Little Mountain Sound Studios

Little Mountain Sound Studios is a music recording facility located in Vancouver, British Columbia, it is owned by the Levens Brothers. In its day, it was the most successful recording studio in Western Canada and was the home for many years to producers Bruce Fairbairn and Bob Rock. Little Mountain recorded albums by Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, AC/DC, Metallica, Bryan Adams, Mötley Crüe, Loverboy and the Cult among many others.

History

Little Mountain Sound Studios was started in 1972 as a 50/50 partnership between Western Broadcasting (CKNW radio) and Griffiths, Gibson Productions (GGP). Geoff Turner, an unnamed partner with GGP, designed, built and managed the studio. Turner was a long-time audio engineer and studio designer from England by way of New York. CKNW required large recording spaces to record radio jingles, sometimes with a full orchestra. Geoff designed a facility with two large recording studios, and several small recording and production spaces.

In 1974, Geoff left Little Mountain to found and operate Pinewood Studios, an audio post production facility named after the famous English recording stages. It is said that his departure was due to a personality conflict between him and the partners of GGP. Turner would also go on to design and build several other music recording studios including Crosstown Studios, Profile Studios, and London Bridge Studios.

After Turner's departure, Bob Brooks was hired to manage Little Mountain. Brooks was an independent producer working out of an office at CKWX after having left Homer Street Studios. In 1977, Western Broadcasting bought out GGP to become sole owner. In 1982, Western Broadcasting sold the studio to Bob Brooks. Brooks owned Little Mountain until the sale in 1992 to Bruce and Roger Levens of Vancouver's Greenhouse Studios.

Bruce Fairbairn started recording at Little Mountain Sound Studios with Prism, a band in which he played trumpet. Fairbairn would go on to do the bulk of his work there as an independent producer. Bob Rock worked for Little Mountain and engineered for Fairbairn for several years before becoming a major music producer himself.

In addition to the high profile music clients, Little Mountain did a significant amount of other audio recording. Through the 70's and 80's the facility was an equal balance of music and audio post clients. Little Mountain was home to GGRP, a major Vancouver based jingle house. The studio also did film work.

The late 80's saw Bob Brooks appoint David Robertson as manager. Robertson removed the audio post clients and half of the business. Mismanagement also led to Bob Rock leaving the facility to work out of Greenhouse Studios for a while.

The Levens brothers purchased Little Mountain during this time and continue to own the company to this day. The first day of management for the Levens saw the bailiff hauling out the leather couches, with a Jimmy Page guitar on board. Days latter SSL sent in their rep under the guise of doing console work, he tried unsuccessfully to remove the channel strips into his vehicle. The financially problems were ultimately resolved during the next couple of years.

The late 80's and early 90's were creative and sales high points for both Bruce Fairbairn and Bob Rock. In 1991 they were considered 2 of the 5 best music producers in the world. Bob Rock recorded the most successful albums of both Metallica (the Black Album) and Motley Crue (Dr. Feelgood) during this time. Bruce Fairbairn also recorded Aerosmith top seller Get a Grip.

In 1993 the 20 year lease expired and the landlord was looking to double the rent. Little Mountain chose not to renew the lease and moved out the equipment and exstensive gold record collection. The facility remained empty for several years. The Little Mountain facility has since been subdivided and is now the home of Vancouver Rockspace, The Factory Studios and Audio Post Production space.

The studio facility itself can be seen and figures prominently in the Aerosmith DVD "The Making of Pump" (1990).

Clients

Aerosmith recorded their trilogy of comeback albums, Permanent Vacation (album), Pump and the monster seller Get a Grip with Bruce Fairbairn producing. Fairbairn was a key part of the resurgence of the legendary band.

Bon Jovi recorded their three most commercially successful albums with Bruce Fairbairn and Bob Rock. Slippery when Wet, named for Vancouver's infamous strip clubs, New Jersey and Keep the Faith were done in Vancouver.

Bryan Adams recorded parts of his worldwide breakthrough Reckless at Little Mountain.

Mötley Crüe also recorded their biggest seller Dr. Feelgood with Bob Rock. Decade of Decadence was also recorded at Little Mountain.

David Coverdale and Jimmy Page did the initial recording of their album at Little Mountain with Mike Fraser producing. Jimmy Page showed David Robertson an acoustic guitar that Jimmy had purchased from John Lennon which Lennon used when he and Paul McCartney wrote most of The Beatles' earliest hits.

Loverboy recorded much of their catalog at Little Mountain. David Robertson re-introduced Steven Tyler of Aerosmith to Loverboy's lead singer Mike Reno while Reno was recording a solo album in Studio A with several members of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

Olivia Newton-John recorded and remixed "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" in 1977, engineered by Armin Steiner.

The British Columbia Rapid Transit Company (now part of Translink) recorded the chimes for the Skytrain system in 1984/85.

Other notable International clients include AC/DC, Kingdom Come, Whitesnake, Cher, Poison, Scorpions, David Lee Roth, Honeymoon Suite, Skid Row, Krokus, Dan Reed Network, David Bowie, Bay City Rollers, BTO, Little Caesar, Julio Iglesias, Jeff Healy, Warrant, Nazareth, Blue Murder, Electric Boys and Gorky Park. Many Canadian artists also recorded highly successful albums including The Tragically Hip, Prism, Colin James and the Little Big Band, Payola$, The Grapes of Wrath, Images In Vogue, Quickflight, Chilliwack, Skinny Puppy, Kim Mitchell, and Valdy.

People

Little Mountain Sound Studios was the home to some of the top audio people in the world. Many of the top audio people in Western Canada got their start and built their career at the studio. Randy Staub started working as Bob Rock's engineer, while at A&M studios in Hollywood, and is now one of the top music mixers in the world. Roger Monk, Mike Fraser, Ron Obvious, Ken Lomas, Pat Glover, Laura Bacon, Mike Plotnikoff and Brian Dobbs were all audio engineers, the latter two hired by David Robertson who also oversaw extensive renovations of the lobby, lounge and Studio A washrooms.

John Vrtacic was the Technical Director of Little Mountain for many years. He is credited with maintaining and improving upon the original Geoff Turner design. John Vrtacic is considered one of the top audio technicians in the world and has been involved in the design and technical operation of many of the top music studios in Western Canada along with Metallica's home studio and Bob Rock's home studio. He is also an equipment designer.