ProSound News - December 2008 - (Page 18)

[18] Legacy’s 38th Street Location Closes by Christopher Walsh NEW YORK, NY—Legacy Recording Studios has closed its three-studio location at 509 West 38th St., including the 4,060square-foot Studio A509, which opened in 2001. Legacy, which was formed by the 2005 merger of two longstanding facilities—Sound on Sound and Right Track Recording—is not going out of business, however. The main building at 168 West 48th St. will remain, says general manager Chris Bubacz, with construction of two new studios and renovation of the entire facility scheduled to commence shortly after the New Year. Legacy’s two production studios, D1 and D2, ceased operation earlier this year, says Bubacz; Studio A509’s sessions concluded November 21. The Solid State Logic 9096 J Series console will be moved to Studio A at Legacy’s West 48th St. location. “The important thing is that people understand that the studios on 48th St. are not going anywhere,” says Bubacz. “We’re building two new rooms here, so we’ll have five altogether. We’re doing a complete, total facelift and cosmetic makeover of this location, along with the new rooms. There are a lot of positive things that are coming from this.” Like the Hit Factory and Sony Music Studios, both of which have shuttered in recent years, the stratospheric value of Manhattan real estate, not a soft commercial recording market, is behind the closing of Legacy’s West 38th St. location, according to Bubacz. “Believe it or not,” he says, “this room was booked every day in November, right up to when we closed. Here in New York City, people can make more money with real estate than they can running “What’s happened, though, is it’s come back, pretty massively, in November. We’re doing four major film scores this month. It’s terrible that they come on the heels of the fact that that beautiful such a bad 2009 as far as film scores. So I would say that that valley may have come and gone, and we’re looking at some sort of resurgence. Where they’re going to work, I have no idea. Dreamhire Relocates to Long Island City, Queens NEW YORK, NY—Professional audio equip- ment rental company Dreamhire has relocated to its new, 5,000-square-foot home in Long Island City, in the borough of Queens, New York. Established in London in 1984 by current owner and CEO Chris Dunn, Dreamhire, then a division of the Zomba Corporation, opened in New York City in 1989. With the purchase of Zomba by Sony/BMG in 2001, Dunn acquired the company’s assets. In December 2003, Dreamhire moved from the Zomba offices on West 25th St. to a location within what was then Right Track Recording’s 509 West 38th St. location. Right Track Recording was renamed Legacy Recording Studios in 2005 when it merged with New York’s Sound on Sound Recording. Legacy Recording has closed its three studios at 509 West 38th St. and will build two new studios at the origi- nal Right Track location at 168 West 48th St., which has been in continuous operation throughout the expansion to West 38th St. and merger with Sound on Sound. Sessions at Legacy’s 4,060square-foot Studio A509 concluded on November 21. Despite the loss of many commercial recording studios and proliferation of DAW-based production, Dreamhire has survived a tumultuous period in New York City. “There’s still quite a lot of knob-twiddlers out there,” Dunn tells Pro Sound News. “Not everybody likes the plug-ins. We’re still renting Pro Tools [systems] reasonably frequently. We’re shipping rigs to the Midwest for the Ultimate Fighting Championship now, and stuff like that—off-the-wall rentals, but that’s fine, and we’re doing a lot more DJ equipment and live sound systems [for] parties and weddings, corporate events. “My guys make extra money for after-hours pickups so they’re happy, and it works out pretty well,” Dunn adds. “That’s what’s keeping us going. As far as recording studio rentals go, we’re still doing it, but it’s few and far between these days.” In addition to supplying vintage microphones, classic audio processing equipment, analog and digital recording systems, keyboards and DJ support gear, Dreamhire also hosts the only full-service media format transfer lab in the New York City area. Dreamhire’s new location is at 3636 33rd Street, formerly the Queens base of audio, video and lighting technology provider, Scharff-Weisberg. Dreamhire www.dreamhire.com recording studios.” Film score recording in New York City has been sporadic, however. “At the end of 2006, yes, all the film scoring work seemed to dry up,” Bubacz notes. room, that was built specifically to do that kind of work, is shutting down. From what I gather from talking to music contractors and other people in town is it doesn’t look like it’s going to be “We’re certainly going to try to accommodate as many of the scores as we can in our Studio A on 48th St.,” Bubacz continues. “And we’re still working with the Broadway cast album people. A509 was perfect for that, but we’re talking to them about possibly adjusting how the recordings are done. It won’t cost them any more to do the way we’re talking about, and we’re hoping that we’ll see a good number of those.” The planned construction and renovation of Legacy’s West 48th St. location is scheduled for completion by June 1, 2009. In a related development, pro audio equipment rental company Dreamhire, which has operated from Legacy Recording’s 509 West 38th St. location since December 2003, is in the process of moving to 36-36 33rd St., Long Island City, in the borough of Queens (see story, this page). Dreamhire, which remained open during the move, occupies space partially vacated by audio, video and lighting technology provider Scharff Weisberg, which has moved equipment and staff to a facility in Secaucus, NJ, says Dreamhire owner Chris Dunn. Legacy Recording Studios www.legacyrecordingstudios.com psn December 2008 http://www.dreamhire.com http://www.auralex.com http://www.legacyrecordingstudios.com http://www.auralex.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ProSound News - December 2008

ProSound News - December 2008 Sound Business Contents Hank’s Best Yet Sound Recording Studio Showcase: Great City Productions Software Tech Tracks Sessions Anticipating Post’s Future Post Showcase: Eargasm HD Audio Post The Business of Being Creative Sound Innovations: VRsonics VibeStudio Spatial Design Suites Field Reports: Product Profiles Yes We Can Hear Obama Live Sound Showcase: Stone Temple Pilots Centerstage Soundcheck Sound People View From the Top Product Spotlight Classifieds Advertiser Index Company Index Music, etc

ProSound News - December 2008

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