106-574: Sigma Sound Studios was an American independent recording studio in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , founded in 1968 by recording engineer Joseph Tarsia . Located at 212 North 12th Street in Philadelphia, Sigma Sound is closely associated with Philadelphia soul , and was the location of numerous recordings of Gamble and Huff 's Philadelphia International Records , the group of session musicians known as MFSB , and producer Thom Bell . Sigma Sound
212-485: A telephone hybrid for putting telephone calls on the air, a POTS codec for receiving remote broadcasts , a dead air alarm for detecting unexpected silence , and a broadcast delay for dropping anything from coughs to profanity . In the U.S., stations licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) also must have an Emergency Alert System decoder (typically in the studio), and in
318-439: A Child" and "Tom Cat Goodbye". The musical theater composer Stephen Schwartz credits Nyro as a major influence on his work. Alice Cooper has mentioned on his syndicated radio show that Laura Nyro is one of his favorite songwriters. Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley , when promoting her 2006 solo album Rabbit Fur Coat repeatedly cited Nyro's 1971 album Gonna Take a Miracle as a big influence on her music. Lewis performed
424-525: A brief relationship with singer/songwriter Jackson Browne in late 1970 to early 1971. (Browne was Nyro's opening act at the time.) Nyro married Vietnam War veteran David Bianchini in October 1971 after a whirlwind romance and spent the next three years living with him in a small town in Massachusetts. The marriage ended after three years, during which time she had grown accustomed to rural life, as opposed to
530-540: A children's musician. Laura was of Russian Jewish and Polish Jewish descent, with Italian American ancestry from her paternal grandfather. Her father gave her the name "Laura", after hearing the title theme of the 1944 film Laura . Nigro and his family often insisted that their surname be pronounced as NIGH -ro instead of NEE -gro to avoid racial connotations. However, after Laura left high school, she chose her own surname, "Nyro", having it pronounced as NEAR -oh . "I've created my own little world,
636-401: A different machine, which records the combined signals (called printing ) to a 1 ⁄ 2 -inch two-track stereo tape, called a master . Before digital recording, the total number of available tracks onto which one could record was measured in multiples of 24, based on the number of 24-track tape machines being used. Most recording studios now use digital recording equipment, which limits
742-407: A faithful cadre of followers. This prompted Clive Davis, in his memoir, to note that her recordings, as solid as they were, came to resemble demonstrations for other performers. In 1969, Verve reissued Nyro's debut album as The First Songs . The same year Geffen and Nyro sold Tuna Fish Music to CBS for $ 4.5 million. Under the terms of his partnership with Nyro, Geffen received half of the proceeds of
848-458: A four-month tour with a full band, which resulted in the 1977 live album Season of Lights . After the 1978 album Nested , recorded when she was pregnant with her only child, she again took a break from recording, this time until 1984's Mother's Spiritual . She began touring with a band in 1988, her first concert appearances in 10 years. The tour was dedicated to the animal rights movement . The shows led to her 1989 release, Laura: Live at
954-750: A home studio is challenging because they are usually the loudest instruments. Acoustic drums require sound isolation in this scenario, unlike electronic or sampled drums. Getting an authentic electric guitar amp sound including power-tube distortion requires a power attenuator or an isolation cabinet , or booth. A convenient compromise is amplifier modeling , whether a modeling amp, preamp/processor, or software-based guitar amp simulator. Sometimes, musicians replace loud, inconvenient instruments such as drums, with keyboards, which today often provide somewhat realistic sampling . The capability of digital recording introduced by ADAT and its comparatively low cost, originally introduced at $ 3995, were largely responsible for
1060-528: A home studio via the Internet. Additional outside audio connections are required for the studio/transmitter link for over-the-air stations, satellite dishes for sending and receiving shows, and for webcasting or podcasting . Laura Nyro Laura Nyro ( / ˈ n ɪər oʊ / NEER -oh ; born Laura Nigro ; October 18, 1947 – April 8, 1997) was an American songwriter and singer. She achieved critical acclaim with her own recordings, particularly
1166-413: A large role in the recording process. With software, a powerful, good quality computer with a fast processor can replace the mixing consoles , multitrack recording equipment, synthesizers, samplers and effects unit (reverb, echo, compression, etc.) that a recording studio required in the 1980s and 1990s. A computer thus outfitted is called a digital audio workstation , or DAW. While Apple Macintosh
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#17328520252521272-444: A lesser amount of diffused reflections from walls to make a good-sounding room. A drummer, vocalist, or guitar speaker cabinet, along with microphones, is acoustically isolated in the isolation booth. A typical professional recording studio today has a control room , a large live room , and one or more small isolation booths . All rooms are soundproofed by varying methods, including but not limited to, double-layer 5/8" sheetrock with
1378-666: A month at the " hungry i " coffeehouse in San Francisco. In February 1967, Verve Folkways released More Than A New Discovery . On March 4, 1967, Nyro appeared on Clay Cole's Diskoteck , Episode 7.23, along with Dion and the Belmonts and others, but the recording of the episode is lost. On March 21, 1967, she appeared on Where the Action Is (episode 3.140) with videos of "Wedding Bell Blues" (partially extant), "Blowin' Away" (lost) and "Goodbye Joe" (lost). On June 17, 1967, Nyro appeared at
