Henson Becomes Second Home For Kahne, Others

BY CHRISTOPHER WALSH Studio owners and managers have the loss of overdub and mix work, Monitor_ Just as Avatar Studios in New York long worried about the rise of the for example, to personal studios. is reinventing itself with a "creative home studio, as the power and capa- But, the activity at Henson sorts. It is Just months away from the 20th ect with Blu Cantrell, her Arista album community" of audio professionals bility of digital multitrack recorders seems to be a backlash of men- of his co- founding of the So Blu. (Studio Monitor, Aug. 18), a similar and workstations soared, while the the community that Kahne anniversary interaction production duo Jam & Lewis, Jimmy Flyte Tyme is a five -room facility. environment is taking shape in a tions, the actual -as opposed to working at home alone, Jam is reflecting on the immense suc- Studio A, the largest tracking space, historic recording studio on the with cess he and Terry Lewis have enjoyed. features a Harrison Series Ten console, West Coast. and, perhaps, communicating via world of One of the keys, Jam says, to the while Studio B, Jam & Lewis' person- Because of major changes in the one's peers the virtual specific team's impressive longevity and pro- al studio, houses a Harrison MR4. music industry in recent years, Hen- pro audio- or equipment- ductivity (the pair in the past year "Back when the Series Ten came out son Recording Studios, formerly message boards on the Web -that alone have scored smash hits with and we looked at the options," Jam A &M Recording and Mastering Stu- excites producers in this situation. Janet Jackson, Usher, and Blu Can- recalls, "the Harrison was so far dios, is also getting a makeover. And For the studio itself, the probabil- bringing trell) was the decision to remain at advanced. If it's a commercial studio, that's partly due to both a record ity of resident producers mix dates is an their home base of Minneapolis. you say SSL or Neve, because that's company merger and, ironically, the in tracking and Rather than taking the road to Los what everybody uses, but we're sitting popularity of home studios. added incentive. an old re- Angeles, as many expected and advised, up in Minnesota by ourselves, so we The Universal/PolyGram merger of "The fact that we're facility with] the Jam & Lewis established a private stu- really didn't care. It's worked out real- the late '90s led to A&M's closing in cording -[along type of people that are now working dio, free from the distractions of a ly well for us." September 1999. Though the facility time says Rut- multi -room commercial facility. Studio C is a Pro Tools- and RADAR - reopened only a few months later Producer David Kahne, left, and here all the -helps," Henson Recording Studios' Ron ledge. "It's a very creative space. And "We like LA," Jam notes, "but never equipped room, Jam notes, while D is under the ownership of the Jim Hen- Rutledge in Studio A. as of what we offer here, they're had a desire to work there. We just had the main mix room. Studio E is a pro- son Co., the mastering division did part gramming room equipped with Yama- not -although mastering engineer treated just like anybody that's work- ha 02R digital mixers and Pro Tools. Stephen Marcussen leased space at cost of the technology plunged. With ing in a studio. You get access to our Despite the addition of Pro Tools and Henson until opening his own facil- recording budgets tight and uncer- runner staff, any sort of technical RADAR, Jam says that he and Lewis ity (Studio Monitor, Nov. 25, 2000). tainty hanging over the industry, help, microphones. It's worked out remain fans of analog tape. Additionally, as demand for cassette even elite facilities are sensitive to really well. Everybody's happy." "The thing we really like best is duplication withered in the late '90s, RADAR. Terry had the original RADAR, a tape -copy room was increasingly when Otari was licensing it. We since idle. In the facility's empty rooms, VP have upgraded with the iZ Technolo- of recording studio operations Ron gy model. Terry's a little more com- Rutledge saw an opportunity. Billboard. DIRECTORIES puter- literate than I am-I just want "Once Stephen moved out," he something that has a play button, a explains, "we closed mastering record button, and tracks. I want it to down, and I decided that these THE DEFII'II TI VE SOURCE FOR' Ir- /DUSTRY IrIFORP1f3 TIO[1 look like a tape machine. It's really the rooms would be perfect for produc- best of both worlds: It runs just like a tion rooms. Over the last couple of INTERNATIONAL BUYER'S GUIDE: Jam -packed with critical per- tape machine, [and] I don't have to years, I had gotten quite a few calls sonnel and other information about every major record company, video com- worry about filing and saving." from people looking for space, but I pany, music publisher, digital music company and seller of products and ser- a desire to do music. Everybody said, Flyte Tyme truly is the best of all never had extra room. Then [pro- vices for the