by SUSAN ELLIOTT
Since opening in 1969, RCA--now BMG--Studios on West 44th Street in New York City has probably been the site of as much recording history as any other facility in the country. Its six studios have hosted virtually all of Stephen Sondheim's original Broadway cast recordings; albums by Vladimir Horowitz, Artur Rubinstein, and Wynton Marsalis, and recent film soundtracks (Harry Connick, Jr.'s score for When Harry Met Sally and the score for Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing).
General Electric purchased RCA Corporation in 1986 and, a year later, sold the record label, the studios, and the record clubs to the Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG), a huge entertainment conglomerate based in Guetersloh, West Germany. When BMG assumed ownership, the studios were operating below capacity. The word on the street was that RCA Studios was a white elephant: Much of the equipment was outdated, as was the technical knowledge of the engineering staff.
BMG appointed Tom Kraus, who heads up BMG's Special Products Division, to look into the situation. Together with Director of Studio Operations Larry Schnapf, Kraus has been turning the facility around. In the following interview, Kraus and Schnapf explain how.
Shortly after this interview took place, BMG brought in Susan Planer, former head of Mediasound and consultant to Sigma Sound studios, to replace Schnapf, who is now a consultant to BMG.
-S.E.
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--------"We're the biggest studio in New York, no question about it--and
that's in terms of size, number of rooms, and number of employees."
At one time, RCA was planning to unload the studios. What made BMG decide to make a go of it?
T.K.: RCA is a deep-catalog company, and BMG felt that, just to cover internal production needs-such as CD remastering and so forth--we'd have to invest at least $1 million, so why not broaden the updating a bit?
When and how did the renovation start?
L.S.: We started early in 1987. Stage One was to replace the console in Studio C with the Sony MPX 3000 series. That gave us more flexibility. We also sacrificed some of the floor space [the studio measures 75 x 50 x 30 feet] to build some isolation booths. All of that did, in fact, bring in more business, both records and jingles.
T.K.: At the same time, we started bringing the internal production facilities up to date. Some of the consoles in the TM [tape mastering] rooms were 25 or 30 years old-they were actually adding noise to digital recordings. So we replaced all of the consoles and brought in more digital equipment--Sony DAT, PCM 1630, and DASH; Harmonia Mundi, etc.
L.S.: Sony tells us that we probably have more Sony digital equipment under ore roof than anybody else in the country. Stage Two was to replace the console in Studio B. It was one of several 12- or 14-year-old Neves we had.
They were very good but past their time. We put the Sony MPX 3000 series in there as well. It's a 72-input console, fully automated. We also equipped Studios A, B, and C with video capabilities so we can sync video to audio.
Tell me about the famous garage sale in Studio A.
T.K.: There was a lot of equipment that, while still viable in the marketplace, we didn't need any more. So we got a commitment from Bertelsmann that any money we generated from a garage sale-which turned out to be around $240,000--could be invested back into the business. That's essentially how we paid for the console in Studio B.
So what was the investment in Stage One?
L.S.: It incorporated both the production facilities and the studios, so I'd say over $1 million.
T.K.: Right. Studio C alone cost close to $400,000, and we spent well over a half a million in the production areas.
Ironically, just as we finished Stage One, in the spring of '88 the writers' strike hit and wiped out all the opportunities we had looked at. Production on jingles, TV shows, and films simply stopped. Needless to say, 1988 was a tough one for us. [This was also about the time that ad agency mergers began to affect the studio business in New York. Many agencies built their own in-house facilities.]
L.S.: The strike lasted about a year, and some studios weren't strong enough to stay alive. That gave us a better opportunity to attract business.
Which ones failed?
L.S.: Sigma Sound was sold to Edit Masters in New Jersey. Record Plant went bankrupt. Automated, right around the corner, went down--that was a very large jingle house. We've picked up a lot of their business.
So who's left, besides you?
T.K.: Hit Factory, Power Station, Clinton Studios, Right Track ... mainly studios that do a lot of the kind of work we're seeking-like jingles and film scoring.
What was the return on investment in Stage One?
L.S.: The first thing that happened was the activity level started to climb in Studio C. We got some block bookings, which created the need for another facility.
Who was the first big client in C?
T.K.: Probably Spike Lee and School Daze.
L.S.: And then came the Marsalis brothers. They bounce back and forth between Studio C and Studio A.
What about the engineering staff? There used to be a lot of old-timers around. Now I see a lot of new faces. How did you effect so many changes in a union shop?