1484-505: A month later, she sold " And When I Die " to Peter, Paul, and Mary for $ 5,000. On September 17, 1966, Nyro and Verve Folkways released "Wedding Bell Blues"/"Stoney End" as a single. "Wedding Bell Blues" became a minor hit, especially on the west coast. She completed More Than A New Discovery in New York on November 29, 1966; and, starting on January 16, 1967, made her first extended professional appearance at age 19, performing nightly for about
1590-546: A number of artists had hits with her songs: the 5th Dimension with " Blowing Away ", " Wedding Bell Blues ", " Stoned Soul Picnic ", " Sweet Blindness ", and " Save the Country "; Blood, Sweat & Tears and Peter, Paul and Mary with " And When I Die "; Three Dog Night and Maynard Ferguson with " Eli's Comin' "; and Barbra Streisand with " Stoney End ", "Time and Love", and "Hands off the Man (Flim Flam Man)". Nyro's best-selling single
1696-507: A rare protest song to the Academy Award -winning documentary Broken Rainbow , about the unjust relocation of the Navajo people . Nyro performed increasingly in the 1980s and 1990s with female musicians, including her friend Nydia "Liberty" Mata, a drummer, and several others from the lesbian-feminist women's music subculture, such as members of the band Isis . She appeared at such venues as
1802-577: A recording and management contract for her, and Nyro recorded her debut album, More Than a New Discovery , for the Verve Folkways label (later re-named Verve Forecast ). Other songs from the album later became hits for The 5th Dimension, Blood, Sweat & Tears , and Barbra Streisand . On July 13, 1966, Nyro recorded " Stoney End " and " Wedding Bell Blues " as well as an early version of "Time and Love", as part of More Than A New Discovery at Bell Sounds Studios, 237 West 54th Street, Manhattan. About
1908-504: A recording contract for another of his clients, Jackson Browne (with whom Nyro was in a relationship at the time). Geffen invited Nyro to join the new label and announced that she would be Asylum's first singer; however, shortly before the signing was due to take place, Geffen learned that Nyro had re-signed with Columbia instead, without telling him. When interviewed about the matter for a 2012 PBS documentary on his life, Geffen, who'd considered Nyro his best friend, described her rejection as
2014-508: A regular stage or film set. In the era of acoustical recordings (prior to the introduction of microphones, electrical recording and amplification), the earliest recording studios were very basic facilities, being essentially soundproof rooms that isolated the performers from outside noise. During this era it was not uncommon for recordings to be made in any available location, such as a local ballroom, using portable acoustic recording equipment. In this period, master recordings were made by cutting
2120-410: A rotating cylinder (later disc) made from wax. Performers were typically grouped around a large acoustic horn (an enlarged version of the familiar gramophone horn). The acoustic energy from the voices or instruments was channeled through the horn to a diaphragm to a mechanical cutting lathe , which inscribed the signal as a modulated groove directly onto the surface of the master. Electrical recording
2226-497: A selection of instruments in their live room, typically instruments, amplifiers and speaker cabinets that are large, heavy, and difficult to transport (e.g., a Hammond organ ) or infeasible (as in the case of a grand piano ) to hire for a single recording session. Having musical instruments and equipment in the studio creates additional costs for a studio, as pianos have to be tuned and instruments and associated equipment needs to be maintained. General-purpose computers rapidly assumed
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#17328520252522332-402: A signal from one or more of the microphones in the studio could be routed to the loudspeaker in the echo chamber; the sound from the speaker reverberated through the chamber and the enhanced signal was picked up by the microphone at the other end. This echo-enhanced signal, which was often used to sweeten the sound of vocals, could then be blended in with the primary signal from the microphone in
2438-414: A single take. In the 1970s the large recording companies began to adopt multi-track recording and the emphasis shifted to isolation and sound-proofing, with treatments like echo and reverberation added separately during the mixing process, rather than being blended in during the recording. Generally, after an audio mix is set up on a 24-track tape machine, the tracks are played back together, mixed and sent to
2544-430: A son, Gil Bianchini (also known as musician Gil-T), whom she gave the surname of her ex-husband. In the early 1980s, Nyro began living with painter Maria Desiderio (1954–1999), a relationship that lasted 17 years, the rest of Nyro's life. Nyro was a feminist and openly discussed it on a number of occasions, once saying, "I may bring a certain feminist perspective to my songwriting, because that's how I see life." By
2650-447: A song about Laura Nyro ("Laura") on their first full-length album Spooky . Several of the band's songs (specifically those written by Emma Anderson ) have echoed Nyro's music in their titles – "When I Die", "Single Girl". More recently, in 2012, Anderson has referred to Laura Nyro as "wondrous" on her Twitter account. On her 2006 album Build a Bridge, the operatic/Broadway soprano Audra McDonald included covers of Nyro's songs "To
2756-408: A vibrant acoustic signature as the natural reverb enhanced the sound of the recording. In this period large, acoustically live halls were favored, rather than the acoustically dead booths and studio rooms that became common after the 1960s. Because of the limits of the recording technology, which did not allow for multitrack recording techniques, studios of the mid-20th century were designed around
2862-506: A world of music, since I was five years old", Nyro told Billboard magazine in 1970, adding that music provided, for her, a means of coping with a difficult childhood: "I was never a bright and happy child." As a child, she taught herself piano, read poetry, and listened to her mother's records by Leontyne Price , Nina Simone , Judy Garland , Billie Holiday , and classical composers such as Debussy and Ravel . She composed her first songs at age eight. With her family, she spent summers in
