01-06-2012A Look Inside the Music Industry
Students visit famous recording studio
On January 5th, Mr. Van Hoven's music and tech class visited Battery Studios and the offices of Sony Music in New York City.
Battery Studios is a mixing and mastering facility that was once a recording studio called The Record Plant. From 1968-1991, The Record Plant was one of the premier studios in rock and roll - Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen and many others recorded there. The facility now handles mixing and mastering, the final step in the recording process.
The students met with mastering engineers who are currently working on a project commemorating the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic and a previously unreleased Elvis Presley concert from 1970. One of the engineers the students met was nominated for a Grammy Award for his work on Young Man with the Big Beat, a 5-CD box set that focuses on Elvis' breakout year of 1956.
After visiting Battery Studios, the students took a brisk walk uptown to the offices of Sony Music, where they took a tour of the Sony Archives. There the students saw ledgers containing the records of early RCA recordings, the LP archives where Sony stores copies of every album from the various recording labels under their umbrella (including CBS, Columbia, RCA, Epic, and Arista), as well as the photo archives. They also met with MBS parent and Sony Music employee Dave Cornine, who explained more about the business side of the record industry, including marketing, royalties, and artist development.
Mr. Cornine arranged the day's activities for the students. Mr. Finn and Mr. Hess joined the class as chaperones.
Battery Studios is a mixing and mastering facility that was once a recording studio called The Record Plant. From 1968-1991, The Record Plant was one of the premier studios in rock and roll - Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen and many others recorded there. The facility now handles mixing and mastering, the final step in the recording process.
The students met with mastering engineers who are currently working on a project commemorating the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic and a previously unreleased Elvis Presley concert from 1970. One of the engineers the students met was nominated for a Grammy Award for his work on Young Man with the Big Beat, a 5-CD box set that focuses on Elvis' breakout year of 1956.
After visiting Battery Studios, the students took a brisk walk uptown to the offices of Sony Music, where they took a tour of the Sony Archives. There the students saw ledgers containing the records of early RCA recordings, the LP archives where Sony stores copies of every album from the various recording labels under their umbrella (including CBS, Columbia, RCA, Epic, and Arista), as well as the photo archives. They also met with MBS parent and Sony Music employee Dave Cornine, who explained more about the business side of the record industry, including marketing, royalties, and artist development.
Mr. Cornine arranged the day's activities for the students. Mr. Finn and Mr. Hess joined the class as chaperones.