T.K.: Because of the purchase of RCA from GE, there was a perceived risk on the part of some employees that certain benefits available to them from RCA had a time limit. A number of them elected to retire in June of '88, since a lump-sum option was guaranteed only through that time. Almost all of them were senior guys with between 25 and 40 years of experience.
How many left?
L.S.: Fifteen between July and December--about 40% of the staff.
And then you rehired some of those same people?
T.K.: Yes. Paul Goodman. Dick Baxier, Tony Salvatore, and Sal D'Angelo.
Where did the new staff come from?
L.S.: Recommendations We put an ad in the trade papers and received 80 or 100 applications. We were in an enviable position to cherry-pick the best.
What's their background?
L.S.: Several have music degrees, some have electrical engineering degrees, most have had vast practical studio experience.
Any woman engineers?
L.S.: Two. Marian Conaty and Sandy Palmer.
How many engineers, total?
T.K.: There are 36 engineers plus four trainees--people with good credentials just out of school. The first few of those have been super.
L.S.: Some ol the schools are doing a hell of a job in instructing these kids.
Which schools?
T.K.: One came out of Berklee and one came out of SUNY Fredonia a young man and a young woman. Tremendously enthusiastic.
How big is the maintenance staff?
L.S.: Six out of 40 engineers.
Is that good?
L.S.: Thai's heavily overworked.
Where has the union been in all of this?
T.K.: We went through some negotiations, in the early part of 1989, in which the union showed tremendous cooperation in making the studios more competitive.
How so?
T.K.: One of the big steps they took was this: Previously, there always had to be at least one union engineer on a session. Now, if somebody wants to lease a studio and they have qualified engineers who are familiar with the equipment, they don't have to use a BMG engineer.
Does BMG have to pay a penalty fee for that?
L.S.: No. It really was a major concession on the unions part.
How did you get them to agree to it?
L.S. Just hard negotiations and people being honest with each other across the table. Relations have historically been thorny.
------------BMG inherited the worlds only Soundstream digital editor (top), then
added a Sony MPX 3000 console (center and bottom).
T.K.: Perhaps, but the level of cooperation between the engineers and management has increased tremendously over the last couple of years.
I often heard it said that, since BMG is a union shop-about the only one left in New York--its engineers are less motivated and therefore less competent than the ones at, say, the Power Station.
L.S.: That's a cross the studios have had to bear for many years. But there is no stigma. These are very competent, highly skilled, highly motivated people. The fact that they have a representative who protects their interests has nothing to do with their performance Yes it's a perceived problem, a it's one I'd like to overcome.
T.K.: I think, over the last six months, the level of repeat bookings says that the people who actually used the studios don't have a problem. If they perceived one before, they get through it right away.
L.S.: " Union" should not be a dirty word.
Was Studio B the end of the upgrading process?
T.K.: No. Just when I thought we were finished, Larry started getting on my case to re-outfit Studio A. It's a fantastic facility, but Larry thought it required a new console-one that would generate respect in the industry, which is why we went for the new Neve.
L.S.: It's the VR series. At this point, there are probably only 20 Neve VR series consoles installed in the U.S. We're the second in New York City. It's fully automated, with total recall. It has 60 dedicated inputs. It's the classic, ironclad, wonderful working machine.
Did you do anything in Studio A besides update the console?
L.S.: We worked on the decor and the floor, which hadn't been touched in 20 years. Any time you tamper with a surface, you're apt to affect the acoustics of the room, so we had to be careful.
Have you used any outside consulting firms?
L.S.: In the past, we used Jack Edwards and George Augspurger of Perception Inc. And for Control Room B, we used Tom Hidley.
T.K.: But the latest work that we've done has been primarily internally generated.
How many production rooms are there?
L.S.: There are nine tape mastering rooms, and we've added two suites specifically designed for digital work.
They can accommodate virtually any digital method and convert it-you can go Mitsubishi to Sony to JVC, or any combination thereof. We have five Harmonia Mundi systems, which take all these different formats and lock them into a common mode.
What exactly does the Harmonia Mundi system do?
L.S.: Basically, it enables you to cross relate the different digital standards of this nonstandard world we currently live in. It allows you to stay completely in the digital domain--you don't have to go from digital to analog to digital when you mix. The hardware remains the same. It's the processing that's different. RCA purchased the Soundstream digital editing system several years ago.
Is it still in use?
T.K.: Oh, yes--mostly for classical recording. In fact, it's pretty much been booked solid since we bought it. Soundstream is still the preeminent hard-disk editing system; ours is the only one in the world.
Was anything done to the physical characteristics of the TM rooms? There always used to be complaints that you couldn't hear properly in them.