2968-428: Is a key goal, the musicians, singers, audio engineers and record producers still need to be able to see each other, to see cue gestures and conducting by a bandleader. As such, the live room, isolation booths, vocal booths and control room typically have windows. Amplified instruments, like electric guitars and digital keyboards, may be connected directly to the recording console using DI units and performance recorded in
3074-613: Is a specialized facility for recording and mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enough to record a single singer-guitarist, to a large building with space for a full orchestra of 100 or more musicians. Ideally, both the recording and monitoring (listening and mixing) spaces are specially designed by an acoustician or audio engineer to achieve optimum acoustic properties (acoustic isolation or diffusion or absorption of reflected sound reverberation that could otherwise interfere with
3180-563: Is credited with well over 200 gold and platinum awards with an extensive client list that includes Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes , The O'Jays , The Spinners , MFSB , David Bowie , Teddy Pendergrass , Patti LaBelle , The Roots and others. From 1977 through 1988, the studios also operated a New York City location in the Ed Sullivan Theater building, which hosted recording projects by artists including Talking Heads , Madonna ,
3286-409: Is essential to preserving the ability to fine-tune lines up to the last minute. Sometimes, if the rapport between the lead actors is strong enough and the animation studio can afford it, the producers may use a recording studio configured with multiple isolation booths in which the actors can see each another and the director. This enables the actors to react to one another in real time as if they were on
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3392-487: Is used for most studio work, there is a breadth of software available for Microsoft Windows and Linux . If no mixing console is used and all mixing is done using only a keyboard and mouse, this is referred to as mixing in the box (ITB). OTB describes mixing with other hardware and not just the PC software. A small, personal recording studio is sometimes called a project studio or home studio . Such studios often cater to
3498-483: Is widely considered one of her best works. It was followed in 1969 by New York Tendaberry , another highly acclaimed work that cemented Nyro's artistic credibility. "Time and Love" and " Save the Country " emerged as two of her most well-regarded and popular songs in the hands of other artists. During the weekend after Thanksgiving in November 1969, she gave two concerts at Carnegie Hall . Her own recordings sold mostly to
3604-453: The Late Show with David Letterman pursued Nyro for TV appearances, but she turned them down, citing her discomfort with appearing on television. (She made only a handful of early TV appearances, and one fleeting moment on VH-1 performing the title song from Broken Rainbow on Earth Day in 1990.) According to producer Gary Katz , she also turned down an invitation to be the musical guest on
3710-602: The Catskills , where her father played trumpet at resorts. She credited the Sunday school at the New York Society for Ethical Culture with providing the basis of her education; she also attended Manhattan's High School of Music & Art . Nyro was close to her aunt and uncle, artists Theresa Bernstein and William Meyerowitz , who helped support her education and early career. While attending Joseph Wade Junior High School in
3816-591: The Monterey Pop Festival . Although some accounts described her performance as a fiasco that culminated in her being booed off the stage, recordings later made publicly available contradict this version of events. Newsweek reporter Michael Lydon reviewed her performance very negatively, writing that "the evening hit bottom" during Nyro's "melodramatic" set. Soon afterwards, David Geffen approached Mogull about taking over as Nyro's agent. Nyro successfully sued to void her management and recording contracts on
3922-511: The RCA company in the 1930s were crucial to the crooning style perfected by Bing Crosby , and the famous Neumann U 47 condenser microphone was one of the most widely used from the 1950s. This model is still widely regarded by audio professionals as one of the best microphones of its type ever made. Learning the correct placement of microphones is a major part of the training of young engineers, and many became extremely skilled in this craft. Well into
4028-516: The Ramones , Aretha Franklin , and the B-52s . In fall of 1967, Joseph Tarsia, who had worked as a service technician for various Philadelphia recording studios before becoming chief engineer at Cameo-Parkway Studios, leveraged all of his assets to secure a $ 40,000 loan, which he used to lease 212 North 12th Street in Philadelphia in a location formerly occupied by Emil Corson's Rec-O-Art Studios. Rec-O-Art
4134-407: The "studio" or "live room" equipped with microphones and mic stands, where instrumentalists and vocalists perform; and the " control room ", where audio engineers, sometimes with record producers, as well, operate professional audio mixing consoles , effects units , or computers with specialized software suites to mix , manipulate (e.g., by adjusting the equalization and adding effects) and route
4240-573: The 1950s and 1960s, the sound of pop recordings was further defined by the introduction of proprietary sound processing devices such as equalizers and compressors, which were manufactured by specialist electronics companies. One of the best known of these was the Pultec equalizer which was used by almost all the major commercial studios of the time. With the introduction of multi-track recording , it became possible to record instruments and singers separately and at different times on different tracks on tape. In
