transatlanticism is the fourth studio album by rock band Death Cab for Cutie, released on October 7, 2003, by Barsuk Records. At this point in their career, the group had toured and recorded for nearly a half-decade. With tensions rising, the band decided to take time away from one another; notably, Ben Gibbard collaborated with electronic musician Dntel, and released an album, Give Up, under the name the Postal Service. Death Cab regrouped in late 2002 to create Transatlanticism, which was recorded in a leisurely manner over five-day stretches until June 2003.
Pocketwatch is a cassette album by Dave Grohl, under the pseudonym Late!, released in 1992, on the now-defunct indie label Simple Machines as part of their Tool Cassette Series.
Post-grunge is an offshoot of grunge that has a less abrasive or intense tone than traditional grunge. Originally, the term was used almost pejoratively to label mid-1990s alternative rock bands such as Bush, Candlebox, Collective Soul, Live, Foo Fighters, and Silverchair, that emulated the original sound of grunge.
Plans is the fifth studio album by American rock band Death Cab for Cutie, released August 30, 2005 on Atlantic Records. Emerging from the Pacific Northwest in the early 2000s, Death Cab first rose to prominence on the strength of its confessional lyricism and textured indie rock sound. Following a longstanding partnership with indie label Barsuk, the band made the leap to a major label, Atlantic, for Plans. The LP was the band's first time recording outside of their Seattle home; it was produced at Long View Farm, a rural Massachusetts property.
Studio X is a music and media recording studio on 4th Avenue in downtown Seattle, Washington, United States. Originally part of the Kaye-Smith Enterprises media conglomerate founded by Lester Smith and actor Danny Kaye, the studio was used to record commercials and musicians. The studio was re-launched as Steve Lawson Productions by Steve and Debbie Lawson in 1979. The sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson of the band Heart owned the studio from 1991 until 1997, and named it Bad Animals after their 1987 album of the same name. Artists such as Heart, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Queensrÿche, Mad Season, Foo Fighters, Audioslave, Aerosmith, The Beach Boys, Jerry Cantrell, Eddie Vedder, Duff McKagan, Johnny Cash, B.B. King, Radiohead, R.E.M., Deftones, Soulfly, Steve Vai, KMFDM, and Neil Young have recorded at the studio.
Nick Raskulinecz is an American record producer. He resides in Nashville, Tennessee.
Narrow Stairs is the sixth studio album by indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie, released on May 12, 2008, in the United Kingdom and on May 13, 2008, in the United States, on Atlantic and Barsuk Records.
The Open Door EP is an extended play by band Death Cab for Cutie, comprising songs recorded during the Narrow Stairs sessions and a demo version of the track "Talking Bird" from the album.
Wasting Light is the seventh studio album by American rock band Foo Fighters, released on April 12, 2011, through Roswell and RCA Records. Wanting to capture the essence of their earlier work and avoid the artificiality of digital recording, Foo Fighters recorded the album in the garage of frontman Dave Grohl in Encino, California, using only analog equipment. The sessions were produced by the band alongside Butch Vig, with whom Grohl had worked on Nirvana's Nevermind. Since the old equipment did not allow for many mistakes to be corrected in post-production, the band spent three weeks rehearsing the songs, and Vig had to relearn outdated editing techniques. The band sought a heavier and rawer sound in contrast to the experimentation of their previous albums. Most of the lyrics were written as Grohl reflected upon his life and possible future. Guest musicians include Bob Mould, Krist Novoselic, Jessy Greene, Rami Jaffee and Fee Waybill. Pat Smear played as an official member of the band for the first time since The Colour and the Shape (1997).
Codes and Keys is the seventh studio album by Death Cab for Cutie, released on May 31, 2011. Ben Gibbard and Nick Harmer have both been quoted as saying that the album will be "a much less guitar-centric album than we've ever made before". The first single, "You Are a Tourist", was made available for online stream on March 28, 2011 on the band's official site and the album was available for streaming in its entirety on May 23, 2011 on NPR. The album debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, with 102,000 copies sold in its first week. It has sold 283,000 copies in the US as of March 2015. On November 30, 2011, the album received a nomination at the 54th Grammy Awards for Best Alternative Music Album.
Sonic Highways is a 2014 American documentary miniseries directed by Dave Grohl and written by Mark Monroe. The documentary was made concurrently with Foo Fighters' eighth album, Sonic Highways, and was broadcast on HBO. Grohl described the project as "a love letter to the history of American music". Each of the eight episodes is presented as an exploration of the musical history of a different American city through a series of interviews by Grohl. The group is also shown incorporating what they learned from the interviews into the writing and recording of a new song in or near that city. The series debuted on October 17, 2014.
Roswell Records is an American record label founded by Dave Grohl in 1995 for his band Foo Fighters. It is currently an imprint of RCA Records and is based in New York City.
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