HISTORIC RCA STUDIO B

Today I'm going to finish up the post on the Country Music Hall of Fame and RCA Recording Studio B.

RCA Studio B is a noted recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee. Originally known simply as RCA Studios, it 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, Tennessee as an international recording center.

Inside sign

Outside sign

Built by Dan Maddox in 1956, it 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, the plans for the studio were drawn up on a napkin by Bill Miltenburg, RCA's chief engineer and recording manager.

As you can see this recording studio was used to record Roy Orbison, the Everly Brothers, Ray Price, Elvis, Dolly Parton, Charley Pride and many more.  Here's a piece of trivia I learned from our tour guide, Nyla.  Elvis would never sing right before or right after Roy Orbison because he thought Roy Orbison had a much better voice than him.  Also, you know why Roy Orbison always wore sunglasses?  He forgot his glasses one day and only had his sunglasses to wear for one of his shows.  He had to go on stage with his sunglasses.  He discovered that the sunglasses helped him with his terrible case of stage fright so he decided he would wear the sunglasses whenever he performed. Now you know!

Bill Porter became the chief engineer in 1959 for the studio and he considered the studio's acoustics problematic, with resonant room modes creating an uneven frequency response. To lessen the problem, he took some $60 from the studio's petty cash and bought fiberglass acoustic ceiling panels which he cut into triangles and hung from the ceiling at varying heights; these were dubbed "Porter Pyramids". Porter also marked Xes on the floor where he discovered, by careful experimentation, the resonant modes to be minimal. Porter positioned lead vocalists, background vocalists and acoustic guitarists at microphones placed directly over his marks. After these improvements, Don Gibson recorded his album Girls, Guitars and Gibson in the studio. Porter later told an interviewer: "Everybody said, 'God, what a different sound!'"

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. She's right, you can still see it.

 A larger studio was built on 17th avenue in 1964 that became known as Studio A; the existing studio was referred to as Studio B from that point on.

Old analog sound board (mixer).  Everything s done digital now.  If you made a mistake using the analog board, you had to go back and re-record the whole thing.

The Steinway grand piano that has been in the studio since it started.  They still have recordings of Elvis just chilling in the studio with friends and you can hear the piano in the background. Also, in the original recording of Elvis singing How Great Thou Art, Floyd Cramer is playing this piano.

After the tour, Mr. W and I drove back down to "music row" and walked around looking at all the other recording studios on 16th and 17th avenue..  Most of them put up signs either on their buildings or on their property showing some of the artists that record with them.

Another piece of trivia - Nashville hired someone to build a fountain in a roundabout, across from a new park, going to music row.  They did it to look good and attract tourists to that area in a resurgence effort of this part of town.  They wanted statues in the fountain but did not tell the person what kind of statues.  They just thought that since it was Nashville, the person would do statues of country singers.  The person put in nude dancers and they are anatomically correct in every way.  This spurred much controversy in Nashville especially among the churches and parent groups. So, on a lot of major holidays or when something major is happening in town and they know there will be an unusually high number of tourists in town, the churches and parent groups will wrap clothing/material around the statues.

(I had more pics than I posted but the internet is so S-L-O-W where I'm staying right now, that it would have taken me until next week to get them all loaded! Sorry.)