4346-508: The 1960s, in the classical field it was not uncommon for engineers to make high-quality orchestral recordings using only one or two microphones suspended above the orchestra. In the 1960s, engineers began experimenting with placing microphones much closer to instruments than had previously been the norm. The distinctive rasping tone of the horn sections on the Beatles recordings " Good Morning Good Morning " and " Lady Madonna " were achieved by having
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4452-524: The 1970s, the sound of Gamble and Huff 's Philadelphia International Records (PIR), as well as the classic, sophisticated productions of Thom Bell , hosting recording sessions for PIR acts and others. More than 30 resident session musicians , known collectively as MFSB ("Mother Father Sister Brother"), were based at this studio and backed up most of the recordings. Some of the musicians also acted as arrangers , writers , or producers for Philadelphia International as well as for other labels recording in
4558-669: The 1989 Michigan Womyn's Music Festival and the 1989 Newport Folk Festival , of which a CD containing portions of her performance was released. On July 4, 1991, she opened for Bob Dylan at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts . Among her last performances were at Union Chapel , Islington , London, England in November 1994; The New York Bottom Line Christmas Eve Show in 1994; and at McCabe's in Los Angeles February 11 and 12, 1995. The Tonight Show and
4664-475: The 1993 season opener of Saturday Night Live . She never released an official video, although there was talk of filming some of The Bottom Line appearances in the 1990s. Nyro was bisexual , though this fact was known only to her closest friends. She had a perhaps yearlong relationship with Blood, Sweat & Tears bassist Jim Fielder starting in 1968, and with Crosby, Stills and Nash drummer Dallas Taylor for about six months after that. She also had
4770-469: The 30th Street Studio at 207 East 30th Street, the CBS Studio Building at 49 East 52nd Street, Liederkranz Hall at 111 East 58th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues (a building built by and formerly belonging to a German cultural and musical society, The Liederkranz Club and Society), and one of their earliest recording studios, Studio A at 799 Seventh Avenue. Electric recording studios in
4876-455: The 30th Street Studios in the late 1940s and A&R manager Mitch Miller had tweaked it to perfection, Miller issued a standing order that the drapes and other fittings were not to be touched, and the cleaners had specific orders never to mop the bare wooden floor for fear it might alter the acoustic properties of the hall. There were several other features of studios in this period that contributed to their unique sonic signatures. As well as
4982-428: The Blue Notes , The Spinners , and Teddy Pendergrass . In 1974, David Bowie visited Sigma Sound Studios to work on recordings with Ava Cherry , and returned to Sigma Sound for the initial recording sessions for his 1975 album Young Americans . Local fans, whom Bowie referred to as the "Sigma Kids", waited outside the studio over the course of the sessions. On the final day of tracking, these fans were invited into
5088-586: The Bottom Line , which included six new compositions. Her final album of predominantly original material, Walk the Dog and Light the Light (1993), her last album for Columbia, was co-produced by Gary Katz , best known for his work with Steely Dan . The release sparked reappraisal of her place in popular music, and new commercial offers began appearing. She turned down lucrative film-composing offers, although she contributed
5194-480: The Bronx, Nyro performed an early version of the song Eli's Coming in music class to prove to the teacher that rock and roll "wasn't junk". While in high school, she sang with a group of friends in subway stations and on street corners. She said, "I would go out singing, as a teenager, to a party or out on the street, because there were harmony groups there, and that was one of the joys of my youth." She commented: "I
5300-519: The Mission ", from Tumbleweed Connection , in particular. "I idolized her," he concluded. "The soul, the passion, just the out and out audacity of the way her rhythmic and melody changes came was like nothing I've heard before." Bruce Arnold, leader of the pioneering soft rock group Orpheus , was a fan of Nyro's music. They both worked with legendary studio drummer Bernard Purdie . While recording with Purdie, Arnold mentioned his love of Nyro's music, and
5406-576: The National Ballet of Canada have also included her music in their performances; notably, "Been On A Train" from Christmas and the Beads of Sweat , in which a woman describes watching her lover die from a drug overdose, comprises the second movement of Ailey's 1971 solo for Judith Jamison , Cry . Alvin Ailey choreographed Quintet in 1968 with 5 female members of his troupe dancing to several of Laura's songs from
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#17328520252525512-528: The New York City and Philadelphia studios, as well as advertising and promotional materials which include "AddZest" materials that are primarily in Japanese . Additionally, there is a limited selection of several types of studio records, and clippings. 39°57′22″N 75°09′33″W / 39.95605°N 75.15905°W / 39.95605; -75.15905 Recording studio A recording studio
5618-527: The New York studios in 1988 and the Philadelphia location in 2003, but they still retained the Sigma Sound Studios name. The 6,000 unclaimed tapes from Sigma's 35-year-old tape library are now part of The Drexel University Audio Archive. In 2019, Drexel University's MAD Dragon Music Group released 14 formerly-lost tracks from funk-soul group Nat Turner Rebellion that had been a part of the archive. The Philadelphia studio closed in 2014. In March 2015,
5724-536: The Philadelphia area, long before Joel became widely known, which helped him establish a national following. In 1972, the O'Jays recorded their breakthrough album Back Stabbers at Sigma Sound, along with its hit single " Love Train ", one of the first disco songs. The same year, Billy Paul recorded his best-selling hit song " Me and Mrs. Jones " at the studio. Other artists who experienced commercial success working with Gamble and Huff, Philadelphia International, and Sigma Sound Studios included Harold Melvin &
