Although Electric Lady rocks on today, it collected dust for years during the early 2000s.
"I was invited to come down and have a look and see what I thought of the idea," Kramer continues, "and I said, 'Guys, that's a terrible idea. The fact that Jimi spends so much time in the studio, spending about $150,000 a year, I said, 'Why don't we just build it into the best studio in the world?' That's craziness.' Electric Lady's managing partner, Lee Foster, remembers what it was like back then.
I was sort of thrust into this position of 'Make it work or we're going to shut it down.'
Now Playing However, many Electric Lady have remained unchanged.
"It just flowed from being in that space and being in that room and feeling the magic of history."
“And why?” You ask. You had Napster; you had digital recording. On Air We’re pleased to say that Ash Boss and Rose Price from Crown of Thorns in the UK will be tattooing at Electric Ladyland September 25-27! Construction began in the early spring, and was proceeding smoothly until a sudden change in plan stopped everything cold. Half a century later it still stands tall as a fabled space in the music industry.
Come check out these fantastic artists on their tour of the U.S! Eddie Kramer went on to engineer virtually all of Jimi Hendrix’s recordings, and soon become one of the industry’s most acclaimed producer/ engineers, with credits for artists ranging from The Beatles to David Bowie and Eric Clapton.Kramer was adamant about Electric Lady having a tall, bright room similar to NY’s legendary A&R Studios where Electric Lady took nine months to build. Now Playing Matt Kwong (he/him) is an editor with Morning Edition. There was an idea at the time [that] we no longer need recording studios," he says. For me, as a fan of music, it's like watching the Avengers walk around." Electric Lady's managing partner, Lee Foster, remembers what it was like back then.
Completed at Record Plant Studios, Studio A, New York, June to August 1968. Yet another totally unexpected ‘floating’ delay was triggered by the Minetta Brook, an active stream, which ran through the primordial forest which stood for eons on Manhattan Island, before the Indians, the Pilgrims, the rock stars and the hippies gravitated to what eventually became Greenwich Village.
The ‘floating’ completion date was partially due to stops and starts that reflected Jimi’s erratic touring and record sales income; and partially caused by other eleventh hour design changes. The idea was to make it a place where Jimi could jam and they wanted a tiny little 8-track studio in the back corner. It took Storyk a couple of months to design the club. Lee Foster discusses the history of the legendary Electric Lady Studios in an exclusive interview for The Live Room on The Warner Sound. Recorded: Initial tracks at Olympic Studios, London, January 1968. At age 49 and counting, Electric Lady is one of the world’s first artist owned recording studios and one of the oldest, most famous and most successful studios ever. From The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, U2 and Stevie Wonder to Arcade Fire, Beck, Daft Punk and Lana Del Rey, ELS remains a beacon of music recording’s past AND future.“Lastly,” John Storyk concludes, “Jimi can rest easy in the knowledge that his Electric Lady is in good hands. Published August 26, 2020 at 3:07 AM MDT
WSDG co-founder John Storyk was a 22-year-old fledgling architect fresh out of Princeton University when he was hired to design a studio for Jimi Hendrix. Welcome to Electric Lady Studios.