entertainment industry worldwide. A powerful tool. $155 `You've got to be in LA' Why? If it's worlds for Jam & Lewis; it's an envi- ducer] David [Kahne] called. He INTERNATIONAL TALENT & TOURING DIRECTORY: The leading basically a room with tape, why does it ronment conducive to creativity and thought it would be perfect." source for those who promote or manage talent. Lists U.S. and International; matter where you actually do it? It was collaboration with top artists, yet insu- Kahne, known for his work with talent, booking agencies, facilities, services and products. $125 important for us to be away from that, lated from the delirium sometimes Sugar Ray, Sublime, and Tony Ben- to live normal lives and be around the synonymous with the music business. nett, began occupancy of the former RECORD RETAILING DIRECTORY: The essential tool for those people we grew up with." "We did this, first of all, for Terry and tape -copy room about one year ago, who service or sell products to the retail music community. Detailed infor- One of the team's biggest obstacles me to have a place separate from our Rutledge says. Recently, three more mation on thousands of independent, chainstore and online operations early on was actually getting people to homes, so that we could keep home recording professionals have taken across the USA. $199 make the trek to Minneapolis. "Luck- and work separate and could go in [to up residence: producer John Shanks, INTERNATIONAL DISCITAPE DIRECTORY: The exclusive source ily, when people did, hits came out of the studio] anytime and create," Jam longtime guitarist/co- writer with for information in the manufacturing area of the music and video busi- it," Jam says. "And we do end up using says. "We thought we needed to invest Melissa Etheridge; artist/producer ness. Lists over 3000 professional services and suppliers. $89 Record Plant and Westlake in L.A. in ourselves. We financed it ourselves, Jude Cole; and, most recently, artist/ Westlake is cool because they built our so we're totally independent. We're not producer Rupert Hine. THE RADIO POWER BOOK: The ultimate guide to radio and record pro- rooms -[Westlake Audio founder] beholden to any record company, pub- "A lot of people I know that have motion. Detailed information about every major radio station, record label Glenn Phoenix did the design. When lishing company, or anything." [recording] rooms in their house and radio syndicator. Includes Arbitron information on top 100 markets. $115 we go to Westlake, we feel at home." On top of his roles as writer, pro- would love to not be at home," says The production duo has just ducer, and executive, Jam is active in Kahne, executive VP of A &R for INTERNATIONAL LATIN MUSIC BUYER'S GUIDE. The most accu- rate reference source available on the _atin Music marketplace. Business -to notched its 16th No. 1, with Usher's "U composer-advocacy issues, and he is a Warner and Reprise Records, who 19 countries. $99 Remind Me," from the recently board member of both ASCAP and the recently produced Paul McCartney's business contacts in album entirely at Hen- released 8701 (Arista). This closely fol- Recording Academy. This, despite the upcoming MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO TOURING & PROMOTION: Today's work- a of computer lows Janet Jackson's "All for You," occasional talk of retirement, which, son. "I've got bunch ing musician's guide to clubs, tape/disc services, A &R, music services, which Jam & Lewis wrote and pro- he clarifies, would mean a scaling back gear and synths in my production industry websites and more. $13.95 (Shpr,gincluded) duced. Jackson's 1986 hit, "When I of the production schedule and not a room and also a vocal booth. After I Think of You," accounted for the duo's total cessation of music -making. track, I do a lot of the work up in It's really cool, because first No. 1 track. "I'm trying to spread the word about that room. ORDER ONLINE: www.orderbillboard.com John is working "U Remind Me" is the first product the importance of songwriters' rights, we all meet around. or call 1.800.344.7119 International: 732.363.4156 Fax: 732.363.0338 A of the venture between Arista and Flyte artists' rights," Jam says. "It all takes on Chris Isaak, and I'm the &R By Mail: Send payment plus $7 shipping ($15 for international orders) with this ad Tyme, Jam & Lewis' production com- time away from your job, so when we person for Chris, so he can play me to: Billboard Directories, PO Box 2016, Lakewood, NJ 08701. Please add appropri- pany/label/studio. Jam & Lewis con- say `retirement,' it's that we have other stuff, we'll listen, and work on it. In ate sales tax in NY, NJ, PA, CA, TN, MA, IL, OH, VA & DC. Orders payable in U.S. funds only. All sales are final. tributed five tracks to 8701, Jam notes, things we'd like to do. We're having a an age of absolutely no sense of BDZZ3028 and three tracks to their second proj- great time, working with great artists." community, there's a vibe here."

42 www.billboard.com BILLBOARD AUGUST 25, 2001 www.americanradiohistory.com