5830-522: The Record Business , Davis recalled Nyro's audition for him: She had invited him to her New York apartment, turned off every light except that of a television set next to her piano, and played him the material that would become Eli and the Thirteenth Confession . Around this time, she considered becoming lead singer for Blood, Sweat & Tears after the departure of founder Al Kooper , but
5936-608: The Who and started writing songs like Laura." Cyndi Lauper said that her rendition of the song " Walk On By ", on her Grammy Award -nominated 2003 cover album At Last , was inspired by Nyro. Elton John and Elvis Costello discussed Nyro's influence on both of them during the premiere episode of Costello's interview show Spectacle . When asked by the host if he could name three great performers/songwriters who have largely been ignored, John cited Nyro as one of his choices. He also addressed Nyro's influence on his 1970 song " Burn Down
6042-411: The albums Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (1968) and New York Tendaberry (1969), and had commercial success with artists such as Barbra Streisand and the 5th Dimension recording her songs. Wider recognition for her artistry was posthumous, while her contemporaries such as Elton John idolized her. She was praised for her emotive three- octave mezzo-soprano voice. Between 1968 and 1970,
6148-508: The biggest betrayal of his life up to that point, and said he "cried for days" afterwards. By the end of 1971, Nyro was married to carpenter David Bianchini. She was reportedly uncomfortable with attempts to market her as a celebrity and she announced her retirement from the music business at the age of 24. In 1973, her Verve debut album was reissued as The First Songs by Columbia Records. By 1976, her marriage had ended, and she released an album of new material, Smile . She then embarked on
6254-555: The building that housed Sigma Sound Studios was sold for $ 1.55 million, with plans to renovate the space for office, retail or residential use. On October 15, 2015, the original building for Sigma Sound Studios was officially dedicated as a historic site by the City of Philadelphia. The historic site marker was placed at 212 N. 12th Street. On November 13, 2020, the Philadelphia Historical Commission voted unanimously to add
6360-645: The building to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places . In 2016, Sigma Sound Studios founder Joseph Tarsia was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum. Information on Sigma Sound Studios exists at the Special Collections Research Center at Temple University in Philadelphia. The memorabilia available includes newspaper and magazine clippings, collected ephemera and other publications. There are also photographs of both
6466-519: The case of full-power stations, an encoder that can interrupt programming on all channels which a station transmits to broadcast urgent warnings. Computers are used for playing ads , jingles , bumpers , soundbites , phone calls, sound effects , traffic and weather reports , and now are able to perform full broadcast automation when no staff are present. Digital mixing consoles can be interconnected via audio over Ethernet . Network connections allow remote access , so that DJs can do shows from
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#17328520252526572-477: The city. They included Bobby Martin , Norman Harris , Thom Bell, Ronnie Baker , Vince Montana and, later, Jack Faith, Dexter Wansel, and John Usry. The studios' large productions with strings and horns became known as "The Sound of Philadelphia," or "T.S.O.P.", a term which became trademarked. In 1972, MFSB began recording as a named act for the Philadelphia International Label, and recorded
6678-489: The concept of grouping musicians (e.g., the rhythm section or a horn section ) and singers (e.g., a group of backup singers ), rather than separating them, and placing the performers and the microphones strategically to capture the complex acoustic and harmonic interplay that emerged during the performance. In the 2000s, modern sound stages still sometimes use this approach for large film scoring projects that use large orchestras. Because of their superb acoustics, many of
6784-480: The consideration of the physical dimensions of the room itself to make the room respond to sound in the desired way. Acoustical treatment includes and the use of absorption and diffusion materials on the surfaces inside the room. To control the amount of reverberation, rooms in a recording studio may have a reconfigurable combination of reflective and non-reflective surfaces. Soundproofing provides sonic isolation between rooms and prevents sound from entering or leaving
6890-436: The control room. This greatly enhances the communication between the producer and engineer with the player, as studio mics, headphones and talkback are unnecessary. Recording studios are carefully designed around the principles of room acoustics to create a set of spaces with the acoustical properties required for recording sound with accuracy. Architectural acoustics includes acoustical treatment and soundproofing and also
6996-414: The drummer responded with a story about Nyro: At Nyro's home one night in the late 1970s, Purdie mentioned that he was the uncredited drummer for Orpheus . Nyro got excited and brought him into a room where she kept her record collection. She pulled out well-worn copies of every Orpheus LP, as well as copies sealed for posterity. Diane Paulus and Bruce Buschel co-created Eli's Comin' , a musical revue of
7102-584: The early 1970s - "Engine No. 9" and "Don't Let the Green Grass Fool You". In 1971 Harry Chipetz, former general manager of Cameo-Parkway, joined Sigma as general manager. The same year, Laura Nyro and Labelle recorded Gonna Take a Miracle at the studio. On April 15, 1972, singer-songwriter and pianist Billy Joel and his touring band played an hour-long concert at Sigma Studios. The recording of " Captain Jack " from this event received extensive radio play in
