RCA Studio B
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Built by Dan Maddox in 1957, RCA Records Studio B was constructed at the request of Chet Atkins and Steve Sholes to facilitate the needs of RCA Victor Records and other record labels. According to Chet Atkins in his autobiography, the plans for the studio were drawn up on a napkin by Bill Miltenburg, RCA's chief engineer and recording manager.
Construction took four months, and the studio was opened in November 1957 at the cost of $37,515. The recording studio is a single-story building with offices occupying the front but the area of the studio and control room has a second story that contains an echo chamber. The actual studio itself measures 42.5' by 27' by 13'. In 1960 and '61 an addition was added with office space and rooms for tape mastering and a lacquer mastering lab. A larger studio was built on 17th avenue in 1964 that they called Studio A and the existing studio was named Studio B.
The studio became famous in the 1960s for being a part of what many refer to as the Nashville Sound. A sophisticated style characterized by background vocals and strings, the Nashville Sound both revived the popularity of country music and helped establish Nashville as an international recording center.
In 1977 the studio was made available to the Country Music Hall of Fame for tours, and in 1992 it was donated to the Country Music Hall of Fame by the late Dan Maddox. Up until 2001, it was operated as an attraction when the new home for the Hall of Fame was built in downtown Nashville.
Now the studio is co-operated by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Belmont University's Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business program. Students use the facilities for classes learning the basic techniques of analog recording.
Tours of the studio are still done by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum daily.
In her 1994 memoir, My Life And Other Unfinished Business, Dolly Parton recounted how she was rushing to her first recording session at Studio B in September 1967 (shortly after having signed with RCA) and, in her haste to make the session on time, drove her car through the side wall of the building. She noted how the spot where her car impacted the building is still visible today. [Parton, Dolly (1994). Dolly: My Life And Other Unfinished Business. Harper Collins. ISBN 0060177209] [1]
[edit] List of Artists Recorded
- Liz Anderson
- Eddy Arnold
- Chet Atkins
- Bobby Bare
- Don Bowman
- Jim Ed Brown
- The Browns
- Archie Campbell
- Guy Clark
- Floyd Cramer
- Dave and Sugar
- Skeeter Davis
- Jimmy Dean
- Dottsy
- The Everly Brothers
- Donna Fargo
- Dallas Frazier
- Don Gibson
- Mickey Gilley
- Bobby Goldsboro
- Homer and Jethro
- Harlan Howard
- Norma Jean
- Waylon Jennings
- Grandpa Jones
- Dickey Lee
- Hank Locklin
- John D. Loudermilk
- Ronnie Milsap
- Willie Nelson
- Roy Orbison
- Vernon Oxford
- Dolly Parton
- Brett Petersen
- Elvis Presley
- Charley Pride
- Kenny Price
- Boots Randolph
- Jim Reeves
- Johnny Russell
- Connie Smith
- Hank Snow
- Sons of the Pioneers
- Gary Stewart
- Nat Stuckey
- Ernest Tubb
- Porter Wagoner
- Billy Walker
- Charlie Walker
- Gillian Welch
- Dottie West
- Orchard
[edit] External links
- Country Music Hall of Fame: About RCA Studio B
- Belmont University: Belmont University Recording Studio Facilities
- List of the Artists
