The Village Studios stayed true to its long-time allegiance with Neve technology by recently installing a Genesys Black GB96 console at its West Los Angeles premises.
The celebrated facility, which over its 52-year history has played host to many of world’s most famous recording artists, converted one of its private production suites into a new studio for T Bone Burnett, Mike Piersante and Zach Dawes. The three will equally share the space for common and solo endeavours, and when they are busy elsewhere the Village will use the room for its commercial clients.
The Genesys Black console is one of the largest to ever be installed, with 64 faders and 48 analog channel strips. The desk mixes 32 channels of vintage 1084 Neve EQ with 16 channels of contemporary 88R-style 4-band EQ in addition to offering mastering-grade AD/DA MADI conversion cards across every channel, delivering internal AD/DA conversion for 48 channel direct outputs, channel digital line inputs, and digital monitor returns over optical MADI connection.
Jeff Greenberg, who has owned the Village since the mid-1990s, states, “It is a fantastic compromise between old and new ways of recording because it delivers the great analogue sound of Neve, while easily enabling modern hybrid workflows. It is also a perfect complement to the Neve consoles we already own, which include our much loved vintage 8048 in Studio A and two Neve 88R consoles with full Mix Recall in Studios B and D.”
Initially built as a Masonic temple in the 1920s, the building that houses Village Studios retains many of its original characteristics, including stained glass windows. During the 1960s the building acted as the West Coast headquarters for Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Transcendental Meditation, before being transformed into a recording studio at the end of that decade. Artists who have recorded at the Village are Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Doors, Elton John, Diana Ross, Courtney Love, The Smashing Pumpkins, Lady Gaga, Bob Dylan, Dr Dre, Steely Dan and many more.
As well as four main commercial studios, the facility also has a large Auditorium and the Moroccan Room (formerly the old Masonic Meeting Room), which are used as live and concert spaces. Spread throughout the building are various production and writing suites that are occupied by an eclectic mixture of artists, producers and composers who like having their own space within the complex.
The new studio for T Bone, Piersante and Dawes is housed in one such suite, as Studio Manager Tina Morris explains: “The suite was previously occupied by John Alagia, who had it for about 16 years. He had it set up with Pro Control and it was completely digital with the exception of a complement of outboard gear. The space consisted of a control room and an isolation booth, both of which we incorporated into this refurbishment.
“We spruced it up with new acoustic treatment advised by George Augsberger and, of course, the new Genesys Black console,” Morris continues. “It is a dual purpose room for mixing and recording, and we have added tie lies to the Moroccan Room so that it can serve as a control room for that multipurpose room when it is available. This is ideal because it is literally right next door to the Moroccan Room and having the analog aspect of the Genesys Black console, as well as it’s integration with Pro Tools, is a great addition to the facility.”
The specification of the new studio was a joint effort between Piersante and Morris, as he explains: “Tina and I consulted regularly on every small aspect of the space and all technical aspects because, in essence, we wanted this to also be a ‘Village’ room. On that basis, I thought both factions should have input into the design and equipment.
“Right from the beginning, my thinking was to have a console with vintage qualities but also one that would bring the room and the Village a step into the future,” Piersante adds. “The Genesys was always my first choice for this particular space.”
As well as its ability to deliver a hybrid workflow, he concludes that the warm, open sound of the Genesys Black was a major selling point: “The sonics of the analog path, combined with vintage reissued preamps and EQs, is a feature we all love. This desk delivers a lot of flexibility and gives us options we didn’t have at the studio we co-ran in the past.”