7208-643: The first track on that album "I Met Him on a Sunday" on the Rabbit Fur Coat tour. In the 2004 drama film A Home at the End of the World can be heard Nyro's recordings of "Désiree" and "It's Gonna Take a Miracle", both songs from the album Gonna Take a Miracle . Paul Shaffer , bandleader for the CBS Orchestra and sidekick on the Late Show with David Letterman , stated that his desert island album would be Eli and
7314-495: The first two albums. On October 2, 2007, three-time Tony nominee Judy Kuhn released her new album Serious Playground: The Songs of Laura Nyro . The album, which debuted as a concert to a sold-out house at Lincoln Center's American Songbook Series in January 2007, includes several of Nyro's biggest hits ("Stoned Soul Picnic", "Stoney End") as well as some of her lesser known gems. In 1992, English shoegaze/Britpop band Lush released
7420-433: The grounds that she had entered into them while still a minor . Geffen became her manager, and the two established a publishing company, Tuna Fish Music, under which the proceeds from her future compositions would be divided equally between them. Geffen also arranged Nyro's new recording contract with Clive Davis at Columbia Records , and purchased the publishing rights to her early compositions. In his memoir Clive: Inside
7526-412: The inherent sound of the large recording rooms, many of the best studios incorporated specially-designed echo chambers , purpose-built rooms which were often built beneath the main studio. These were typically long, low rectangular spaces constructed from hard, sound-reflective materials like concrete, fitted with a loudspeaker at one end and one or more microphones at the other. During a recording session,
7632-533: The larger studios were converted churches. Examples include George Martin 's AIR Studios in London, Columbia Records 30th Street Studio in New York City, and Pythian Temple studio in New York. Facilities like the Columbia Records 30th Street Studio in New York and Abbey Road Studios in London were renowned for their identifiable sound—which was (and still is) easily identifiable by audio professionals—and for
7738-573: The late 1980s, Nyro had become an animal rights activist and vegetarian , and began to offer literature on the subject at her concerts. In late 1996, Nyro, like her mother, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer . After the diagnosis, Columbia Records , with Nyro's involvement, prepared a two-CD retrospective of material from her years at the label. She lived to see the release of Stoned Soul Picnic: The Best of Laura Nyro in 1997. She died of ovarian cancer in Danbury, Connecticut , on April 8, 1997, at 49,
7844-428: The life in the city, where she had recorded her first five records. After Nyro split from Bianchini in 1975, she suffered the trauma of the death of her mother Gilda to ovarian cancer at the age of 49. She consoled herself largely by recording a new album, enlisting Charlie Calello , with whom she had collaborated on Eli and the Thirteenth Confession . In 1978, a short-lived relationship with Harindra Singh produced
7950-584: The mid-20th century often lacked isolation booths, sound baffles , and sometimes even speakers. A major reason that isolation was not used was that recordings in this period were typically made as live ensemble takes and all the performers needed to be able to see each other and the ensemble leader while playing. The recording engineers who trained in this period learned to take advantage of the complex acoustic effects that could be created through leakage between different microphones and groups of instruments, and these technicians became extremely skilled at capturing
8056-422: The mid-20th century, recordings were analog , made on 1 ⁄ 4 -inch or 1 ⁄ 2 -inch magnetic tape , or, more rarely, on 35 mm magnetic film , with multitrack recording reaching 8 tracks in the 1950s, 16 in 1968, and 32 in the 1970s. The commonest such tape is the 2-inch analog, capable of containing up to 24 individual tracks. Throughout the 1960s many pop classics were still recorded live in
8162-524: The number of available tracks only on the basis of the mixing console 's or computer hardware interface's capacity and the ability of the hardware to cope with processing demands. Analog tape machines are still used in some cases for their unique sonic characteristics. Radio studios are very similar to recording studios, particularly in the case of production studios which are not normally used on-air , such as studios where interviews are taped for later broadcast. This type of studio would normally have all of
8268-481: The production team of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff . With the exception of her attribution of "Désiree" (originally "Deserie" by the Charts ), it was Nyro's sole album of wholly non-original material, featuring such songs as " Jimmy Mack ", " Nowhere to Run " and " Spanish Harlem ". During 1971, David Geffen worked to establish his own recording label, Asylum Records , in part because of the trouble he had trying to secure
8374-502: The property. A Recording studio in an urban environment must be soundproofed on its outer shell to prevent noises from the surrounding streets and roads from being picked up by microphones inside. Equipment found in a recording studio commonly includes: Not all music studios are equipped with musical instruments. Some smaller studios do not have instruments, and bands and artists are expected to bring their own instruments, amplifiers, and speakers. However, major recording studios often have
8480-459: The rise of project studios in the 1990s. Today's project studios are built around software-based DAWs running on standard PC hardware. An isolation booth is either a partially enclosed area in the live room or a completely separate small room built adjacent to the live room that is both soundproofed to keep out external sounds and keep in the internal sounds. Like all the other recording rooms in sound industry, isolation booths designed for having