L.S.: There are plans to modernize their acoustics and make them more reliable, so the room doesn't colorize the sound. TM 6 is the prototype for future acoustic-design modifications. It was designed by Vin Gizzi. [Gizzi also designed the Soundstream suite.] It's been under test for about six months now. So far, it's doing fine.
Once the TM rooms are updated, will the renovation be complete?
L.S.: I wish I could sit here and say yes, but as the state of the art changes, the dictates of the industry change. We like to feel that we're comfortably in the 1990s now.
T.K.: It can be very frustrating, because no matter what you put into the studio, people talk about what you haven't put in. For a long time, I took it personally. But then I realized it's just the nature of the business. If you put in six new toys, they want to know where the seventh and eighth are. If I had known two years ago what I know now-which is just enough to be dangerous--we might have done things a little differently. We might have put the Neve in first. But we've come a long way, and we've created a totally new environment. In most respects, we are state of the art, and our engineering staff is one that I would stack against anybody's.
What's the total investment so far?
L.S.: I'd say it's close to $2 million.
Is this the first renovation since the studios were built in 1969?
L.S.: There was an attempt in 1973.
That's how Studio D ended up that way.
That's the old rock 'n' roll studio with all the carpet on the walls.
L.S.: It was designed for The Jefferson Airplane. We've recently redone it.
What have you done with the lacquer cutting rooms?
L.S.: They're still active. We're down to three rooms from five.
Do you have rooms that are dedicated strictly to CD mastering?
L.S.: Two of the rooms are specifically dedicated to that. And the two digital suites are capable of doing whatever, either in the analog domain or to the digital domain for CD. I understand that, just as you are preserving a heritage with the studio renovation, someone has also finally started looking after the vaults.
T.K.: Over the last two years, we have built a new vault for the company owned masters. We're also creating a computerized vault-location system to track every master that the company owns.
What an enormous job. How many components are there?
L.S.: There are about 400,000 production cards, total. The information from about half of them has been input so far-from 1950 to the present. We still have from 1920 to 1950 to go.
T.K.: The cards not only tell where the tape is but also its azimuth settings and other technical data.
Where were the vaults, besides New York?
L.S.: Fogelsville, Pa., Nashville, Hollywood, and Indianapolis. Those vaults have all been merged to Indianapolis, though New York, Hollywood, and Nashville still maintain vaults for works in progress.
T.K.: We built a new facility in Indy by converting the pressing plant. It's a closed environment with a Halon fire control system; it's climate-controlled. [Halon is an inert gas that, in essence, smothers fires.]
L.S.: It's also double-tiered, which minimizes the amount of search time since you don't have to fool around with ladders and so forth.
Getting back to the overall complex, is it the biggest in New York?
L.S.: No question, in terms of number of studios, size, and number of employees. We have six studios--A, B, C, D, E, and F.
The biggest in the Northeast?
L.S.: There's none bigger that I'm aware of.
T.K.: Not in terms of the amount of product produced, especially with the digital revolution. The RCA catalog is so vast. BMG Classics alone has probably put out 300 releases per year for the last couple of years.
Are your rates competitive? Lower than most?
L.S.: Lower than some, not higher than many.
--- ---- ----
---------The space is familiar, but Studios A, B, and C (left to right)
have been redone and CD mastering rooms (below) have been added.
--- --- ---
To what percentage of capacity are you booked right now?
T.K.: It depends on the studio. Last week, Studio A was out of commission because of the console installation. Studios B, C, and D had double holds behind confirmed bookings. We're getting very busy.
And the tape mastering rooms?
T.K.: The tape mastering rooms and the two digital suites are booked solid. People want to know what time of night the suites are available. And the Soundstream suite is operational around the clock--literally.
How does it break out, jingle business versus film and records?
L.S.: We lump film and jingles together. Record dates are far fewer than those. That's the next avenue we'll pursue.
How big is the sound-effects library?
L.S.: There are thousands and thousands of items in it-virtually anything you'd want.
Will you continue the fashion shows in Studio A?
T.K.: No, we stopped that last year.
We've decided that we're strictly a music-production operation. Besides, some of the requirements for fashion shows-like set building--were damaging to the walls and the ceiling, which ultimately can hurt the acoustic environment. The revenue was nice in tougher times, but it just isn't appropriate anymore. We'll win or lose by being a music studio operation.
(source: Audio magazine, Apr. 1990)
Also see:
The Kennedy Center (Nov. 1973)
Audiophile Recordings: Polished Antiques (Sept. 1982)
Remasters of Living Stereo (Aug. 1993)
Stereo’s Life During Wartime (WWII) (Aug. 1993)
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