Industry Executive Rescues Famed Record Plant Studios

The Record Plant had grown into a unique enterprise since opening its Hollywood sound studios in 1969. Forget the elaborate lounges and other luxury amenities that first attracted the big names of rock. The place itself had become legendary in pop circles, still bringing in such major acts as Bruce Springsteen and Guns N’ Roses.

Imagine their surprise in February when they were told to find someplace else to record, since its London-based owner, Chrysalis Group PLC, was shutting the facility down and putting it up for sale.

This was the same place where dozens of chart-topping, Grammy-winning albums were recorded over the decades, including Stevie Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life” and the Eagles’ “Hotel California.” And if many in the local music industry couldn’t quite understand why a successful facility with a big-name clientele should be closed down, Rick Stevens quickly recognized a one-time opportunity to own a chunk of local pop history.

Stevens, a 23-year veteran of the music industry, is president of the Summa Group studios, another Hollywood recording facility. He bought the Record Plant, even as recent reports had glumly predicted its likely demise, and reopened it June 10.

“One of the realities of the Record Plant is that it invented the kind of client service that was not otherwise known in the studio industry,” Stevens said last weekend. “Providing that level of service is very expensive.”

Current plans include expanding the Record Plant from two to five studios, with construction expected to be completed next year. About $100,000 has already been invested in the studios’ famed “client conveniences,” he said, including a face lift for the existing studio lounges.

Stevens also promises a more hands-on approach than the studios’ previous owner.

He said his interest in the Record Plant, 1032 N. Sycamore Ave., goes beyond the fact that it draws some of rock’s most famous performers. He was also attracted by the studios’ cache of rare tube recording gear, which has a warmer sound to many artists and recording professionals. The equipment includes what Stevens believes is one of the largest collections of tube microphones in the world.

“I think the consensus of the top producers of the world is that the tube mikes are the best,” Stevens said. While the studios also have state-of-the-art equipment, many artists recorded there because of the older tube technology, he said.

Stevens’ acquisition of the Record Plant has halted expansion plans for his nearby Summa studios at the corner of Sunset and La Cienega boulevards. He said he now splits his day between the two studios.

“It’s been great,” Stevens said. “I’ve been out to dinner at a place where you run into a lot of industry people, and I’ve had artists who I’ve never met come up to me and shake my hand for saving the Record Plant. It’s an institution.”

Since reopening, the Record Plant’s facilities have been used by such artists as Prince and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stevens said. “We’ve had a fairly star-studded first 10 days of activity.”

STAR POWER: Most casual listeners of American music may have never heard of the late John Hammond, the talent scout, promoter and record producer for such artists as Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, Aretha Franklin and Bruce Springsteen. But his impact on Western pop culture through five decades at Columbia Records should be clear enough with “The Hammond Years,” a weekly tribute series broadcast at 5 p.m. Saturdays on KCRW (89.9 FM).

Up until his death in 1987 at age 76, Hammond had introduced a variety of notable and often influential artists in rock, jazz, folk, and rhythm and blues. The music and voices of several of these artists, including Dylan, George Benson, Leonard Cohen and Lionel Hampton, add further testimony to Hammond’s influence during the series, which concludes Sept. 28.

The program, produced by David Tarnow for National Public Radio, was scheduled for broadcast by the Santa Monica station early this year but was postponed for coverage of the Persian Gulf War, said KCRW spokeswoman Sarah Spitz.

Now that it is finally being broadcast, listeners can get a weekly dose of the broad range of music and talent that Hammond was instrumental in popularizing, using a mix of interviews with Hammond, his artists and the music that was the focus of his career.

DANCING IN THE DARK: This year’s “Twilight Dance Series” on the Santa Monica Pier presents a typically broad spectrum of world musical styles, including calypso, zydeco and ska during the free nighttime concerts.

Blues-gospel singer Katie Webster performs this Thursday’s show, beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the southwest end of the pier.

This is the seventh year for the weekly series, which concludes Aug. 29 with the calypso music of David Rudder and Andy Narell.

Other artists will include Latino Latino, a group of Latin acts, July 18; the Capp-Pierce Juggernaut Big Band, July 25; the Haitian act Boukman Eksperyans, Aug. 1; the Untouchables, Aug. 8; Queen Ida & Her Zydeco Band, Aug. 15, and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Aug. 22.

For information, call (213) 458-8900.