8586-550: The sale, making them both millionaires. Nyro's fourth album, Christmas and the Beads of Sweat , was released at the end of 1970. It contained "Upstairs By a Chinese Lamp" and "When I Was a Freeport and You Were the Main Drag" and featured Duane Allman and other Muscle Shoals musicians. The following year's Gonna Take a Miracle was a collection of Nyro's favorite "teenage heartbeat songs", recorded with vocal group Labelle ( Patti LaBelle , Nona Hendryx , and Sarah Dash ) and
8692-972: The same age at which her mother died. Her ashes were scattered beneath a maple tree on the grounds of her house in Danbury. Nyro's posthumous releases include Angel In The Dark (2001), which includes her final studio recordings made in 1994 and 1995, and The Loom's Desire (2002), a set of live recordings with solo piano and harmony singers from The Bottom Line Christmas shows of 1993 and 1994. Nyro's influence on popular musicians has also been acknowledged by such artists as Joni Mitchell , Carole King , Tori Amos , Patti Smith , Kate Bush , Suzanne Vega , Diamanda Galas , Bette Midler , Rickie Lee Jones , Elton John , Jackson Browne , Alice Cooper , Elvis Costello , Cyndi Lauper , Todd Rundgren , Steely Dan , Sarah Cracknell , Melissa Manchester , Lisa Germano , and Rosanne Cash . Todd Rundgren stated that once he heard her, he "stopped writing songs like
8798-444: The same equipment that any other audio recording studio would have, particularly if it is at a large station, or at a combined facility that houses a station group, but is also designed for groups of people to work collaboratively in a live-to-air situation. Broadcast studios also use many of the same principles such as sound isolation, with adaptations suited to the live on-air nature of their use. Such equipment would commonly include
8904-401: The saxophone players position their instruments so that microphones were virtually inside the mouth of the horn. The unique sonic characteristics of the major studios imparted a special character to many of the most famous popular recordings of the 1950s and 1960s, and the recording companies jealously guarded these facilities. According to sound historian David Simons, after Columbia took over
9010-508: The seams offset from layer to layer on both sides of the wall that is filled with foam, batten insulation, a double wall, which is an insulated wall built next to another insulated wall with an air gap in-between, by adding foam to the interior walls and corners, and by using two panes of thick glass with an air gap between them. The surface densities of common building materials determines the transmission loss of various frequencies through materials. Thomas A. Watson invented, but did not patent,
9116-516: The skill of their staff engineers. As the need to transfer audio material between different studios grew, there was an increasing demand for standardization in studio design across the recording industry, and Westlake Recording Studios in West Hollywood was highly influential in the 1970s in the development of standardized acoustic design. In New York City, Columbia Records had some of the most highly respected sound recording studios, including
9222-495: The smaller independent studios were often owned by skilled electronics engineers who designed and built their own desks and other equipment. A good example of this is Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, the site of many famous American pop recordings of the 1960s. Co-owner David S. Gold built the studio's main mixing desk and many additional pieces of equipment and he also designed the studio's unique trapezoidal echo chambers. During
9328-660: The songs of Nyro, which, among others, starred Anika Noni Rose . Louis Greenstein and Kate Ferber wrote One Child Born: The Music of Laura Nyro , a one-woman show featuring Ferber and directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt. One Child Born was developed at CAP21 in New York City and has sold out Joe's Pub and the Laurie Beechman Theatre in New York, World Cafe Live in Philadelphia , and other venues. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and
9434-474: The sound and keep it from bleeding into the other microphones, allowing better independent control of each instrument channel at the mixing console . In animation, vocal performances are normally recorded in individual sessions, and the actors have to imagine (with the help of the director or a reader) they are involved in dialogue. Animated films often evolve rapidly during both development and production, so keeping vocal tracks from bleeding into each other
9540-408: The sound for analog or digital recording . The engineers and producers listen to the live music and the recorded "tracks" on high-quality monitor speakers or headphones . Often, there will be smaller rooms called isolation booths to accommodate loud instruments such as drums or electric guitar amplifiers and speakers, to keep these sounds from being audible to the microphones that are capturing
9646-401: The sound heard by the listener). Recording studios may be used to record singers, instrumental musicians (e.g., electric guitar, piano, saxophone, or ensembles such as orchestras), voice-over artists for advertisements or dialogue replacement in film, television, or animation, Foley , or to record their accompanying musical soundtracks. The typical recording studio consists of a room called
9752-445: The soundproof booth for use in demonstrating the telephone with Alexander Graham Bell in 1877. There are variations of the same concept, including a portable standalone isolation booth and a guitar speaker isolation cabinet. A gobo panel achieves the same effect to a much more moderate extent; for example, a drum kit that is too loud in the live room or on stage can have acrylic glass see-through gobo panels placed around it to deflect
9858-474: The sounds from other instruments or voices, or to provide "drier" rooms for recording vocals or quieter acoustic instruments such as an acoustic guitar or a fiddle . Major recording studios typically have a range of large, heavy, and hard-to-transport instruments and music equipment in the studio, such as a grand piano , Hammond organ , electric piano , harp , and drums . Recording studios generally consist of three or more rooms: Even though sound isolation
9964-444: The specific needs of an individual artist or are used as a non-commercial hobby. The first modern project studios came into being during the mid-1980s, with the advent of affordable multitrack recording devices, synthesizers and microphones. The phenomenon has flourished with falling prices of MIDI equipment and accessories, as well as inexpensive direct to disk recording products. Recording drums and amplified electric guitar in
10070-435: The studio and mixed into the track as the master recording was being made. Special equipment was another notable feature of the classic recording studio. The biggest studios were owned and operated by large media companies like RCA, Columbia and EMI, who typically had their own electronics research and development divisions that designed and built custom-made recording equipment and mixing consoles for their studios. Likewise,
10176-560: The studio to listen to rough versions of the new songs. In 1976, Lou Rawls recorded his first album for PIR at Sigma Sound, All Things in Time , including Rawls' most successful single, " You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine ". The same year, following their tenure at Motown as "the Jackson 5", the Jacksons recorded their self-titled 1976 album and their subsequent album, Goin' Places , at
10282-675: The studios' success included the Trammps , The Manhattans , Robert Palmer , Melba Moore , the Salsoul Orchestra , The Ritchie Family , Grace Jones , Loleatta Holloway , Linda Clifford , Gloria Gaynor , John Travolta and others. In 1977, Tarsia opened a second Sigma Sound studio location in New York City. Located in the Ed Sullivan Theater building, this studio was used by the Village People for their albums Macho Man (1978) and Cruisin' (1978). Sigma Sound's New York location
10388-462: The studios. In 1979, Tarsia purchased the former United Artists screening room and studio at 13th and Vine Streets in Philadelphia, which Sigma converted to 3 additional studios to meet demand. Sigma Sound was one of the first recording studios in the United States to offer 24-track recording and the first anywhere to successfully employ console automation . The varied list of artists attracted by
10494-574: The theme for the American musical TV show Soul Train at Sigma Sound. The song, " TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia) ", was the first television theme song to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 . In 1969 Dusty Springfield recorded A Brand New Me and its hit title track at Sigma Sound. The following year, Wilson Pickett teamed up with Gamble and Huff at Sigma Sound for Wilson Pickett in Philadelphia and two of Pickett's most popular singles from
10600-571: The unique acoustic properties of their studios and the musicians in performance. It was not until the 1960s, with the introduction of the high-fidelity headphones that it became common practice for performers to use these to monitor their performance during recording and listen to playbacks. The use of different kinds of microphones and their placement around the studio is a crucial part of the recording process, and particular brands of microphones are used by engineers for their specific audio characteristics. The smooth-toned ribbon microphones developed by
10706-533: Was a favorite of Talking Heads who, beginning with 1980's Remain in Light , recorded some or all of their albums at Sigma Sound in New York City. In 1983, Madonna used the New York studios to record her 1983 debut album, Madonna . Other artists who recorded at Sigma Sound's New York studios include Rick James , Aretha Franklin , the B-52s , the Ramones , Whitney Houston , Steely Dan , Roy Ayers , Ashford & Simpson , Paul Simon and others. Tarsia sold
10812-465: Was a mono-only recording facility with a 40-foot long room and a 6x12x40 foot echo chamber where Tarsia had previously done service technician work. Tarsia opened his new recording studio, renamed Sigma Sound, in August 1968, hosting sessions for Gamble and Huff , Weldon McDougal , and The Delfonics on the first day. From the beginning, Sigma Sound was strongly associated with Philadelphia soul and, in
10918-511: Was always interested in the social consciousness of certain songs. My mother and grandfather were progressive thinkers, so I felt at home in the peace movement and the women's movement, and that has influenced my music." Louis Nigro's work brought her into contact with record company executive Artie Mogull and his partner Paul Barry, who auditioned Laura in 1966 and became her first managers. However, Nigro later said he did "not even once" mention Laura to any of his clients." Mogull had negotiated
11024-442: Was common by the early 1930s, and mastering lathes were electrically powered, but master recordings still had to be cut into a disc, by now a lacquer, also known as an Acetate disc . In line with the prevailing musical trends, studios in this period were primarily designed for the live recording of symphony orchestras and other large instrumental ensembles. Engineers soon found that large, reverberant spaces like concert halls created
11130-455: Was dissuaded by Geffen. Blood, Sweat & Tears went on to have a hit with a cover of Nyro's "And When I Die". The new contract allowed Nyro more artistic freedom and control. In 1968, Columbia released Eli and the Thirteenth Confession , her second album, which received high critical praise for the depth and sophistication of its performance and arrangements, which merged pop structure with inspired imagery, rich vocals, and avant-garde jazz; it
11236-634: Was her recording of Carole King 's and Gerry Goffin 's " Up on the Roof ". Nyro was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2010, and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. Nyro was born Laura Nigro in The Bronx , New York City, the daughter of Louis Nigro, a piano tuner and jazz trumpeter, and Gilda (née Mirsky) Nigro, a bookkeeper. Laura had a younger brother, Jan Nigro, who has become
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